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I’ve been cleaning up my finances lately. Not because anything was wrong, but because simplicity and intention matter. I already live with a credit freeze, which feels like the bare minimum in a world where identity theft has become routine. I also made a deliberate decision to close credit cards I don’t use. If a card hasn’t been touched in over a year, and certainly not in four, it’s not serving a real purpose.
So I called the Bloomingdale’s number to close an old store card I hadn’t used in years. What surprised me wasn’t how easy it was, but how impersonal. I never spoke to a human. The IVR recognized my request and closed the account immediately. There was no transfer to an agent, no attempt to explain the value of keeping the account open, and no effort to retain the relationship. The account was simply closed, followed by a confirmation email.
Days later, I received an email saying my credit score had changed. That happens from time to time, so I almost ignored it. But when I checked, my score had dropped 41 points, moving me from the high 800s into the 700 range! 41 points dropping because you closed a single account is insane!
That’s where this stopped being a financial story and became a customer experience one.
Nothing about my financial behavior changed. I don’t miss payments and never carry balances. I pay early, not late. I have little to no debt, and my oldest active credit card is more than 30 years old and used regularly. In other words, I do everything consumers are told reflects responsible, low-risk behavior.
Yet closing one long-dormant account triggered a meaningful penalty, for no meaningful reason.
Yes, I understand the mechanics. Account age matters. Credit mix matters. The math is the math. But there’s a serious disconnect when responsible cleanup actions are penalized more harshly than behaviors that actually signal risk, like carrying large balances or missing payments.
From a customer experience perspective, this was a zero moment from start to finish. The retailer didn’t even attempt to retain the relationship. The credit agency applied a significant downgrade without context, proportionality, or warning. The customer is left confused, frustrated, and questioning a system that is supposed to reflect trustworthiness.
A single score change can influence borrowing, insurance rates, and even employment decisions. Yet the experience around it offers no transparency, no explanation that feels fair, and no acknowledgment of intent.
Responsible behavior shouldn’t be indistinguishable from risk!
This wasn’t really about a credit card. It was about how quickly a customer doing the right thing can be reduced to an algorithmic outcome, and how easily trust in the system can erode as a result.
That’s not how you build confidence. And it’s certainly not how you create a moment that feels just.
Total zero moment.
So now I’m curious. What’s something insane that you've experience that defies all logic, and lands in the zero moment pile? Tell me about it, and let's rally behind great customer (and human) experience, rewarding the right behaviors.
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