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PENFED CLOSED MY 40,000 SECURED CREDIT CARD

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Odiseous
Frequent Contributor

Re: PENFED CLOSED MY 40,000 SECURED CREDIT CARD


@Anonymous wrote:

@Odiseous wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

@jasimae wrote:

I feel you, but a good CU (or any CU or financial institution for that matter) has to abide by the law first.  When they receive those legal documents, they are bound to act upon them immediately. Their first course of action is to do what is instructed within the documents.  Next, they notify you.  At this point it's up to you to put this to untangle this web.  I know you're probably peeved because all of your money is locked down on that card (which, again, I don't understand why) but this is, unfortunately, the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.


I am just so sad, I've been crying all day, im a human being... a person with a name and feelings, this really hurt me, penfed is going to get sued for what they've done to me, class action because this  is abuse, emotional abuse and verbal abuse because the csr was so rude and they havent called me back.


I feel for you.  

 

But I do believe you have the incorrect interpretation of what a 'Class Action Lawsuit' is. 


Perhaps the OP knows a few other people who have had the same issue Smiley Happy

 


You are correct. I hadn't considered that. My bad. 

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Message 31 of 66
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: PENFED CLOSED MY 40,000 SECURED CREDIT CARD

I have to agree with everyone here. As an employee of a financial institution I can tell you that not only do they have every right to do what they did but they also have a legal obligation. Running a credit union or bank for that matter is all based on a balance of risk. I once worked in an institution that offered a secured card up to a limit of $10,000. I had a customer that applied for the card and attempted to deposit the maximum amount. His application was declined based solely on the fact that it was considered suspicious activity. It was suspicious because nobody can understand why anyone would lock up $10,000 (let alone $40,000) on a secured card. Please help us all to understand the motive in doing this.

 

Normally when you open a secured card you put down the entire deposit immediately. As you stated the balance of $27,000 was from usage over 4 months and balance transfers. If you are sitting on 40k and have less then that in balance transfers, then why wouldn't you pay off your debts and judgments first and then if anything is remaining put it towards a secured card to help rebuild your credit? That would have been the fastest way not only to achieving better credit, but also financial freedom, peace of mind and avoiding this horrible situation all together. I hope for your sake the court comes to some arrangement that will allow you to make payments and take this as a lesson learned, but the first step is to stop blaming everyone else.

Message 32 of 66
clocktick
Valued Contributor

Re: PENFED CLOSED MY 40,000 SECURED CREDIT CARD


@Anonymous wrote:

 I once worked in an institution that offered a secured card up to a limit of $10,000. I had a customer that applied for the card and attempted to deposit the maximum amount. His application was declined based solely on the fact that it was considered suspicious activity. It was suspicious because nobody can understand why anyone would lock up $10,000 (let alone $40,000) on a secured card. Please help us all to understand the motive in doing this.

 



Why would a financial institution offer a secured limit of up to $10k if they find people that apply for this suspicious? 

 

I dd this with BOA and a local CU simultaneously.  My "motive" was to improve my utilization and scores and to show underwriters I had the funds to pay creditors back and, hopefully, not be seen as a risk.  I think it worked and I also think it's one of the reasons why Amex approved me (3x) even while showing an old Amex chargeoff.

 

Now, in the OP's situation there is a lot we do not know and may never know.  It does seem odd to put that amount up for a secured card while owing money on 5 judgments.  Apparently, the court thought so too.  In this day and age you can basically sue anybody for anything.  Whether you have a leg to stand on is a different story entirely.  I would like to see how this plays out.   

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Message 33 of 66
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: PENFED CLOSED MY 40,000 SECURED CREDIT CARD


@clocktick wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

 I once worked in an institution that offered a secured card up to a limit of $10,000. I had a customer that applied for the card and attempted to deposit the maximum amount. His application was declined based solely on the fact that it was considered suspicious activity. It was suspicious because nobody can understand why anyone would lock up $10,000 (let alone $40,000) on a secured card. Please help us all to understand the motive in doing this.

 



Why would a financial institution offer a secured limit of up to $10k if they find people that apply for this suspicious? 

 

I dd this with BOA and a local CU simultaneously.  My "motive" was to improve my utilization and scores and to show underwriters I had the funds to pay creditors back and, hopefully, not be seen as a risk.  I think it worked and I also think it's one of the reasons why Amex approved me (3x) even while showing an old Amex chargeoff.

 

Now, in the OP's situation there is a lot we do not know and may never know.  It does seem odd to put that amount up for a secured card while owing money on 5 judgments.  Apparently, the court thought so too.  In this day and age you can basically sue anybody for anything.  Whether you have a leg to stand on is a different story entirely.  I would like to see how this plays out.   


As I stated it is a balance of risk. When someone applies for the max of course it throws up a red flag, that is not to say that if you have other means to support why you applied for that amount, that the bank wouldn't take that into consideration. No application for credit, including a secured card, is a guarantee. There are many things to consider. If an applicant can't show the income, credit history or stability then it can be seen as suspicious. Unfortunately there is way too much fraud in the industry to just accept any application based on good faith. I don't know the details of your situation but there are of course instances when someone can apply for the max and be approved, such as they just don't have enough credit history to be given an unsecured card for that amount. Or perhaps they had problems in the past but they are paid off and they have the income to support the limit. However in the OP's situation, it didn't sound to me as if that was the case. Yes you can sue anybody for anything but if you were on payment arragements already, doesn't that show that the debt is valid? Also, payment arragements are usually made for those that don't have the funds to pay the debt upfront and generally you must document that this is the case. When you have a secured card those funds are put into a savings account, even though you may never see it. The question then arises, why is this large amount of money in savings and not being used to repay the debts?

Message 34 of 66
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: PENFED CLOSED MY 40,000 SECURED CREDIT CARD

Sorry... It must of been obvious looking at yoru credit tho. Low credit lines and then one huge credit line. They must of thought of that could be secured...

Message 35 of 66
Mellon
Established Contributor

Re: PENFED CLOSED MY 40,000 SECURED CREDIT CARD

This story reeks of lies

Message 36 of 66
n777ua
Established Contributor

Re: PENFED CLOSED MY 40,000 SECURED CREDIT CARD

Something doesn't sound right here, but for arguments sake, lets assume its all true. To the OP: I don't think anyone here doesn't understand how upset you are, but I think you need to understand, PenFed did exactly what they had to do. Feel free to contact an attorney and your senator, but unless there's something we don't understand here, you're out the $40k. Plain and simple. I know it sucks. I would take a day or two and not make any rash decisions, then make a plan to get out of this mess. I'm not familiar with the PenFed T&C's, and I've never had a secured card, but 30% APR on the balance seems insane, maybe there can be some negotiation there. Also, if you're truly unable to pay, and unable to begin to pay, might be time to think about a 7BK.
About $215,000 total credit among 11 cards
Message 37 of 66
UFGuy2006
Established Contributor

Re: PENFED CLOSED MY 40,000 SECURED CREDIT CARD


@n777ua wrote:
Something doesn't sound right here, but for arguments sake, lets assume its all true. To the OP: I don't think anyone here doesn't understand how upset you are, but I think you need to understand, PenFed did exactly what they had to do. Feel free to contact an attorney and your senator, but unless there's something we don't understand here, you're out the $40k. Plain and simple. I know it sucks. I would take a day or two and not make any rash decisions, then make a plan to get out of this mess. I'm not familiar with the PenFed T&C's, and I've never had a secured card, but 30% APR on the balance seems insane, maybe there can be some negotiation there. Also, if you're truly unable to pay, and unable to begin to pay, might be time to think about a 7BK.

+1

Message 38 of 66
smc733
Valued Contributor

Re: PENFED CLOSED MY 40,000 SECURED CREDIT CARD

I can certainly understand that you must be feeling horrendously upset, especially since this was so unexpected.  But I think it would be more beneficial if you directed your anger in the right direction.

 

For instance, if Citi, Bank of America, PSECU, Alliant, Chase, USAA, Navy, etc...  were given a court order, they would ablidge and do the same.  A corporation/financial institution cannot deny a court order.  It does look suspicious to be on a payment plan for judgements, yet put $40,000 on a secured card.  I'm sorry to say, that really isn't your money until you pay back the people whose money you've spent.

 

Regardless, that was certainly not the way for things to go, but your cardmember agreement did clearly lay out terms for default (which this counts as), and you did agree to that default rate when you opened the account.  While they could have gone about informing you a little more tactfully, understand that they have to do all kinds of random things every day.  Don't direct your anger so much at penfed as whomever it was that ordered the judgement.

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Message 39 of 66
barbaralee
Established Contributor

Re: PENFED CLOSED MY 40,000 SECURED CREDIT CARD

I called PenFed because I was curious exactly how high their credit limits on secured cards go and I couldn't find the info on the net. Rep told me $2000.

Message 40 of 66
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