Beware: 5/3rd Bank Slashing Limits CLD

[CreditMagic7]

I have had 3 card accounts with Fifth Third Bank to the tune of 12.6K, 10.5K, and 12.6K respectively. All in excellent standing stretching back to 2016 the other pair since 2017. Since the normal practice of mine is to keep a controlled balance on only one card, PIF, then repeat usage on the others it has been routine and all is been progressing normally as usual.

After doing a payment on the one card carrying a balance (maybe 3 months now) today as i always do i check the other accounts out of habit and to my utter SHOCK! the two no balance cards limits were drastically slashed down to $2K. No notice, no nothing.

I called straightway and demanded an explanation why and all i got from them was another department can offer details on those snap ADVERSE actions BUT, being just as aggressive i immediately told them to CLOSE BOTH those slashed limit cards (in spite of my excellent handling of them over the years).

Which leaves one card that this week i am going to PIF the remaining balance and that will be it for Fifth Third Bank for me. Strange maybe but this is the 2nd time in two weeks a regional bank (HNB being the other one) had done a Barclays style chop job on my accounts AKA: CLD.

My profile is been stable and i have only added (2) new accounts recently (found in the approvals forum) after an entire year of not applying for anything while eliminating ALL my INQ's. I have (2) each new INQ's on TU + EX and that's it.

Anyone with Fifth Third cards it might be worth your while to keep a sharp eye on your credit limits in case this is another one of those mass reductions from these regionals. I just want to heads up for you guys and not be caught off guard by the Hatchet Man.

My main Primes of 20K-25K etc are stable with nothing out of the ordinary but this regional and the Huntington CLD which another member recently posted a topic on might bare watching out for.

FWIW my FICO Scores are averaging 750 across CRA's and Utility is within under 20% with 4 Years AAOA.

[Anonymous]

There's been a trend of these recently from a variety of lenders.  Nothing discernable about profiles as to why they're doing it other than routine scrubbing of limits not used.  

Recents include Huntington, BOA, Amex... at least they come to mind currently.  As always you have to keep alert.

[CreditMagic7]

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@Anonymous wrote:

There's been a trend of these recently from a variety of lenders.  Nothing discernable about profiles as to why they're doing it other than routine scrubbing of limits not used.  

Recents include Huntington, BOA, Amex... at least they come to mind currently.  As always you have to keep alert.

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These are my very first EVER cld's for any card whatsoever and oddly enough what i recently experienced (so far) is originated ONLY from the Regional Banks that i have held for some years in super good standing. Which indicates to me that things are tightening up dramatically on then specifically.

As mentioned i not seen any of the such with my primes, and indeed also just recently picked up SP CLI's to the tune of 5K on a group of Primes and such as well as the couple of decent starting lines from (2) new card accounts approved for. Which takes some of the sting out of this popup surprise hatchet job from those Regionals.

I have a sneaky suspicion we will be reading more on surprise CLD's as certain banks scale back lines where they feel they have to.

As for me it's good riddance 5/3rd since i never look back once they try to toast my profile on-the-fly without notification.

[Anonymous]

You know something is in the air when the FED is talking about a potential drop in the prime rate come next month.  The pulse of credit usually shows up here as well.  3 cards isn't too much of a sacrifice since your'e the one choosing to close them rather than let them chase you down to $0.  I picked up several regional cards recently and watch them like a hawk.  

Were you using them consistenly or just rotating them through a cycle of spends every once in awhile to keep them kicking?

[Jnbmom]

@CreditMagic7 

Darn sorry to hear that, but glad you can move right along and leave them behind

[Anonymous]

There was a thread about this happening to a few people a few weeks back. 

I think we can expect this to start happening with lenders across the spectrum. We already saw multiple reports of AMEX doing it. 

I think that it’s going to come down to a lot of us here with massive limits across many banks facing CLDs so they can serve other customers as the economy shifts gears and the risk becomes too much. 

[kdm31091]

I understand being upset but it's just business. More and more lenders are determing that large limits, especially if there are ones not really used, are just a risk they don't need, so they cut back on exposure. Certainly not exclusive to any one bank.

At the end of the day, it's annoying, but you can still use the cards for the benefits you obtained them for (the exception being if you only wanted the large limit for a BT or something), so try not to make rash decisions. If the card was useful with a large limit, the benefits are still available with the smaller limit.

I don't think the bank was trying to toast your profile or anything. The accounts are in good standing. Yes your utilization will go up but that's not a long term damage factor. I would just try to take a breath and not take it personally.

[Jnbmom]

While I certainly agree it is just business with lenders and not too take it personally, I have to think that we as consumers are also in the "business" of maintaining a credit files. If a lender whom we have had an account with and it was kept in very good standing suddenly decides to slash the limits, because let's face it they can for whatever reason, and we feel that we don't really prefer to stay as their customer than I think it's okay to close it, I agree not to make rash decisions of course, but if you assess the situation and decide you no longer want to do business with them, by all means I would close it.

As long as your profile supports maintaining low utilization and you have a a good numbers of cards, I think it's ok to close when you feel it is in your best interest.

[AverageJoesCredit]

Sorry CM7 I remember some folks with this bank getting cld . Shame that it happens to people who havent shown signs of instabilty but its their game i guess. With my debt rising im probably a prime candidate for cld but im also at the point if it happens, i dont care, itll just make closing accounts easier to swallow. Keep your chin up, at least you have the 4th Bank

[Anonymous]

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@Jnbmom wrote:

While I certainly agree it is just business with lenders and not too take it personally, I have to think that we as consumers are also in the "business" of maintaining a credit files. If a lender whom we have had an account with and it was kept in very good standing suddenly decides to slash the limits, because let's face it they can for whatever reason, and we feel that we don't really prefer to stay as their customer than I think it's okay to close it, I agree not to make rash decisions of course, but if you assess the situation and decide you no longer want to do business with them, by all means I would close it.

As long as your profile supports maintaining low utilization and you have a a good numbers of cards, I think it's ok to close when you feel it is in your best interest.

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Yes, but on the face of it, closing a card because of CLD is a little strange, because it is a CLD right to $0!   So quite often it is just a "I hate you" type of reaction which may well not be in your best interest.   Now if the CLD makes the card too hard to use, as perhaps here (and with your $1K Amex limits) it may make sense to close just to remove the clutter, but we see people getting upset when the limit goes from say $40K to $10K, and IMO more analysis is needed there, basically despite my hurt feelings, does the card still provide value at the new limit.