How Can I Tell When I Opened/Closed My Credit Card?

Question: I opened a credit card around 11 months ago, I’d like to know the exact date of when I opened the card so I can avoid getting charged the annual fee by calling the retention line beforehand. I’ve also got a few closed credit cards with another issuer, I’d like to churn those credit cards but I can’t remember when I closed them. How can I find this information out?

Answer: Before we get started, it’s important that we understand that credit card issuers consider a card to be opened as soon as that card is approved. If your instantly approved or approved via a reconsideration phone call then this should be easy to remember but if you’re approved using their internal system it can be more difficult. It doesn’t matter if you received it ten days later (you can often get your card expedited for free, click for the rules of each card issuer), they’ll always use the date of approval.

There are several ways to determine your opening and closing dates:

1. Ask your card issuer. There is nothing wrong with calling  your credit card issuer (or sending them a secured message) and asking them to tell you when your credit card was opened. This will give you the most accurate information.
2. Consult your own records. Whenever you apply for a card you should be listing certain information (e.g approval date, when the annual fee is due, screenshot of the offer you signed up for including all the fine print and also placing a reminder in your calendar that lets you know when annual fees will become due and also when you closed your account). If you compile proper records, just consult these.
3. Check your credit report. You can check your credit report from each of the three credit bureaus once per year for free through annualcreditreport.com. Credit Karma also offers full TransUnion credit reports and Quizzle offers almost full reports for Equifax. Unfortunately this information isn’t very accurate as card issuers don’t report the same opening date as they have in their own system. Generally card issuers will report to credit bureaus after the first billing cycle (one month after your account is opened) and closure information is not included.

I personally just think this reinforces why it’s so important to keep good records. That way if anything unsuspecting pops up you can easily deal with it. Some card issuers will also rebate you the annual fee if you close your account within a certain time frame, we will cover this in a future topic.

Thanks for the question and anybody else with questions should feel free to ask in the comments below or by using the contact us page. Thank you!