topic Re: Discover lowered my limit :/ in Credit Cards

Discover lowered my limit :/

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 15:02:08 GMT

Signed in to pay my bill and noticed that my limit went down. Called them and asked why. They said they did a random review on my account and felt like it was necessary to decrease my credit line due to my other accounts' balance going up. Aren't they even screwing up my credit by lowering my limit? I'm debating if I should close it out. I'm definitely going to pay it all off right now. Should I close it or just not use it? I was excited to get in with discover too! But if they would do random reviews and decrease my limit Im not sure if I wanna be with them

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

kdm31091 — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 15:04:47 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Signed in to pay my bill and noticed that my limit went down. Called them and asked why. They said they did a random review on my account and felt like it was necessary to decrease my credit line due to my other accounts' balance going up. Aren't they even screwing up my credit by lowering my limit? I'm debating if I should close it out. I'm definitely going to pay it all off right now. Should I close it or just not use it? I was excited to get in with discover too! But if they would do random reviews and decrease my limit Im not sure if I wanna be with them

It is not unique to Discover - it's a step many banks can and have taken when your balances go up. You can close it/not use it, but all that does is remove the benefits for you, because Discover isn't going to care either way.

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

ddemari — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 15:05:28 GMT

I wouldnt close it. There have been reports on here of the same thing happening to others. but then a few months later Discover giving them a CLI and they got back their limit or plus their original limit.

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

CreditCuriosity — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 15:06:12 GMT

Don't allow your emotions to make bad judgement calls for you.. Discover is just covering their behinds.. I assume from your post you are carrying a balance on discover along with other cards as well.. A bit more specifics would help.. What is your current utilization? Has it been going up over the past several months? Are you basically just making mininum payments on multiple carsd, etc? A bit more detail would help.

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 15:17:58 GMT

I have a few store cards and a few bank cards.. On my store cards, sometimes I just pay the minimum. I always try to prioritize my bank cards. I have chase citi and capital one. I do have a balance on those. but i am working on paying them off. I believe my utilization is on 30% right now. What really impacted my credit is when I used care credit and citi health card to cover the dental work for my family. I Received an offer in the mail from discover and accepted it back in November but I just started using it this month. Maybe I won't close it but I know I won't be using it. I guess I'm just frustrated because who would want their credit line decreased! Maybe I just got spoiled by capital one's increases...

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 15:21:59 GMT

Discover was my first card and two years later it sat at an 800 CL and they refuse to increase it. While most of my newer cards were around 8k. I'm not into having to make multiple payments per month to keep my utilization low. I axed them because I felt like they didn't offer what I was looking for. Even the cash back was useless to me. Would you also mind posting your current and previous limi . As well as the amount of utilization?

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 15:25:10 GMT

I agree with others who recommended to keep the account open. Discover is definitely a card that will serve you well. Just show good usage and payments. Thirty per cent utilizaiton is enough to make most credit card lenders take notice.

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

UFGuy2006 — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 15:35:10 GMT

Curious, how big of a decrease was it? I would agree with others - keep it open. Once you pass this and balances go down, the card should grow with you.

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

baller4life — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 15:38:35 GMT

Well this is one we don't hear about often. OP I definitely wouldn't close it. Once you get your balances down you can request a cli. It will grow even higher than it was. Sorry to hear this happened to you. The big banks are just covering their butts. Hang in there!

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

B335is — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 15:53:52 GMT

It's hard not to get emotional when these things happen. I've been through it with BoA and Barclays and it's a crappy feeling.

How much of a decrease was it?

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 15:54:32 GMT

My starting limit was 800 and they decreased it to $500. :/ I guess it wouldn't hurt if I leave it open. I feel like I can't make it my main card. It's been the inly card I carry around with me this month and I'm surprised there's still some stores that dont accept it

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

B335is — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 15:57:08 GMT

How long have you had the card?

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 16:21:15 GMT

Be patient, pay down your balances, grow your scores, and down the road you can end up with a nice fat limit on the card.

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

taxi818 — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 16:23:28 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
My starting limit was 800 and they decreased it to $500. :/ I guess it wouldn't hurt if I leave it open. I feel like I can't make it my main card. It's been the inly card I carry around with me this month and I'm surprised there's still some stores that dont accept it

Damn!! I thought a 5k decrease. The fact it is at $800 tells you they're nervous about your profile. I would not sweat a $300 decrease. Easily made up elsewhere. Good luck. For sure don't close it because of that.

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

pipeguy — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 16:33:33 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
My starting limit was 800 and they decreased it to $500. :/ I guess it wouldn't hurt if I leave it open. I feel like I can't make it my main card. It's been the inly card I carry around with me this month and I'm surprised there's still some stores that dont accept it

Although I carry a higher limit on Discover ($17k) and typically take advantage of their BT offers, my wife just opened her account last fall (I was carrying her as an AU, but told her to get her own card because it was a good card). DW started with an $800 CL, then 3 months in she missed a payment by one day, just an oversight, Discover dropped her limit to $500 which didn't make her happy. 3 months later it went back up to $800, this month it went to $1200. She doesn't use the card much, but my point is that Discover will watch their risk, but they'll also work with you.

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 16:53:42 GMT

I'm thinking it's some combination of factors and not just utilization. In my experience high utilization does not scare Discover. In fact, I've had both my discover (90+%) and another card maxed out for years with my overall sitting at nearly 50% and they've been increasing my limit. I got an auto CLI fairly recently. It is my oldest card at 10 years. My problem is that I'll pay it down partially and then max it out again. People like me are CASH COWS. Something else in your profile spooked them. Don't dump them, give them a chance, they are pretty great.

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

SouthJamaica — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 17:27:19 GMT

@CreditCuriousity wrote:
Don't allow your emotions to make bad judgement calls for you.. Discover is just covering their behinds.. I assume from your post you are carrying a balance on discover along with other cards as well.. A bit more specifics would help.. What is your current utilization? Has it been going up over the past several months? Are you basically just making mininum payments on multiple carsd, etc? A bit more detail would help.

Agreed

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

Appleman — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 17:56:21 GMT

Also, you should consider this a warning shot. Any further worsening of your credit profile will likely result in additional AA (adverse actions).

It is nothing personal (although it feels so personal) just a business decision that was made by a computer program.

I speak from experience, 15+ years ago, had awesome credit, just finished a degree and started a family. I went WILD with credit; trips, cars, furniture, I was living like I earned 3-4 X my income and it did not take long for the credit card companies to catch on. I was balance chased and had the embarassement of having cards declined.

I am sorry to hear about your situation and it helps remind me of previous financial mis-adventures. Work on paying down the balances and getting the utilization down, that plus time and perfect payment histories will boost your scores.

Good luck, the one thing that really helped me was utilizing a budget. It doesn't matter how money you make, if you don't control the money it will control you.

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

UncleB — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 17:59:58 GMT

Lots of good advice so far... I'll just add a 'twist' on how to look at it.

When I got my Amex BCP, they only gave me a $1k credit line, and they have refused multiple CLI requests due to an account that was included in bankruptcy 16 years ago. (I feel that's relevant to mention here since I can't simply 'work on my profile', etc.)

Rather than get annoyed, I've decided to "make 'em pay" - literally.

I use the heck out of the card, and I milk it for all the cash rewards I can (especially at grocery stores). While I would love to have a higher credit line, I make it work hard the way it is, and I "make 'em pay" me at least every other month for the privileged of being in my wallet.

If I were you, I would do the same with Discover... closing the account would let them 'off the hook', so to speak. There's money to be earned via their 5% cash back categories, and their 'Discover Deals'! If it were me, I would keep the card, use the heck out of it (make it pay!) and in time you'll be back to where you started, if not even more.

Hang in there!

Re: Discover lowered my limit :/

baller4life — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 18:17:29 GMT

I wouldn't care if Discover cld me to $500 from $17k. I will NEVER close it. They'll have to pry Discover out of my cold,dead hand! That is one card that I will keep for the long haul! PERIOD!