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Well, I go to my mailbox today and and pull out a letter from Citibank which read as follows:
"Following a recent review of your account, we regret to inform you that your Sears Premier account has been closed", then it goes on to state the same old industry reasons that the credit card industry uses - delinquency, etc. Mind you, I haven't had any delinquent accts in almost 3 years - with the exception of my car loan that matured in July 2008, but wasn't paid off til October 2008 so this considered this 60-90 days past due. Right now, I am just waiting for some old delinquencies and judgements from 2006 to fall off at this point. Now mind you, they lowered my limit back in July 2009 ago from $1200 down to $400 so the card has just been sitting in the sock drawer for most of 2009/2010. What really bites is that this was my oldest trade line, going all the way back to 1990 when I was in college. The crazy thing is that my credit score is higher now (647 EQ, 641 TU, 643 Fako EX from Freecredit.com) than what it was when they lowered it in July 2009. So now I have my oldest trade line gone and it will show that it has been closed by the credit grantor - man this bites big time!!! But, I know that Citibank is nothing but a skunk of a company anyway to a lot of us, so I will be calling Children's Place (also a Citibank Card) to close them before they do me wrong too!!
Just had to vent for a bit, but I appreciate all of the advice that I have gotten from these boards because it has actually helped me to raise my card and qualify for credit cards from Barnes and Noble and IBC (both Barclays issues cards) with limits of $2500 and $1000 respectively (in addition to a couple of department store cards) and show me that there are still credit card companies that value the actual customer, not just our past bad history.
Keep of the good work fellow consumers!!!
Hey Tashia!
I'm sorry to hear about Citi closing that account. They can't take away your good history, though, which will continue to report (being factored into your average age, as well) for up to ten year. You mentioned that you had it sock drawered since a CLD last year. Did you have a recurring payment or something on it? Or, was it completely idle with rare or no use?
tashia729 wrote:But, I know that Citibank is nothing but a skunk of a company anyway to a lot of us, so I will be calling Children's Place (also a Citibank Card) to close them before they do me wrong too!!
Hold it right there! Don't go closing any cards as a kneejerk response to Citi's AA on the Sears card. First, "closed by credit grantor" has absolutely no impact on your FICO score. It may strum upon your emotions, but it won't hit your score. And, if you actually use the Children's Place (love that store!) card, then you stand a good chance at keeping it open.
Sorry you lost the card, but I think the sock drawer is too blame. Why should Citi keep an account with a high risk that they are losing money on?
My wife has a Citi Sears MC from her college days. We had major CO in 2008( 5 major credit cards, but not CIti or AMEX).
AMEX dropped us after 19 years of heavy use (I still don't forgive them).
Citi Sears cut our limit in half. She called and they said the limit was lowered because of the credit problems, but they were going to keep us. It was the only creidt card we had left of any kind. We max it out every month and PIF by due date. Sometimes multiple payments to keep under CL.
I know I am in the minority here, but I think that when you are building new or rebuilding, you should use every bit of your credit line you have. I have since added 2 secured cards. And I am using them to the max as well.
Wolf3 wrote:
I know I am in the minority here, but I think that when you are building new or rebuilding, you should use every bit of your credit line you have. I have since added 2 secured cards. And I am using them to the max as well.
I watch very closely. I pay online.
I am now in the habit of paying twice on each card. I pay the minimum payment due after the statement cuts. Then I pay the rest close to the due date.
That way is something goes wrong, I am not late.
Well, in retrospect, I realized that I didn't use it as much simply because I just stopped shopping at Sears as often. My husband has had us on a really good debt management plan for the past 2 years where he would rather us not use the credit cards or if we do use them pay in full either when the statement comes or before the statement cuts. The rule is to use the checking account/debit card for the majority of our purchases when possible. and I realize that it may be good to just "prune away" the dead branches, i.e., cards that are not getting any or little use due to their low limits or because they have surpassed their usefulness.
I did go ahead and kill the Children's Place card. The limit was only $250 and as the kids have gotten older they have outgrown the store anyway, so I have only lost a total of $750 in available credit; on the flip side, I have gained $850 in credit within the past month from GEMB with Old Navy ($350) and Dick's Sporting Goods Store ($500). As Wolf3 mentioned, they weren't making any money off of me, so I decided to go through all of my cards and take a long look at which ones I will use to keep the credit lines flowing and which ones I will prune away.
@tashia729 wrote:Well, in retrospect, I realized that I didn't use it as much simply because I just stopped shopping at Sears as often. My husband has had us on a really good debt management plan for the past 2 years where he would rather us not use the credit cards or if we do use them pay in full either when the statement comes or before the statement cuts. The rule is to use the checking account/debit card for the majority of our purchases when possible. and I realize that it may be good to just "prune away" the dead branches, i.e., cards that are not getting any or little use due to their low limits or because they have surpassed their usefulness.
I did go ahead and kill the Children's Place card. The limit was only $250 and as the kids have gotten older they have outgrown the store anyway, so I have only lost a total of $750 in available credit; on the flip side, I have gained $850 in credit within the past month from GEMB with Old Navy ($350) and Dick's Sporting Goods Store ($500). As Wolf3 mentioned, they weren't making any money off of me, so I decided to go through all of my cards and take a long look at which ones I will use to keep the credit lines flowing and which ones I will prune away.
Sorry to hear about the lost of your credit card...I also have a old navy which they started me with a $500 CL. Then they CLD me to $190. Right now that card is tucked away....once a month i will go to the cleareance rack and buy something, no more than $20.00, just to keep it open.. And i also had a sears that is now a co, since back in 2004...So you are not alone...