By LaToya IrbyWhat Happens if I Don’t Use My Credit Card?
By LaToya Irby
Quick Answer
If you don’t use your credit card, your card issuer can close or reduce your credit limit. Both actions have the potential to lower your credit score.
When you have multiple credit cards, it's easy to rely on one or two favorites while the rest sit unused. However, letting a credit card remain inactive for too long can have a downside. If you don't use your credit card, your card issuer may close your card or reduce your credit limit. Because keeping your credit cards open and active is generally beneficial for your credit, it's important to understand what happens when you don't use your credit card.
What Happens if You Don't Use Your Credit Card?
When you go without swiping for a period of time, your credit card account and spending ability could be at risk. Here are the potential consequences:
Your Card May Be Closed or Limited for Inactivity
If you go months without using a credit card, the issuer may consider the account as inactive and decide to lower your credit limit or close your account. There's no universal timeline when this happens. Each card issuer has their own policies.
Issuers aren't required to warn you before taking action. Instead, you'll often receive a notice after the changes have happened rather than before.
Your Credit Score May Be Affected
You may not mind losing access to a credit card you rarely use, but the change can still affect your credit score in several ways:
- Shorter average credit age: Losing a long-standing credit account can reduce the average age of your credit accounts, which reflects the amount of experience you have using credit.
- Higher credit utilization: Your credit utilization ratio measures how much of your available credit you're using. If you lose available credit because your account is closed or your credit limit is lowered, your credit utilization rate may increase, potentially lowering your credit score.
- Change in credit mix: Your credit score benefits when you show you can responsibly manage different types of accounts, such as credit cards and loans. If an inactive card is your only revolving account, having it closed could impact your credit mix.
- Loss of a credit score: In rare cases, if your only reported account becomes inactive, you could become unscoreable, or credit invisible. That means you no longer have a credit score until new activity is reported to the credit bureaus.
A decrease in your credit score can make it harder to get approved for new credit or may result in higher interest rates, lower approval amounts or additional requirements like security deposit.
Missed Rewards and Benefits
An unused rewards credit card means you miss out on rewards and value perks. Depending on the card, you could miss the opportunity for:
- Cash back, points or miles on your purchases
- Purchase protection and extended warranties
- Travel insurance or rental car coverage
- Better fraud protection
Unrecognized Fraud
If you're not using your credit card, you forget to check your account. That can allow unauthorized charges and billing errors to go unnoticed. If you have a balance, missed payments can lead to late fees, penalty APRs, credit score damage and eventually collections.
Learn more: What Affects Your Credit Score?
Best credit cards of 2026
Compare cards from our partners with intro bonuses, cash back or points offers, and annual fees as low as $0.
Offers from our partners
Citi Double Cash® Card
Intro APR:0% for 18 months on Balance Transfers
Ongoing APR:17.49% - 27.49% (Variable)
Rewards:2% (cash back)
Annual Fee:$0
Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express
Intro bonus:As High As $200 Cash Back. Find Out Your Offer.
Intro APR:0% on Purchases and Balance Transfers for 15 months
Ongoing APR:19.49%-28.49% Variable
Rewards:1% - 3% (cash back)
Annual Fee:$0
Discover it® Chrome
Intro bonus:Cashback Match™
Intro APR:0% intro APR for 6 Months on Purchases and 0% intro APR for 18 Months on Balance Transfers
Ongoing APR:17.49% - 26.49% Variable APR
Rewards:1% - 2% (cash back)
Annual Fee:$0
Revel® Platinum Mastercard®
Ongoing APR:35.90% Fixed
Rewards:N/A*
Annual Fee:$75 - $125
Citi® Diamond Preferred® Card
Intro APR:0% for 21 months on Balance Transfers and 12 months on Purchases
Ongoing APR:16.49% - 27.24% (Variable)
Rewards:N/A*
Annual Fee:$0
FIT™ Platinum Mastercard® - $400 Credit Limit
Ongoing APR:35.90% Fixed
Rewards:N/A*
Annual Fee:$99 first year; $125 thereafter
The opensky® Secured Visa® Credit Card
Ongoing APR:23.89% Variable
Rewards:10% (cash back)
Annual Fee:$35
Credit One Bank American Express® Card for Rebuilding Credit
Ongoing APR:29.74% Variable
Rewards:1% (cash back)
Annual Fee:$75 First year. $99 thereafter, billed monthly at $8.25
Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express
Intro bonus:As High As $300 Cash Back. Find Out Your Offer.
Intro APR:0% on Purchases and Balance Transfers for 12 months
Ongoing APR:19.49%-28.49% Variable
Rewards:1% - 6% (cash back)
Annual Fee:$0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.
Reflex® Platinum Mastercard®
Ongoing APR:35.90% Fixed
Rewards:N/A*
Annual Fee:$75 - $125
Credit One Bank® Secured Card
Ongoing APR:29.74% Variable
Rewards:1% (cash back)
Annual Fee:$0
Avant® Cashback Rewards Mastercard®
Ongoing APR:35.99%*
Rewards:1% (cash back)
Annual Fee:$0*
Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi
Ongoing APR:18.74% - 26.74% (Variable)
Rewards:1% - 5% (cash back)
Annual Fee:$0
American Express® Gold Card
Intro bonus:As high as 100,000 points. Find out your offer.
Ongoing APR:See Pay Over Time APR
Rewards:1x - 4x (Points per dollar)
Annual Fee:$325
Avant® Cashback Rewards Mastercard®
Ongoing APR:35.99%*
Rewards:1% (cash back)
Annual Fee:$39*
Credit One Bank® Platinum X5 Visa® Metal Card
Ongoing APR:29.74% Variable
Rewards:1% - 5% (cash back)
Annual Fee:$95
First Progress Prestige Secured Mastercard® Cash Back Rewards
Ongoing APR:13.49% Variable
Rewards:1% - 10% (cash back)
Annual Fee:$49
First Progress Select Secured Mastercard® Cash Back Rewards
Ongoing APR:17.49% Variable
Rewards:1% - 10% (cash back)
Annual Fee:$39
Credit One Bank® Wander® American Express® with Dining, Gas & Travel Rewards
Ongoing APR:29.74% Variable
Rewards:1% - 10% (cash back)
Annual Fee:$95
Discover it® Miles
Intro bonus:Discover Match®
Intro APR:0% intro APR for 15 months on Purchases and Balance Transfers
Ongoing APR:17.49% - 26.49% Variable APR
Rewards:1.5x (Miles per dollar)
Annual Fee:$0
Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card
Intro bonus:100,000 Miles
Ongoing APR:19.49%-28.49% Variable
Rewards:1x - 3x (Miles per dollar)
Annual Fee:$650
Credit One Bank® Premier American Express® Unlimited Rewards Card
Ongoing APR:29.74% Variable
Rewards:1% (cash back)
Annual Fee:$0
Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card
Intro bonus:10,000 Miles
Ongoing APR:19.49%-28.49% Variable
Rewards:1x - 2x (Miles per dollar)
Annual Fee:$0
One Key+™ Card
Intro bonus:$350
Ongoing APR:18.49%, 23.49%, or 28.49% Variable APR
Rewards:2x - 3x (Points per dollar)
Annual Fee:$99
cashRewards Credit Card
Ongoing APR:10.65% - 18% Variable
Rewards:1.5% (cash back)
Annual Fee:$0
GO REWARDS® Credit Card
Ongoing APR:9.99% - 18% Variable
Rewards:1x - 3x (Points per dollar)
Annual Fee:$0
Platinum
Ongoing APR:6.99% - 18% Variable
Rewards:N/A*
Annual Fee:$0
One Key™ Card
Intro bonus:$400
Ongoing APR:XX.XX%, XX.XX%, or XX.XX% Variable APR
Rewards:1.5x - 3x (Points per dollar)
Annual Fee:$0
One Key+™ Card
Intro bonus:$600
Ongoing APR:XX.XX%, XX.XX%, or XX.XX% Variable APR
Rewards:2x - 3x (Points per dollar)
Annual Fee:$99
Avant® Cashback Rewards Mastercard®
Ongoing APR:35.99%*
Rewards:1% (cash back)
Annual Fee:$75*
See all our best credit cards for 2026.
Will I Be Charged for Not Using My Credit Card?
Fortunately, credit card issuers aren't allowed to charge inactivity fees simply because you aren't using the card. However, standard fees may still apply including:
- Annual fees
- Interest on outstanding balances
- Late fees on missed payments
Tip: If your card has an annual fee and you're not receiving enough value from its rewards or perks, consider whether it's worth keeping the account open.
Should I Close My Credit Card if I Don't Use It?
It's usually best to keep your credit card open to benefit your credit. The account's age and available credit can continue to boost your credit score even if you're not using the credit card often. You may also want to keep a card open if it has unique perks, even if you only use them occasionally.
Closing a credit card can make sense in some situations:
- The annual fee outweighs the benefits. It may not be worth keeping the account open if you're not getting enough value to justify paying an annual fee.
- You want to remove the temptation to overspend. Closing an unused credit card can remove the opportunity to accumulate debt.
- The account is newer. Closing a card with a shorter history won't affect your credit age as much as closing an older account.
- You want to simplify your finances. Pruning your open accounts can help you better manage your credit cards and other accounts.
How to Keep Your Credit Card Account Active
Keeping your credit card active isn't difficult, but it does take some conscious effort on your part. Here are some strategies to help keep your account in good standing:
- Autopay a small recurring bill, like a streaming subscription or phone bill.
- Set up automatic payments to pay your card in full each month.
- Review your rewards and perks so you're more motivated to use it intentionally.
- Request a product change if your current credit card no longer fits your needs.
Tip: Even with autopay enabled, check your credit card statement regularly to catch errors or unauthorized transactions.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Bottom Line
You don't have to use every card every month to keep them open and active. However, letting a credit card go unused for too long can lead to a credit limit reduction or account closure that may affect your credit. Making sure each of your cards is used at least occasionally is usually enough to preserve your account and your credit.
Check your Experian credit report for free to see how your credit cards compare. For instance, knowing your oldest credit card and the one with the highest credit limit helps you understand which accounts to protect.
Don’t apply blindly
Apply for credit cards confidently with personalized offers based on your credit profile. Get started with your FICO® Score for free.
See your offers
About the author
LaToya Irby
LaToya Irby is a personal finance writer who works with consumer media outlets to help people navigate their money and credit. She’s been published and quoted extensively in USA Today, U.S. News and World Report, myFICO, Investopedia, The Balance and more.
Read more from LaToya