Credit Cards

[jaxstraw]

My brother logged on and found his available balance at $0.

25k limit card with 1500 balance, never late, he has an auto loan , personal loan, checking ,savings, direct deposit, and CD with them.

He called and was told due to a periodic AR in early March they shut it down.

He has always averaged 710-720 EQ score but for Jan to early March this year an erroneous entry on all three CR dropped his score to the low 600's. He has since had them corrected and his scores are now back to 690-710 across all three. They originally approved with a 710ish EQ score.

Anyway, he called in, they told him to submit a fax to the loan committee explaining why he should have the account re-opened,and wait a week or two for a reply.

During this call he was transferred up the line and finally a Senior CSR told him they are now AR'ing and closing thousands of credit card accounts due to lower scores and/or negative entries. She said they have been fielding thousands of calls from members over the past week and are overwhelmed with members wanting an explanation.

She explained that this is not a random or one time thing, they are specifically reviewing thousands of accounts with one purpose. To see if they should AA and close them down.

I'll keep an update on his status but this is not good.

[txjohn]

Hey jax -

I saw your thread and put a copy in a thread we have been discussing possible CLD action from CU's.  Here is where I put a copy.....hope you don't mind:

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=creditcard&thread.id=157248&view=by_date_as...

[jaxstraw]

Not at all.

Sharing info is what this is all about.

There are posts about other PenFed closures on other credit sites.

It was assumed these were random, the phone call with the Senior CSR is what is scary. They are now AR'ing with a specific target........ closures.

[score_building]

sorry to hear this Jax.  it sounds like he will have the decision reversed based on what transpired.  i hope they work it out for him quickly, this has got to be a rather jarring scenario for a member.  they should have an intermediate step before closure in my opinion where they request full balance or something and alert the member to the change in status.  they appear to be using an acct closure model for AA, not unlike some big bank lenders.

Message Edited by score_building on 04-19-2009 10:18 AM

[snibarger]

jax -

PenFed approved $25k initially or that was due to CLI's over time?  How long did he have this account?

[maestro]

Sorry, but this doesn't sound legitimate.

OP, first indicates that he was told by a CSR, but goes on to explain that his brother was told, which is it.

They are probably fielding thousands of calls as a response to their 2.99 BT Offer, not due to any large scale closures.

No doubt they are reviewing thousands of accounts, probably millions, but this is likely the normal course of business.

[haulingthescoreup]

??

I re-read the first post, and I don't see where jaxstraw said that he spoke to the CSR --the whole post was relating what his brother learned.

I take this as just another indication of how vigilant we need to be to be sure that our reports are always correct. I agree with the earlier poster who said that there should have been an intermediate step, but I suppose lenders slam the door to protect themselves. At least they told him how to have it reconsidered.

jaxstraw, I hope the committee reverses the closure and restores your brother's card!

[jmbfl]

---

snibarger wrote:

jax -

PenFed approved $25k initially or that was due to CLI's over time?  How long did he have this account?

---

PenFed really doesnt laddle out auto-CLI's "just because". You pretty much have to ask for what you want with them, either initially or later. In my case it was $5K with the initial app and another $5K about a month later.

[txjohn]

I have googled some other sites as well as re-read jax, and it appears that I can only find PenFed posts on AA that relate to a drop in score and derog item in CR (though several say it was an "error").

Also, it appears the accounts that received AA had scores that dropped below 700 in addition to the derog CR entry.

Being that PenFed is "conservative" and the CL's in question were quite high ($10k - $25k) it seems that this may be semi-expected....except I would have appreciated seeing that PenFed possibly put the accounts on hold and asked for some verification or "intermediate step" as others stated.

Has anyone else found anywhere that shows CLD/AA/Closure for where no CR derog existed and no significant drop in score (one post went from 700's to 500's due to putting a 2000 square foot home expansion project on across several cards).

[txjohn]

maesto -

I can't see where OP stated that he personally spoke to the CSR.  I interpreted the post to say this is all info he received from his brother.  I think this is what jm was trying to infer, though the manner in which is was stated was not appropriate.

Can you re-read the OP and confirm if you still get the same from it? 

I want to make sure I got it right too

Message Edited by txjohn on 04-19-2009 01:38 PM