topic Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use in Credit Cards

Chase CLD for Non-Use

UncleB — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 03:16:03 GMT

I got a snail-mail letter today from Chase regarding my Freedom Flex. In 50 days they will cut my credit limit by half unless I call them to opt-out.

The current credit line on the card is $9.6k, so this will be a 50% decrease.

I'm not surprised by the action, but I am a bit surprised they came for my Freedom Flex instead of my vintage OG Freedom Visa, which gets even less use and has an even higher credit line. Then again I might have a letter for that one waiting for me in tomorrow's mail, LOL.

This isn't my first rodeo; some might recall Citi gave me a (relatively) minor haircut a few months ago. For those wondering, my FICO 8 and 9 scores are all 850 across the board (or at least were last month) so I believe the reasons listed on the letter are the actual reasons.

I have a few weeks to think it over, but I will probably just let them go ahead with the CLD. They're not wrong... I don't use the card that often since the last couple of years the quarterly bonus categories haven't been a good fit for me. And when I do use it, I always stay within the $1500 limit of the bonus categories so even $4800 is plenty for my purposes. A silver lining is the possible advantage of less Chase exposure making it easier to qualify for a new Chase card at some point in the future.

If they do come for my OG Freedom Visa (credit line $13.6k) that's fine, too - for me the Freedom cards are only good for the bonus categories, anyway. If they come for my Amazon Prime Visa ($15k) I might have to make the phone call, though, since I do use that one occasionally for larger purchases. In any case I'm not losing sleep over it.

Additional info: I've never asked for a CLI for any of my Chase cards. The Freedom Flex started off at $9.6k, and the OG Freedom Visa was PCed from a Sapphire Preferred years ago that started at $13.6k. The Amazon Visa did get an auto-CLI a few years ago when there was chatter about Amazon leaving Chase, but I didn't request it.

Hopefully this info will be of use to somebody.

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

TrapLine — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 09:43:44 GMT

@UncleB

Another heads up ... thanks. In the same boat virtually for the same reasons. Scores around Fico 08 at 837.

Chase has come to me three times both on my personal and business cards since 2006. CL reductions were up to 2/3rds of CLs.

Did salvage them (CLs). May be time to just say good bye to Chase and focus on the cards I really use.

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

Follower — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 14:11:43 GMT

Very similar to my recent experience as well.

I have had cards cancelled by the creditor for years of no use at all (Discover and Barclays Ring) and I completely understand the reasons for this. But Chase's CLDs for regular but not enough in their opinion spend is something I haven't experienced with any other lender (so far, at least).

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

BrutalBodyShots — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 16:14:50 GMT

Thanks for the informational post, @UncleB. I know you said you lightly used the card. Can you quantify that with what your typical statement balances are monthly, or even a ballpark of your annual spend that the card sees?

I do like that they give you a heads up and a chance to opt out. That's very similar to the Capital One approach, which I appreciate because it's not something they have to do:

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Avoid-a-Capital-One-credit-line-decrease-in-30-seconds/td-p/6850188

@Follower, as you can see from the above thread, this CLD practice isn't uncommon.

Another thing I find interesting here @UncleB is that in your letter it states that they aren't looking at just your Chase card(s) but also usage with "other issuers" meaning that they are considering the reported balances on your other revolving lines. Can you give an idea of what those are in general? Do you allow your statement balances to generate organically monthly (indicative of your monthly spend) or do you micromanage them with multiple payments, paying down before statement generation, etc?

This is also an excellent data point that overall credit profile is what impacts lending decisions, not credit score. Perfect 850s in this case mean far less than the lack of usage being seen on the product/revolvers in question.

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

Janneman — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 21:40:58 GMT

OP:

Can't you transfer your entire CL to another Chase card before they do CLD?

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

TrapLine — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 21:45:48 GMT

In re-reading UncleB's CLD letter with Chase, I noticed they would consider a CL increase through the use of a "soft Inquiry" ...

While my last Chase credit letter CL reduction was back about three years, they were clear that once reduced the CL would not be available for increases. No option of hard or soft inquiry.

Of course, over times things can change?

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

UncleB — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:42:49 GMT

@TrapLine wrote:
@UncleB

Another heads up ... thanks. In the same boat virtually for the same reasons. Scores around Fico 08 at 837.

Chase has come to me three times both on my personal and business cards since 2006. CL reductions were up to 2/3rds of CLs.

Did salvage them (CLs). May be time to just say good bye to Chase and focus on the cards I really use.

Up to 2/3, ouch... and I thought half was a lot!

In my case I can't complain too much, since they're not wrong about my usage. I'm OK with the CLD, and now they'll have to be OK with me strictly using the card for the bonus categories rather than occasionally for more. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

UncleB — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 12:07:04 GMT

@BrutalBodyShots wrote:
Thanks for the informational post, @UncleB. I know you said you lightly used the card. Can you quantify that with what your typical statement balances are monthly, or even a ballpark of your annual spend that the card sees?

Some months it gets no use at all, while other months if the bonus category is a useful one I'll max-out the category. A couple of years ago they offered me a promo deal where I could use their pay-over-time for no fee and I took advantage of that (for the record, it worked quite well) so while I have had some non-bonus spend it's been minimal.

My overall card spend/reporting is usually between $2k-$3k each month. For the last few years I've always had a card reporting a balance of a few thousand dollars due to a BT promo, but my current BT promo has a balance of $150 (will be paid off this month). I think in my case this isn't the issue, though, and what got their attention was the modest use on their card, not my non-Chase accounts. I'm still slightly amused that they came for the card that already had the lowest credit line, but as I mentioned up-thread they still might choose to come for the other two, so who knows.

Also ironic, I currently have a pre-approval/"You're already approved" on my Chase dashboard for literally every Chase Business card, an auto loan, and the personal Chase Sapphire Reserve, LOL.

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

UncleB — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:36:25 GMT

@Janneman wrote:
OP:

Can't you transfer your entire CL to another Chase card before they do CLD?

Yep, I'm sure I could, but in the big picture it really doesn't matter, and they're not wrong - $4800 will be fine for how I use that card. My Amazon Visa is already at $15k (which is more than fine) and my OG Freedom Visa is at $13.6k which I'm sure they'll adjust at some point as well.

I'm blessed to have plenty of credit across multiple issuers so this is barely a blip. I'm only posting the details to provide info for others, I'm not actually upset with Chase.

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

crystal626 — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 05:42:43 GMT

I've probably got a letter coming soon too because neither my FU or FF get any use lately.

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

Janneman — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 13:58:00 GMT

I have not used my FU for the last 9 months...not even once....

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

swankytiger — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 14:42:34 GMT

@Janneman wrote:
I have not used my FU for the last 9 months...not even once....

same or more, but then again it doesnt have a big limit on it since i moved that to my United card.

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

SOGGIE — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 17:29:22 GMT

If they decrease your limit, wouldn't that possibly cause a domino effect — your other creditors being spooked by the Chase limit decrease and subsequently decrease your credit limits too?

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

FicoMike0 — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 18:09:29 GMT

Thanks for the warning.

I only have the prime. Got it last summer, $9000 credit limit. I requested a CLI last month, got +$1800. I never put more than $500 on it so I may be a cld candidate.

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

Janneman — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 18:32:37 GMT

@SOGGIE wrote:
If they decrease your limit, wouldn't that possibly cause a domino effect — your other creditors being spooked by the Chase limit decrease and subsequently decrease your credit limits too?

Causing a domino effect by other creditors upon decreasing of CL varies the policy of each creditor. Some might do, others won't....Some might not do if CL is decreased only on one card at a time. In my case, the CL of my few cards were substantially decreased, however that CLD was one card at a time...and I was able to get CL reinstated after some time. Never ever have had any domino effect by any creditor. Right now I have a card from Barclay, Red Aviator, wherein I myself relocated CL to another Barclay card, 98% CL, before this card takes over by Citi next month. Barclay stated we need to leave some money in donor card, so very little amount is left in there, and this new CL is showing up in my credit reports...Hope, no domino effect to occur.

Nevertheless, domino effect would definately occur if utilization goes up substantially...If its only one card then might not and it also depends on your credit profile. If you have a thick and well established profile then it might not cause any domino effect other than lowering FICO score when utilization is very high...I am talking based on my personal recent experience.

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

Follower — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 18:33:07 GMT

A follow-up to the threatened CLD I mentioned earlier: It never occurred. Neither of my Chase CLs have changed. Well past the fifty-day timeline.

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

UncleB — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 22:49:51 GMT

@Follower wrote:
A follow-up to the threatened CLD I mentioned earlier: It never occurred. Neither of my Chase CLs have changed. Well past the fifty-day timeline.

Following up as well to say this is also my situation. My 50 days was a few weeks ago, and as of today my limit is exactly the same.

I don't know if they just haven't got around to me yet or if they changed their mind. Either way I'm fine with it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

UncleB — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 22:55:02 GMT

@SOGGIE wrote:
If they decrease your limit, wouldn't that possibly cause a domino effect — your other creditors being spooked by the Chase limit decrease and subsequently decrease your credit limits too?

This might be a concern for someone with a thin credit file who is new to credit and/or rebuilding, but it's not a concern for me.

I've done reallocations before that showed on my credit reports as a CLD for the donor card and it had absolutely no impact. While this isn't a reallocation and my total available credit is being reduced the reduction is so slight it won't matter to my overall utilization (if it ever actually happens).

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

crystal626 — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 07:05:56 GMT

Yeah I think if you get a CLD and your profile is otherwise impeccable (not carrying balances, no lates, etc) that it's not really much of a red flag to the algorithm. I mean we know from this very forum that there are people who will voluntarily reduce their limits for reasons.

Re: Chase CLD for Non-Use

Turbobuick — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 05:56:42 GMT

I got that letter from Chase last year, except it was for the Amazon card. I passed on renewing my Amazon sub a year ago. Since their 5% card drops to 3%, I am using my BofA honors card for online, and getting 5.25%.

I ignored the letter, and they kept their promise and cut my line in half to $8K, which is still $8K more than I need. lol