We've paid down my husbands Sears card from about 1800 to $930. They just freakin reduced his limit to $1050.
So, yeah, 88% utilization.. I'm so furious at them I could scream.
His credit score is going to nosedive as soon it reports on the 5th, oh yeah, and mine too since I'm an authorized user on the account.
Nope, no notice at all. No online message, no letter, nothing, they just reduced it without notice. Once the interest hits, he'll be at 93% utilization. I didn't think that was even legal anymore.
@JenniferinFL wrote:We've paid down my husbands Sears card from about 1800 to $930. They just freakin reduced his limit to $1050.
So, yeah, 88% utilization.. I'm so furious at them I could scream.
His credit score is going to nosedive as soon it reports on the 5th, oh yeah, and mine too since I'm an authorized user on the account.
What a reward for paying down your balance...what a bunch of turds.
I'm sorry...people can defend these scumbag tactics by CC issuers all they want. This one is bush league and they know it.
Personally, I'd pay them off and close the door on them. I wouldn't do business with a company that valued me so little that they would happily take $900 of my money and reward me with nice fat util %. Unless there are serious red flags (like a soft pull showing some distress signals), there is no excuse for it.
@CreditCrusader wrote:
@JenniferinFL wrote:We've paid down my husbands Sears card from about 1800 to $930. They just freakin reduced his limit to $1050.
So, yeah, 88% utilization.. I'm so furious at them I could scream.
His credit score is going to nosedive as soon it reports on the 5th, oh yeah, and mine too since I'm an authorized user on the account.
What a reward for paying down your balance...what a bunch of turds.
I'm sorry...people can defend these scumbag tactics by CC issuers all they want. This one is bush league and they know it.
Personally, I'd pay them off and close the door on them. I wouldn't do business with a company that valued me so little that they would happily take $900 of my money and reward me with nice fat util %. Unless there are serious red flags (like a soft pull showing some distress signals), there is no excuse for it.
The only thing different is that Amex reported a balance of $400 on the charge card. All other utilization is much lower than ever.
I paid $325 on it from checking, initiated a balance transfer for $350 from my Journey Cap One card (hopefully Sears Mastercard through CITI isn't somehow a subsidiary)
Hopefully those manage to hit before the statement date on the 4th-5th.
This card is getting throroughly sockdrawed.
My credit might take a temproray hit this next month, but, since I'm not on the mortgage and not seeking credit right now, well, small price to pay to protect my husbands credit score in case we're still not closed on the house.
@crunching_numbers wrote:I am sorry that you were balance chased. We have been victims of it ourselves. Sometimes they balance chase when they see that you have an inq from a mortgage company. There is a good chance this was more related to the mortgage than your payment history. They did it to us when we did a refinance. Chased down several cards and totally blew our scores. The part that helped us is that the lower CL's did not hit our reports until after we closed, so it did not affect our financing.
From what I have read, they think that you will run out and charge all kinds of new stuff for your new home, and have difficulty paying your new higher bills. I think it is a load of hogwash.
EDITED TO ADD: Our of curiousity, who else balance chased you? I don't want to do business with companies who balance chase for no reason.
I just don't get why they didn't do it sooner. We've had mortgage inquiries for a couple years now. I just checked his credit again, nothing new on it at all.
I think it's part strategic, he doesn't have another major credit card with enough available credit limit to take on that $900. I think the strategy was that they thought we would charge a couple things throughout the month and they'd get to hit us with an overlimit fee, raise our interest and all that fun stuff and there'd be nothing we could do about it. I'm just glad I checked it again today!
Oh well, his Cap one will report a zero balance again on the 22nd, so, as soon as the statement generates I'll balance transfer the remaining $258. Hopefully nothing else reports until after the house closes. I'm glad I'm not on the mortgage so that I can sacrifice my utilization to salvage this. That card is never seeing the light of day again. That card was his highest limit, so, it's going to be tough to get him another real card. His only cards are that one, cap one platinum with a tiny limit of $300, and a carecredit account. He has a paypal smart connect too, but, I don't know if that counts as more than a store card. He also has a Zync charge. I was really hoping he could get another real card shortly after closing on the house, but, doesn't look like that's going to happen.