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Our site may earn compensation when a customer clicks on a link, when an application is approved, or when an account is opened with our partners, and this may impact how or where these products appear. While we don't cover all available credit cards, our editorial team creates and maintains all of the analysis of these cards, and our content is not influenced nor subject to review by any credit card company, bank or partner prior to (or after) publication. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information.
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Discontinued credit cards: Why (and why not) to stick with them
Credit card writer Danyal Ahmed is an avid traveler, averaging about 100,000 aeronautical miles per year. He regularly applies that knowledge and his expertise in credit cards to his role as a credit card writer at TPG.
June 19, 2025 • 9 min read
The cards we feature here are from partners who compensate us when you are approved through our site, and this may impact how or where these products appear. We don't cover all available credit cards, but our analysis, reviews, and opinions are entirely from our editorial team. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information.
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Quick summary
Discontinued credit cards are rare and can offer unique benefits not found on newer products.
When a card is discontinued, you may be allowed to keep using it, convert it to another card within the same family, or be automatically switched to a replacement.
Closing a discontinued card can impact your credit score by reducing your average account age and increasing your credit utilization ratio.
Evaluating whether to keep a discontinued card involves weighing the ongoing benefits against any associated costs and considering the impact of forced conversions.
What to consider
Conversion options are typically limited to cards within the same product family, and converted cards are usually ineligible for new cardholder bonuses.
Closing a card may result in the loss of time-sensitive perks, so review and use any outstanding benefits before canceling.
If the replacement card offers different features or costs, compare them carefully to ensure it aligns with your needs.
What you'll miss from the article
A detailed guide to the credit score implications, benefit comparisons, and strategies for handling discontinued cards.
Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.
Comments
By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
If you hold a discontinued credit card, consider yourself lucky — it's a rare item you might even brag about.
Issuers frequently discontinue credit cards for several reasons. There are times when an airline or hotel group switches relationships from one bank to another or consolidates its credit card portfolio with one or the other.
For example, starting in 2026, Citi will become the sole issuer of AAdvantage cobranded credit cards, with Barclays discontinuing its relationship that goes back more than a decade.
Sometimes, issuers simply discontinue a card or launch a new product to replace it.
Read our guide to understand what happens when a card is discontinued and what to consider if you wish to keep such a card open.
What happens when a credit card is discontinued?
Based on the situation, a few things occur when a credit card is discontinued.
You can keep using it
This is when a discontinued card keeps working for existing cardholders. For example, Citi has allowed existing cardholders of the Citi Prestige® Cardto keep their accounts open and continue using their cards (since the card was closed to new applicants in mid-2021).
HISPANOLISTIC/GETTY IMAGES
This is the best-case scenario — you keep a valuable card without being forced to cancel it. Remember, an issuer can make changes at any point.
The information for the Citi Prestige Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
You could change a discontinued card to another one with the same issuer, but there are limitations as to which cards you're allowed to change to.
Usually, you have to change to a card within the same "family" of cards. So, a card earning an issuer's transferable rewards currency may not be converted to an airline cobranded card from the same issuer.
For example, existing cardholders of the discontinued Citi® / AAdvantage® Gold World Elite™ Mastercard® can change their card to the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® (see ), as both cards are within the family of cobranded AAdvantage cards.
The information for the Citi AAdvantage Gold has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
You might be switched to a new card
If a bank discontinues and replaces a card with a newer version, then the issuer will automatically transition your card to the new one.
For example, with Barclays no longer issuing AAdvantage cards from 2026 on, its cards will eventually be transferred to Citi when it becomes the new issuer of cards like the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®.
FLY VIEW PRODUCTIONS/GETTY IMAGES
The old fan-favorite Starwood Preferred Guest Luxury Card from American Express. Its cardholders were all converted to the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card after Marriott and SPG's merger in 2018.
A more recent example is the Citi Rewards+® Card. It closed to new applicants, but a few weeks later, Citi launched theCiti Strata℠ Card (see ) as its replacement. All cardholders were automatically converted to the Citi Strata Card, and its new earning rates. In this case, the forced conversion of the Citi Rewards+ can be seen as positive or negative depending on someone's spending habits.
The information for the AAdvantage Aviator Red, Citi Rewards+ and Starwood Preferred Guest Luxury cards has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Consider these factors when deciding whether to keep a card open
If you have a credit card that no longer accepts new applications, you're probably wondering whether it pays to keep it open. Here are the major factors to consider.
The impact on your credit score
Your credit score is calculated based on five major components:
Closing a credit card can affect several of these components, including credit history, which accounts for 15% of your credit score, and your credit utilization ratio, which accounts for 30% of your credit score. When you close a discontinued card, you decrease the average age of all your credit accounts, especially if the card you're closing is older than a few years, negatively affecting your credit score.
Furthermore, closing a credit card increases your credit utilization ratio. Credit utilization is the amount you owe versus your total line of credit. Since you will have less total credit across all your accounts after canceling a card, assuming your spending stays the same, your utilization ratio will rise and, thus, bring down your credit score.
Ultimately, before proceeding, you need to consider whether a card cancellation will significantly lower your credit score.
A major consideration for any credit card is the annual fee. Ask yourself if the annual fee on a discontinued card is worth it and if you're able to keep using its benefits.
D3SIGN/GETTY IMAGES
However, if a credit card is discontinued and replaced with a newer version with benefits that vary or the annual fee increases, then it's worth considering whether the annual fee is a justified cost.
On a recently discontinued card, look out for the issuer's plans on what it will do next. If the issuer plans to switch your card to a newer version, evaluate the benefits of the card it intends to give you and compare them to your existing card.
The Citi Prestige® Card has been discontinued for nearly four years, with a replacement still pending. So, it makes sense for most existing Prestige cardholders to keep the card open to continue maximizing its benefits and earning rates rather than outright closing their account.
If you're being forced to change into the newer version of the card you currently hold, it may be worth it to cancel your card instead. Converted cards are typically ineligible for welcome bonuses. When converting a card, you could be forgoing a welcome bonus worth thousands of points or miles.
RISKA/GETTY IMAGES
Keep the new card's welcome bonus eligibility restrictions in mind. These could include restricting the bonus to previous cardholders who received a bonus a set number of months or years ago.
If the discontinued card comes with a time-sensitive perk, such as an annual free night certificate, check the fine print in your benefits guide. Be sure to use any benefits that require your card to be active and in good standing before canceling.
CLINT HENDERSON/THE POINTS GUY
Likewise, if you earned such a benefit with a discontinued card that has been converted, you will likely still be able to take advantage of it within a set time period after it's been discontinued. But be sure to use it soon, or be prepared to lose it.
Benefits not available through other cards
A top reason to keep a discontinued card open is to take advantage of perks not available on other cards or the card's newer version. For example, the Citi Prestige comes with a fourth-night-free perk, where Citi will pay for the fourth night of your stay at practically any hotel booked through the Citi travel portal (limited to two uses per year).
Four Seasons Hotel Megeve in France. DANYAL AHMED/THE POINTS GUY
Another perk of the Prestige not found on its lower-annual-fee counterpart, the Citi Strata Premier® Card (see ), is the up to $250 annual travel credit that's good toward any purchase coding as travel.
These two benefits alone would justify keeping the Citi Prestige Card open.
If you have a discontinued card, weigh whether it's worth keeping or canceling. Consider how closing it could affect your credit score and whether the benefits outweigh the annual fee.
If the issuer is converting the card to a new version, evaluate whether the new card aligns with your spending habits and reward goals.
And if the card isn’t being replaced, it may be worth keeping, especially if it offers a strong earning rate or unique benefits not available elsewhere.
