What’s the easiest way to convince a bank to cancel your credit card account (other than requesting them to do so, of course)?  You might think the quickest route to a cancellation would be running up a balance and failing to make payments on time.  That would make sense, after all.  Why would a major bank want to continue to carry someone who is showing warning signs that they may be a deadbeat?

Believe it or not, there may be an even quicker way to have an account closed.  Many cardholders who don’t carry a revolving balance, who pay their annual fees and charges on time and who don’t use their cards often, if at all, are discovering that the credit card companies aren’t too happy about that financially responsible handling of credit lines.  The card companies are closing the accounts of these low- or no-use customers.

Why?  What could motivate a bank to cancel an account when it’s rarely used and never used irresponsibly?  It’s less about the cardholder and his or her likely behavior than it is about manipulating numbers.  The card companies realize that canceling lines of credit decreases their on-paper risk exposure.  That helps their balance sheets and improves the numbers upon which investors and rating agencies make decisions.  Even though the eliminated accounts have a low likelihood of use, the bank is still carrying potential liability as long as the cards remain usable.

There’s another reason why the credit card companies might opt to kill a quality account rather than a problematic one.  Those who are carrying substantial balances and who occasionally pay less make more money for the card issuers than do those who rarely use their available credit.  A shaky account may actually produce more income for the banks in the long run than a responsibly managed low use account.

It’s not about whether there’s a real risk to those banks, it’s about the bottom line numbers.

The notification laws in the US for account regulations don’t provide much help.  Many cards are canceled before consumers actually receive or discover notice of the cancellations.  That can lead to some uncomfortable and embarrassing moments at checkout stands.  The laws governing who the companies may cancel are not particularly tight.  One individual who had an account in good standing for years and whose only bad mark on her credit history was one late car payment several years earlier found that the card company used that trivial event as an excuse to close the account.

However, there are situations when account closure is legally problematic for credit card companies.  The notification rules, no matter how weak they might be, must be followed.  Additionally, no bank can close an account on the basis of discriminatory motives.  Those who feel their accounts have been inappropriately shut down may seek appropriate redress through the Federal Trade Commission in the US.  In most cases, though, the card issuer will be able to point to a justification that will clear the low hurdle set by current regulatory schemes.

If you thought the only people at risk of losing a credit card account were the scofflaws and ne’ever-do-wells who failed to pay their bills in a timely fashion and who carried balances disproportionate to their income levels, think again.  Today, credit card companies are closing what most of us would think of as extremely safe accounts.