Quite the Chase Surprise . . CLD

[LS2982]

This has got me spooked now going 50% of limit with them and having some other cards with balances.

[BlueNightStar]

Chase absolutely does not like high utilization spanning more than a few months. I've been a CC holder for 5 years and have run the gamut from completely overextended to now finally PIF every month. Whatever alogorithm their computer system uses is highly sensitive to everything. Make a large payment when you have been carrying a balance gets you an immediate SP. Running up your balance to more than 30% of your CL during the month (even when you PIF) gets an immediate SP. A one time charge larger than a normal purchase (i.e., car repair) gets an immediate SP.

The only reason I know this is because I started using a budgeting program 2 years ago and I can check what happened on any account on the date the I was SPd. In fairness to Chase, my credit scores started out marginal at best and I've only just moved into a less risky group in the past year. They are probably not as picky if you have better scores and history with them. However, I do think the entire banking industry has become more cautious after the events of the past few years and while they might be willing to again begin extending credit to those with less than perfect scores, they are going to monitor them closely.  CLs will be adjusted to reflect their assesment of risk at an early stage, not waiting until someone has every card maxed out and begins to miss payments before taking action.

[CreditScholar]

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@BlueNightStar wrote:

Chase absolutely does not like high utilization spanning more than a few months. I've been a CC holder for 5 years and have run the gamut from completely overextended to now finally PIF every month. Whatever alogorithm their computer system uses is highly sensitive to everything. Make a large payment when you have been carrying a balance gets you an immediate SP. Running up your balance to more than 30% of your CL during the month (even when you PIF) gets an immediate SP. A one time charge larger than a normal purchase (i.e., car repair) gets an immediate SP.

The only reason I know this is because I started using a budgeting program 2 years ago and I can check what happened on any account on the date the I was SPd. In fairness to Chase, my credit scores started out marginal at best and I've only just moved into a less risky group in the past year. They are probably not as picky if you have better scores and history with them. However, I do think the entire banking industry has become more cautious after the events of the past few years and while they might be willing to again begin extending credit to those with less than perfect scores, they are going to monitor them closely.  CLs will be adjusted to reflect their assesment of risk at an early stage, not waiting until someone has every card maxed out and begins to miss payments before taking action.

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If that's the case, they must be softing me every month. I always am using over 30% of my CL (even though I also always PIF), and I'm frequently making large purchases. =/

[swpopham]

+1 Haha just had that talk with chase over my new msi laptop. Told the nice guy you will NEVER figure my spending out 20k this month for $1.73 the next lol he said why? Cause I have more cards in my wallet to abuse. He laughed and said we will be your only card, soon enough no worries. What else can I do for you ;-)

[Revelate]

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@LS2982 wrote:
This has got me spooked now going 50% of limit with them and having some other cards with balances.

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So don't cause Chase to lose money by purchasing a single item for 10K and then turning around and writing a check for it.  Big time rewards, for limited transaction fee and no interest.  Why would anyone expect lenders to encourage that sort of behavior?  That's likely the primary reason Amex charges such high fees on their Centurion cards, to offset that sort of nonsense.   

When people do things out of the statistical norm which turns them from needle in the proverbial haystack, to waving flashing neon signs screaming "Hey look at me!" for the lenders review processes, expect to get cut off at the knees... and seriously, 26K to 15K for limits that weren't being used much, doesn't really sound like a big deal financially.  I'll also mention the Discover near AA miss, and the slew of accounts that have been opened with in the past year or so chasing signup bonuses if I remember the OP's posts from a few months ago correctly.

Chase shoudn't earn any negative publicity here, if anything they probably should've done it sooner.

[crunching_numbers]

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@FrugalRican wrote:

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@AF_23 wrote:

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@FrugalRican wrote:

I wonder if you know what your FICO scores really are.

You said you pulled all three scores this morning. Where did you this? You can't just pull your Experian FICO score anymore.

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Relax on the questioning. Hes answered a bit on his situation and it appears Chase is acting like a fool if hes telling the truth that its related to just INQ's and a loan that was recieved.

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It's relevant.

INQ's are part of the equation, his FICO score very may well be a part of the "reasons" as well. Notice, they hinted at two "main" reasons, there could have been more and the letter might hint at that. The OP is operating under the assumption that the FICO scores he pulled are the correct ones, when it may be lower OR even higher. If they are in fact higher, it makes the situation all the more unusual... specially since the INQs are mortgage-related and the non-computer personnas working at Chase should have been able to read the classification.

Sorry if it seems like "unrelaxed" questioning, but I've learned that "main reasons" usually means there are more than just the main ones, but minor ones as well. It helps for one to paint a full picture in order to get a better idea of where one stands.

I'm just merely trying to help, that is all... specially if I see someone who is potentially pulling FAKOs, thinking they are FICOs.

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Am I the only one who thinks that the OP needs to ask the people who PULLED THE CREDIT (hello- mortgage shopping folks!) for his FICO's? Should be a no-brainer free access to ALL THREE real FICO's. 

And I question his DW getting a loan and it affecting his CL's.  Something hit HIS reports.  The other thing that Chase has done in the past (and I know because they did it to us) is CLD when a new mortgage hit.  They figure that now that you have a mortgage you are going to overspend improving and furnishing your house.

[navigatethis12]

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@Revelate wrote:

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So don't cause Chase to lose money by purchasing a single item for 10K and then turning around and writing a check for it.  Big time rewards, for limited transaction fee and no interest.  Why would anyone expect lenders to encourage that sort of behavior?  That's likely the primary reason Amex charges such high fees on their Centurion cards, to offset that sort of nonsense.   

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I absolutely disagree with that. Chase is still earning money on that 10,000 transaction even if you do not carry the balance. I received $300 for the Chase Freedom I have and swiped until I could swipe no more when it was 5% on groceries and I have never carried a balance. According to you Chase should decrease the limit on the card or close it because they are not bleeding me dry of money. If they made no money they would not have these kind of programs for people to use. The people that do carry balances offset the money lost on people who only use it for the 5%. Keep in mind that a lot of people will only use one card for everything, even when they only earn 1%.

I do this with all the cards I have; buy with them for the high cashback, earn interest on the money until the statement cuts, and then pay it off. I would imagine they prefer someone who pays off way before it is due to someone who pays late a lot and always has a balance. The balane carrying person would be more likely to default.

[emptypockets]

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@crunching_numbers wrote:

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@FrugalRican wrote:

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@AF_23 wrote:

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@FrugalRican wrote:

I wonder if you know what your FICO scores really are.

You said you pulled all three scores this morning. Where did you this? You can't just pull your Experian FICO score anymore.

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Relax on the questioning. Hes answered a bit on his situation and it appears Chase is acting like a fool if hes telling the truth that its related to just INQ's and a loan that was recieved.

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It's relevant.

INQ's are part of the equation, his FICO score very may well be a part of the "reasons" as well. Notice, they hinted at two "main" reasons, there could have been more and the letter might hint at that. The OP is operating under the assumption that the FICO scores he pulled are the correct ones, when it may be lower OR even higher. If they are in fact higher, it makes the situation all the more unusual... specially since the INQs are mortgage-related and the non-computer personnas working at Chase should have been able to read the classification.

Sorry if it seems like "unrelaxed" questioning, but I've learned that "main reasons" usually means there are more than just the main ones, but minor ones as well. It helps for one to paint a full picture in order to get a better idea of where one stands.

I'm just merely trying to help, that is all... specially if I see someone who is potentially pulling FAKOs, thinking they are FICOs.

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Am I the only one who thinks that the OP needs to ask the people who PULLED THE CREDIT (hello- mortgage shopping folks!) for his FICO's? Should be a no-brainer free access to ALL THREE real FICO's. 

And I question his DW getting a loan and it affecting his CL's.  Something hit HIS reports.  The other thing that Chase has done in the past (and I know because they did it to us) is CLD when a new mortgage hit.  They figure that now that you have a mortgage you are going to overspend improving and furnishing your house.

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One thing people should keep in mind when reading and posting is...we only get the info that the poster wishes to give. There may be many other pieces to the story that we are not given, in any situation. Then when posters are asked for additional info about what may be on the reports, they may not be totally forthcoming. Such is the age of social media/forums. In these cases, comments/advice can only be given based on what info is provided.

[Revelate]

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@navigatethis12 wrote:

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@Revelate wrote:

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So don't cause Chase to lose money by purchasing a single item for 10K and then turning around and writing a check for it.  Big time rewards, for limited transaction fee and no interest.  Why would anyone expect lenders to encourage that sort of behavior?  That's likely the primary reason Amex charges such high fees on their Centurion cards, to offset that sort of nonsense.   

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I absolutely disagree with that. Chase is still earning money on that 10,000 transaction even if you do not carry the balance. I received $300 for the Chase Freedom I have and swiped until I could swipe no more when it was 5% on groceries and I have never carried a balance. According to you Chase should decrease the limit on the card or close it because they are not bleeding me dry of money. If they made no money they would not have these kind of programs for people to use. The people that do carry balances offset the money lost on people who only use it for the 5%. Keep in mind that a lot of people will only use one card for everything, even when they only earn 1%.

I do this with all the cards I have; buy with them for the high cashback, earn interest on the money until the statement cuts, and then pay it off. I would imagine they prefer someone who pays off way before it is due to someone who pays late a lot and always has a balance. The balane carrying person would be more likely to default.

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I'm not suggesting to offset things by carrying a balance I'm just pointing out that the OP suggests he doesn't, so no money made there; however, AFAIK swipe fees are capped beyond some value, and I suspect that 10K is well above that.

To re-iterate: the point wasn't that thou shalt carry a balance - heck I don't carry a balance unless I have a cash-flow problem in any given set of months; however, to suggest that banks are willing to lose money on an individual customer is simply sloppy thinking.

I don't know the OP's income, and I don't know his typical spend, but I verified my memory by going back and finding a post from March suggesting he'd opened up something like 7 cards in the past year chasing signup bonuses... how many of those do you think actually get used?  Also that's more inquiries than simply mortgage shopping.  Do we honestly think lenders are so unsophisicated that they can't read a credit-report and pick out that pattern of behavior?  I know I could do it, and most if not all underwriters are more savvy than I am.

I think people on this forum should expect more AA, we do things that most people, just don't.  Banks don't like statistical outliers, anything they can't categorize into their nice and tidy risk metrics, is going to get looked at.  It's not worth crying over, it's not as if it's going to ruin your life, just take the lesson and do things somewhat differently next time.  This was an equivalent of a verbal spanking in my perspective, not even getting sent to one's room.

[n777ua]

Hey just a quick update, thanks for everyone's replies.

I spoke at length with a very nice person from Chase's XO yesterday, we spoke for almost 45 minutes asking questions, why were accounts opened, what was the loan for, verifying income, spending habits, etc.  I was completely honest, told him most of the accounts were open for spending bonus's or whatever, that'd I'd flown to Hong Kong and stayed there for free on Amex and Citi's dime etc etc.  He laughed and said everyone does it, but doesn't realize it can really hurt credit in the long run.

I don't have the time to post all the quetions and answers, he did say he would do everything possible to get some/all of my CL reinstated.  When that happens, I'll post the results here.