Have you had any of your credit card limits lowered by your credit card companies? See the results of this poll.

[Anonymous]

AMEX has stuck again...I have not ben using my AMEX Blue since my credit limit was lowered in October ($45,000 to $29,900 which was just above my balance). I have been paying slightly more than the minimum to be done with them but keep the account open. This first cut was a $15,100 cut, and mind you I never asked for them to increase it that high! I had never paid late on either account, been a member since 2002 for both cards, and always paid off my Gold card every month. I did close my Gold card with them when they slashed it so drastically and totally screwed with my FICO score. I had gotten over it and wanted to just remain focused on getting the Blue account paid off. But I got a call today from a electonic person/recording that they were slashing by another $1,000, to $28,900 close again to my balance. I was so irritated they had a computer call me to tell me that I closed the account today and told them I will never, ever do business with them again and will just pay it off. I figure closing it can't do any more damage top my FICO score than what they are already doing to it. Is anyone else going thru this experience? Was closing it the right thing to do? Any advice would be appreciated. I am so upset about this- they make a honest, hard working person who has always paid their bills and on time like some sort of degenerate, and even worse, you get the news from a computerized recording.

Message Edited by NJgal on 02-19-2009 10:01 AM

[oracles]

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@Anonymous wrote:
AMEX has stuck again...I have not ben using my AMEX Blue since my credit limit was lowered in October ($45,000 to $29,900 which was just above my balance). I have been paying slightly more than the minimum to be done with them but keep the account open. This first cut was a $15,100 cut, and mind you I never asked for them to increase it that high! I had never paid late on either account, been a member since 2002 for both cards, and always paid off my Gold card every month. I did close my Gold card with them when they slashed it so drastically and totally screwed with my FICO score. I had gotten over it and wanted to just remain focused on getting the Blue account paid off. But I got a call today from a electonic person/recording that they were slashing by another $1,000, to $28,900 close again to my balance. I was so irritated they had a computer call me to tell me that I closed the account today and told them I will never, ever do business with them again and will just pay it off. I figure closing it can't do any more damage top my FICO score than what they are already doing to it. Is anyone else going thru this experience? Was closing it the right thing to do? Any advice would be appreciated. I am so upset about this- they make a honest, hard working person who has always paid their bills and on time like some sort of degenerate, and even worse, you get the news from a computerized recording.

Message Edited by NJgal on 02-19-2009 10:01 AM

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Hi NJgal and welcome to the forums

You should copy and paste this post in the credit issue so you can get more responses, however, you should not have closed tthe account.

This is going to drop your fico score considerably due util%. Now that you have cancel the card, the credit limit is no longer going to count towards your util% however the balance will.

I.E. you have 5 cards with 20k limit on all. You have 10k balance on all cards. your util% is 50%. 50k divide by 100k = 50%

You cancel a card - you now have 50k blanace and 80k limit. Your util% has increased to 62.5% thus decreasing your fico score.

i would call immediately and re-open this card so you have the available limit. After you have paid down the balance, then you can think about canceling the card. Again i still would not because it is helping you average age of accounts. Just do not use it much and just use it for small purchases every 3 months.

read closing credit cards in the helpful threads link located in my siggy.

hope this helps

[BungalowMo]

I haven't had any lowered.  My Cr One card got a LI up to (drumroll) $750 recently, but the biggest plus for me is my Wachovia card.  My interest rate has been steadily dropping for the last year.

1/08 - 12.49%

3/08 - 11.49%

5/08 - 10.99%

6/08 - 10.24%

7/08 - 9.99%

12/08 - 9.24%

1/09 - 8.99%

2/09 - 8.24%

I'm actually looking forward to my next bill, just to see where it is this time!  Oddly enough, out of all the letters I wrote to have uglies removed from my report...they were the only ones who did!!

I highly recommend this bank if you're trying for a card.

[Anonymous]

I was never late on  my AMEX card, I just got a letter in the mail telling me ,its been cancelled,,,I was  lucky I was not outside the country  when this happened , think of the repercussion..after this I will never ever carry an   AMEX   again as long as I live and I will do my damnest to discourage others to not have anyting to do with them,  I CAN LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT

[TX-Hook-em]

About 2 months ago I had my GE money CC reduced from $7000 to $4100. I am paying of a purchase with promational 0% apr and had just gotten it below 50% utillization.  Had been paying at least 2x's min payment everymonth, and have never been late on it or anything else.  I'm sure it didn't help my FICO Score but i'll have it all paid off in a few months and probably close it.

[BungalowMo]

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@TX-Hook-em wrote:

About 2 months ago I had my GE money CC reduced from $7000 to $4100. I am paying of a purchase with promational 0% apr and had just gotten it below 50% utillization.  Had been paying at least 2x's min payment everymonth, and have never been late on it or anything else.  I'm sure it didn't help my FICO Score but i'll have it all paid off in a few months and probably close it.

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I forgot about that one...I have that too.  Started with a 2k limit & they recently dropped it to 1100.

Threw a wrench in my util! 

Message Edited by BungalowMo on 02-24-2009 05:59 PM

[Anonymous]

My husband and I rec'd a 1 line letter note on Monday from Citibank in which they informed us that they've reduced our credit line from $8,100 to $100. This is a Platinum card that we have had for 19+ years!!!!! When we called them they cited the reason as "inactivity". What makes us so furious about this is that it has a negative impact on our FICO score and we've done nothing wrong. We pay ALL our expenses in full each and every month, we carry no CC balances at all. We do have 2 auto loans and a Mortgage. We make literally 8X the amount of money today than what we made when this card was opened and yet our line of credit with CITI is now $400 less than it was in 1989!!!

CITI stated that (and I quote) "we are a higher credit risk because we do not utilize our cards, and this large available credit line  could be used at any time during these difficult economical times." "They went on to say that they are doing us a favor!"

Obviously, we're appauld by the fact that CITI had no problem accepting bailout tax dollars that we contributed to and then had the nerve to turnaround and give us as long term customers in good standing the shaft for a lack of a better word.

What makes us so furious is not that we don't have the funds available to us, because obviously we weren't spending the money to begin with...but they've now impacted our credit in a very negative manner when we've done everything right! Where is the justification in that? Now if and when we do need to run our FICO score for whatever reason our longest rated account will now have a significant negative impact on our entire financial picture.

Hearing Timothy Geithner state that the credit market is "loosening up" and "money is starting to flow" is he kidding himself??? Obviously, if these banks are penalizing responsible American's who are paying their mortgages on time, paying their bills on time and in full and keeping the economy going, we are no where near cleaning up this mess!

[haulingthescoreup]

Hi, homebiz, welcome to the forums, and sorry to hear this happened to you!

fwiw, if you don't carry balances, and IF you pay your balances before your lenders report (they generally report on the statement date), this won't affect your scores, because $0 balances will be reported.

Not trying to say that there's anything great about what Citi did to you, because there's not, but there is a way to protect your scores.

[eyesopen]

I know the post I'm replying to is old (10/2008) but need to say that your insight is spot on.

Understand though that "fair" does not exist. I work for the bank that's "too-big-to-fail".

Lose the emotion and you might gain some ground.

You are not a human being to the bank.

Your only value is numerical.

I was stupid and bought the "You need a balance to increase the limit" lie.  

It took this economic crisis to wake me up from the hypnotic trance where I lived for too long. 

Thank you Suzie Orman for great advise and thank you contributors to the FICO forum.

[Anonymous]

Wow, there are some real spooky stories on this thread...It looks like the credit card companies are punching out some of their best customers to make up for their own stupid mistakes lending to subprime deadbeats....

Personally, I can't say I've seen any difference in the way my accounts are being treated--in fact, I've recently been preapproved for a minor credit limit increases. This surprised me after hearing so many people post their horror stories. 

Getting these credit limit increases was unexpected given the financial crisis, but to be honest, my credit limits were pretty modest to begin with so it's not like these banks are putting a lot of cash at risk by increasing my limits. They must know by now they're going to get paid like clockwork.

I would suggest that those people worried about having inactive accounts closed simply start making modest charges on a regular basis--even 2 dollars is adequate. I've found there are a lot of charities that accept small donations so you can do some good while keeping your tradelines active and in good standing.

In truth, there are dozens of times a month you could charge small items like groceries or a bottle of wine that would accomplish the same thing. Hey, you don't always have to pay cash for everything despite what Dave Ramsey says---he doesn't have to worry about having his credit cards cancelled for inactivity since he's rolling in dough.

But if any lender does cancel or reduce a credit limit on me you can bet your boots they can kiss my business goodbye--for life. There's plenty of reasonable banks out there that are looking for loyal customers.

Regards

Cato

Message Edited by cato on 03-14-2009 06:11 PM