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

[Anonymous]

I have, no make that HAD, an account with the Bank of America. I have never in my entire life been late with a payment to Bank of America nor any other creditor. Out of the clear blue Bank of America sent me a letter telling me that the next time I used my card my APR would skyrocket to 28% and that if I didn't like it I could sent an Opt Out letter. I had my lawyer wite the Opt Out letter and send it via Registered Mail from his office. And I kept paying the balance down at the current APR.

Then, about three weeks later, Bank of America lowered my $7,500 limit to $5,900 with my balance at $5,325. That has the effect of making it look like a nearly maxed out account. They sent me a letter saying that they did this because of information contained in my credit report. THAT IS NOTHING BUT A BALD FACED LIE!! My credit report is flawless. They did that as a retaliatory act because I stopped using their card.

I thought that an Opt Out letter automatically had the effect of closing the account. It doesn't. They left the account open and showing a $5,900 limit. So I called them on the phone AND sent them a letter stating that I wanted the account CLOSED. By doing that they have to report to the credit bureaus that I closed the account and they have to show that my high credit was $7,500 with no mention of their $5,900 limit.

[Anonymous]

American Express dropped my available credit from 25,000 to 500. The dropped my credit score because I had a 500 balance on my amex card. What can I do to not let this affect my score?

[Anonymous]

Yes, just recently! Two of my American Express cards. One had a credit line of 8000.00 and another with a credit line of 6000.00. Both were reduced to 500.00 without any proper explanation. My credit score at all 3 bureau are above 760. What gives? I have never been late with a payment and I pay them in full each month when I use them.

I am feeling like the responsible people are getting punished while the irresponsible are all getting bail outs!

I see a lot of posts on this blog stating their American Express limits have been brought down to 500.00. I wonder if American Express is have financial difficulties?

[californiajeff]

I have 7 credit cards. None have been lowered and one of my credit card limits has been increased without me asking. This was on one of my smaller credit cards where they increased the line from $1700 to $2100.

I should note that none of these cards is an American Express (who always denies me) and after hearing other people's horror stories I will never get a card from American Express. I will try to get an American Express from another company though. I recently applied for a Citibank American Express and got denied.

While I have not experienced any bad effects from the credit crunch, I should note that I have pulled out extra cash on a balance transfer to hold for future use in case I lose my available credit.

Message Edited by californiajeff on 10-28-2008 12:13 PM

Message Edited by californiajeff on 10-28-2008 12:14 PM

[Anonymous]

Yes, I too have had my credit card companies lower the limit in the last 45 days on two of my accounts, one business account, which I found to be rather odd and one personal account.  The personal account did not bother me but the business account went from $10,000 to being cut completely in half to a limit of $5,000.  There was no justifable reason for this other than they said they were "doing a review of all their accounts on hand and needed to reduce some of the limits on various accounts".  The company makes enough for the credit limit of $10,000 but I guess to safe guard themselves with the economy, etc. the risk was too great to have too many outstanding accounts with limits this high.  Any suggestions? 

[Anonymous]

I have a wal-mart, lowes, and sams credit card. GEMB has just reduce my limits down to where I only have $30.00 available credit on lowes. I have had the card for over five years and never missed a payment. The Wal-mart & Sams cards have a zero balance.They were paid off by account security recently. Walmart reduce by $500 and Sam by $1000. I am not happy because I have worked hard to make my payments and they reduce my limit because of the number of accounts I have on my credit report. I also have some students loans with sallie mae and wachovia. They are deferred til 2012.

[Anonymous]

My limit on my one card has not been lowered as it should not be . My credit score is 767.

[Anonymous]

I have had my limits cut by both Citibank (by $5000) and Chase (by $2000) and I have never ever been late.  I simply used a some of my Citibank credit card to start a business and they are all freaking out (the limit has actually been higher before).  When they cut it, my FICO dived 30 points.  Nothing I can do about it, but I have contacted them both to object and basically have been told "too bad."  That's ok -- I will never use their cards again -- too bad!

[Anonymous]

If they won't lower them...then cancel the card.  I won't deal with companies that do this for no good reason...

[Anonymous]

I have over 100k in credit limits and a stellar credit history.  A month before they went under, wamu lowered my limit from $12,200+ to $1600 (which was my balance that month, since I pay the statement amount each month).  AMEX just lowered me on a card that I have 0% interest on, so I'm guessing they'll follow me down as I pay that balance off.  Definitely motivation to use that cash elsewhere until the day my 0% is about to expire.

I'm not too worried about it, as I thankfully have aquired my credit score related investments already, but it is annoying that there is so little sense of loyalty from companies that I've been faithful to over the years.

Message Edited by annointedWRX on 10-29-2008 01:43 AM