topic Re: Oh Chase .. 99% credit reduction! in Credit Cards

Oh Chase .. 80% credit reduction!

CreditPacMan — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 03:19:51 GMT

I have two cards with Chase, the Sapphire that had a $11k credit limit and United that had $6k. Today, Chase reviewed my account and reduced my Sapphire to $500 credit limit and the United to $2.5k credit limit.

A bit of my credit situation right now. I am leveraging a large portion of my available credit across multiple credit cards where my overall utilization right now is %35. Some cards have higher utilization individually compared to overall utilization so naturally I pay them off first; that means that there are some cards in my profile that I deem them less important to pay off first do actually end up carrying a balance for a few months.

Apparently this spooked Chase which I should have expected. In 2021 they did the exact same thing but the difference then is that I carried a balance on their cards for over a year, so I was thinking this time that as long as I am not touching their cards and they know that I am paying the other cards I'd be okay.

I get their position as a bank that they think my financial management is risky, but I have an excel sheet where every purchase investment that I make is tracked with a payment plan.

And I was thinking AMEX is the only one that is easily spooked by balances

Re: Oh Chase .. 99% credit reduction!

AndySoCal — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 00:56:03 GMT

@CreditPacMan I have come to the conclusion that lenders do not look at percentages they look the dollar amount of all debts. Percentages are for credit score models. We don't go to the store and pay in percentages. Salary increases are expressed in terms of a percentage. The thing we want know much is the net difference between the old check and the new check. The problem with percentages is that can they can be skewed and lenders know this. When a consumer carries a significant amount of debt is that it only takes one event to cause things to go in a downward spiral. I will use a friend of mine as an example, he had several cards with high utilization somehow he managed to keep current. Then the unexpected event happened the private school where he had teaching for a long time laid him off due budget reasons. Long story short is he filed BK 7 several credit card lenders lost money. Chase was not spooked but the amount of debt represents risk. The limits were adjusted to reflect that risk. Also, your history with them may have been a contributing factor.

Re: Oh Chase .. 99% credit reduction!

hdporter — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 00:57:48 GMT

Curious what your fico 8's were at the time of the slash.

Re: Oh Chase .. 99% credit reduction!

captseaton — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 02:19:17 GMT

I bought a (foreclosed) condo back in 2011. Paid cash. Used the credit card with the best rewards to buy paint, carpet, and other needed items. I had 3 cards at the time. 2 Chase and 1 Citi. I was running up the Citi to 20% of usage and Chase decided to close my 2 cards with them. No warning, no explanation. No missed payments.

I was also banking with Chase at the time, I closed all my accounts.

Chase is like a worried elderly parent who freaks out when you buy a stick of chewing gum.

Re: Oh Chase .. 99% credit reduction!

pauldc73 — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 03:01:30 GMT

I'm not sure what the percentage really is, but I'm certain it's not a 99% reduction. As they say, the math is not mathing

Re: Oh Chase .. 99% credit reduction!

CreditPacMan — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 03:12:46 GMT

It may be very well that they're looking at my outstanding debt compared to my income and they're thinking it's too much for their risk appetite. I was just surprised.

I funded a lot of projects this year and AMEX slashed my credit lines like right at the beginning when I started to carry balances on some cards. I closed all my cards with AMEX right there but their behavior did not surprise me as I knew they were like that. I expected Chase to be more patient; guess I was wrong.

I completely get it; lenders look at the information available to them; that is my income and my outstanding debt. They do not really know how I budget and plan to pay the debt.

@AndySoCal wrote:
@CreditPacMan I have come to the conclusion that lenders do not look at percentages they look the dollar amount of all debts. Percentages are for credit score models. We don't go to the store and pay in percentages. Salary increases are expressed in terms of a percentage. The thing we want know much is the net difference between the old check and the new check. The problem with percentages is that can they can be skewed and lenders know this. When a consumer carries a significant amount of debt is that it only takes one event to cause things to go in a downward spiral. I will use a friend of mine as an example, he had several cards with high utilization somehow he managed to keep current. Then the unexpected event happened the private school where he had teaching for a long time laid him off due budget reasons. Long story short is he filed BK 7 several credit card lenders lost money. Chase was not spooked but the amount of debt represents risk. The limits were adjusted to reflect that risk. Also, your history with them may have been a contributing factor.

Re: Oh Chase .. 99% credit reduction!

CreditPacMan — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 03:14:08 GMT

@hdporter wrote:
Curious what your fico 8's were at the time of the slash.

They're currently in the mid-600s .. I believe 660.

Re: Oh Chase .. 99% credit reduction!

CreditPacMan — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 03:20:31 GMT

It's not .. it feels like it though .

Actual reduction is over 80%.

@pauldc73 wrote:
I'm not sure what the percentage really is, but I'm certain it's not a 99% reduction. As they say, the math is not mathing

Re: Oh Chase .. 99% credit reduction!

firefox100 — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 15:10:29 GMT

Please don't take this the wrong way, want do you want from Chase, your fico scores are the mid 660's. I had in the past had about 25K balance on over 2 cards and making thousand or more per month and nothing has happen but in my case my fico scores are well over 800. They can see from my past history that I have spent several thousands of dollars and paid it off in 45 days or les several times over past years. Banks have models that can predict percentages of bust out, and they can check your checking activity with other banks using early warning system.

Re: Oh Chase .. 99% credit reduction!

Kforce — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 16:10:06 GMT

@CreditPacMan wrote:
It's not .. it feels like it though .
Actual reduction is over 80%.
@pauldc73 wrote:
I'm not sure what the percentage really is, but I'm certain it's not a 99% reduction. As they say, the math is not mathing

First one is ~95% reduction

2nd is only ~58% reduction.

Average is ~77%, so the original guess of 80% was very close to the average.

A substantial reduction no mater the %.

Re: Oh Chase .. 80% credit reduction!

sjt — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 22:30:22 GMT

I would continue to paydown the balance and then ask for your credit line to be restored.

Re: Oh Chase .. 80% credit reduction!

CreditPacMan — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 04:05:27 GMT

They offered to reconsider their decision but asked me to allow a hard pull which I found very insulting .. if they used a soft pull to make a decision like this, why ask for a hard pull to reverse it? So I closed both cards.

@sjt wrote:
I would continue to paydown the balance and then ask for your credit line to be restored.

Re: Oh Chase .. 80% credit reduction!

NoMoreE46 — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 14:23:00 GMT

@CreditPacMan wrote:
I have two cards with Chase, the Sapphire that had a $11k credit limit and United that had $6k. Today, Chase reviewed my account and reduced my Sapphire to $500 credit limit and the United to $2.5k credit limit.

A bit of my credit situation right now. I am leveraging a large portion of my available credit across multiple credit cards where my overall utilization right now is %35. Some cards have higher utilization individually compared to overall utilization so naturally I pay them off first; that means that there are some cards in my profile that I deem them less important to pay off first do actually end up carrying a balance for a few months.

Apparently this spooked Chase which I should have expected. In 2021 they did the exact same thing but the difference then is that I carried a balance on their cards for over a year, so I was thinking this time that as long as I am not touching their cards and they know that I am paying the other cards I'd be okay.

I get their position as a bank that they think my financial management is risky, but I have an excel sheet where every purchase investment that I make is tracked with a payment plan.

And I was thinking AMEX is the only one that is easily spooked by balances

They aint picking on you personally, it is a numbers thing as you have already noted.

Bummer about the CLD from Chase and moreso by closing of the those two cards. With these and the Amex closures, will your UTI be materially impacted?

Re: Oh Chase .. 80% credit reduction!

Debt-is-a-Scam — Sat, 13 Sep 2025 05:05:06 GMT

Perhaps this can be a wake up call to not rely so much on credit.

Re: Oh Chase .. 80% credit reduction!

CreditPacMan — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 18:12:16 GMT

In theory yes for sure, but not by a lot. The credit line I had on these chase cards is still relatively small.

@NoMoreE46 wrote:
@CreditPacMan wrote:
I have two cards with Chase, the Sapphire that had a $11k credit limit and United that had $6k. Today, Chase reviewed my account and reduced my Sapphire to $500 credit limit and the United to $2.5k credit limit.

A bit of my credit situation right now. I am leveraging a large portion of my available credit across multiple credit cards where my overall utilization right now is %35. Some cards have higher utilization individually compared to overall utilization so naturally I pay them off first; that means that there are some cards in my profile that I deem them less important to pay off first do actually end up carrying a balance for a few months.

Apparently this spooked Chase which I should have expected. In 2021 they did the exact same thing but the difference then is that I carried a balance on their cards for over a year, so I was thinking this time that as long as I am not touching their cards and they know that I am paying the other cards I'd be okay.

I get their position as a bank that they think my financial management is risky, but I have an excel sheet where every purchase investment that I make is tracked with a payment plan.

And I was thinking AMEX is the only one that is easily spooked by balances
They aint picking on you personally, it is a numbers thing as you have already noted.

Bummer about the CLD from Chase and moreso by closing of the those two cards. With these and the Amex closures, will your UTI be materially impacted?

Re: Oh Chase .. 80% credit reduction!

CreditPacMan — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 18:13:10 GMT

That is a very good insight. I will remember that the next time.

@Debt-is-a-Scam wrote:
Perhaps this can be a wake up call to not rely so much on credit.

Re: Oh Chase .. 99% credit reduction!

Credit7 — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 04:41:14 GMT

When my Fico scores dipped to that level, a bunch of issuers cut my limits: Amex, Chase, Citi, Synchrony

Re: Oh Chase .. 99% credit reduction!

dfwxjer — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 13:12:03 GMT

Increasing balances and low FICO scores...

What were your scores/profile like when you were initially approved for the cards? My guess is that you've fallen significantly since initial approval, and placed in a more aggressively monitored bucket of cardholders. Then once your debt started piling up the Amex and Chase algorithms triggered risk aversion tactics and cut your credit limits.

Personally, I would immediately discontinue this type of verbiage when viewing your debt:

"I am leveraging a large portion of my available credit across multiple credit cards where my overall utilization right now is %35. "

You're not leveraging anything. You're accumulating debt.

Re: Oh Chase .. 80% credit reduction!

Realist — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 03:39:21 GMT

Chase is one of the more generous lenders out there in my experience, for multiple scenarios. If you're getting balanced chased, or credit lines eliminated, then you a probably doing something noteably wrong. In my experience, not only are they generously extending credit, they're actively increasing credit lines when cards are used, and actively paid on and off regularly.

Re: Oh Chase .. 80% credit reduction!

Turbobuick — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 02:20:11 GMT

I'm expecting some "use it or lose it" news from Chase soon. About 6 mos. ago I didn't renew Amazon Prime which renders that card useless to me. I have a better card that gets me 5.25% with Amazon.

I did use the Freedom card for gas this summer on a 3,000 road trip. That one was pretty dusty too prior.

Both cards have a 24K limit.