Are you thinking of cancelling your Tangerine credit card? Maybe you don’t use the card anymore or are looking for a card that charges a lower annual fee. Or perhaps you’re looking to cut back on your spending, or have found another credit card that offers better rewards.
Whatever the case may be, can you cancel your Tangerine credit card online?
Why Cancel Your Tangerine Credit Card?
Canadians who hold a Tangerine credit card may have any number of reasons to cancel it, including the following:
- To get a lower interest rate
- To get a card that offers rewards
- To cut back on credit card spending
- To reduce overall debt
- The credit card was lost or stolen
- Unauthorized spending activity has been identified on the card
- The card is no longer being used
What To Do Before Cancelling Your Tangerine Credit Card
Before you take the steps to close out your Tangerine credit card account, there are a few tasks you will need to take care of first:
Pay Down What You Owe
If you’re still carrying a balance on your Tangerine credit card, you’ll need to pay it off in full first before you close out your account.
Use Up All Your Points
Tangerine’s Money-Back Credit Card and World Mastercard allow you to earn cash-back rewards on everyday purchases. If you still have rewards left to be redeemed on your credit card, make sure you spend them before cancelling your card. Otherwise, you’ll lose them.
Update All Other Authorized Card Users
If other family members are authorized cardholders on the account, make sure they’re up-to-speed on your intentions to cancel the account. Then ask them to either safely discard their cards, or collect and toss them yourself.
Cancel Recurring Payments
If you have any subscription services that charge your Tangerine credit card automatically every month, you’ll need to update the credit card information they have on file to avoid risking your services being disrupted.
Cancel Any Debit Cards Linked To Your Tangerine Account
If you have any Tangerine debit cards linked to your credit card, cancel these too so you don’t accidentally reactivate your Tangerine account.
Can You Cancel Your Tangerine Credit Card Online?
Tangerine’s website doesn’t provide any specific information about how to go about cancelling a credit card, or whether it can be cancelled online. Instead, the site indicates that the card can be cancelled at any time by getting in touch with them.
The contact page offers a few ways to speak with a representative from Tangerine, including by telephone, chatbot, online chat session, mail, or in person at one of the handfuls of Tangerine cafes across Canada.
Based on this information and the lack of any portal that allows cardholders to initiate the credit card cancellation process, it seems as though cancelling your credit card completely online without the direct assistance of a representative may not be possible.
Tangerine support can be reached by telephone at 1‑888‑826‑4374 or 416‑756‑2424. Otherwise, you can start a live chat session or access a chatbot for more information by logging on to your Tangerine account.
Be Prepared When Cancelling By Phone
Credit card agents will likely try to convince you to stick around as a client, and to do that, they may present you with other options to avoid cancellation. They may try to encourage you to either keep your credit card or switch to another product to retain you as a customer.
Be prepared for some negotiating and set aside some time to listen to what may be offered to you as an alternative to the product you are cancelling.
What To Do After Cancelling Your Tangerine Credit Card
After you cancel your Tangerine credit card, take the following steps:
- Cut up your credit card into many pieces and throw it in the trash.
- Get written confirmation of the cancellation of your account, either via email or traditional mail.
- Make note of who you spoke with at Tangerine as well as the date and time in case there is any discrepancy. If there is an issue, you can refer to the conversation you had with the Tangerine customer support representative.
Will Cancelling Your Credit Card Affect Your Credit Score?
Before you cancel your card, it’s important to understand that your credit score could be negatively impacted. Generally speaking, it’s better not to cancel a credit card if you don’t have to, especially if the account is an old one in good standing or has a high credit limit. Otherwise, your credit score could be impacted in the following ways:
Your Credit Utilization Will Be Affected
A credit utilization ratio is a measure of how much you owe compared to what your total credit limit is. A lower credit utilization ratio is better for your credit score. The rule of thumb is to keep spending on credit to no more than 30% of your credit limit since this suggests to creditors that you’re not over-leveraging yourself and placing yourself at increased risk of falling into severe debt.
Cancelling a credit card can reduce your overall credit limit, which can increase your credit utilization ratio and in turn affect your credit score.
Your Credit History Will Be Shortened
Several factors influence your credit rating, and your credit history is one of them. Lenders want to see a long track record of credit accounts in good standing, which gives them more information to go on before they approve you for a loan or credit account.
If you cancel your credit card — especially if it’s an old one — you’ll effectively be shortening your credit history, which can pull down your credit score.
What Does Not Constitute Cancellation Of A Credit Card?
Some cardholders might mistakenly believe that simply cutting up the credit card or leaving it aside will deem it cancelled or expired. But such is not the case. You will have to make an active effort to cancel the card officially by contacting Tangerine directly.
Alternatives To Cancelling Your Tangerine Credit Card
There may be a better alternative to cancelling your Tangerine credit card, especially when considering the potential impact of closing your account:
Switch To A New Product
If there is another Tangerine credit card that better suits your needs, consider just switching products rather than cancelling your Tangerine credit card account altogether.
Set It Aside
As mentioned earlier, closing out an old credit card can be bad for your credit score. If the reason why you want to cancel it is that you no longer use the card, consider keeping it anyway.
Just beware of any consequences you may face from not using your card. Tangerine could close out your account if you don’t use it after a certain amount of time has elapsed. Check your contract or call Tangerine customer service to find out what inactivity action may apply.
Final Thoughts
If you have a good reason to cancel your Tangerine credit card — especially if you can’t keep up with bill payments or are prone to maxing out your card — you may have to call to cancel. Closing out a credit card online may not be possible with Tangerine. Just be sure to take the appropriate steps to officially cancel the card securely, and get written confirmation of its closing.
