Chase CLD on all cards

[Anonymous]

I've been banking with Chase for 10 years.  Annual income is $250k, and all of that gets direct deposited into Chase.  FICO typically fluctuates from 650 to 720, no lates or derrogatories in a decade.  My utilization on all cards is a little higher than I like - about 30%.

Here are my BEFORE accounts prior to CLD:

Marriott Prefered:  Balance 10k, Limit 17k

Chase Sapphire:  Balance 6k, Limit 15k

Chase United:  Balance $2k, Limit 7k

Chase  Freedom:  Balance 2k, Limit 10k

Last week, with no warning, they reduced all limits to $250 above current balances, basically maxing out every card.

Granted, I owe Chase about 20k.  Total credit card debt (across all banks) is 40k, which I know seems high, but income also high, and haven't been carying balances for all that long - I bought a house last year, so lots of stuff to buy.

I have been a Chase Credit customer for 5 years.  No late payments, typically cary a checking balance of 20k.  My FICO has been much lower (sub 600) due to things like new accounts and utlization - not for missed payments or collections, and Chase never touched any of my limits in th past.

The only thing that's changed with these accounts is that I've been actively paying off balances, about $1,500 each, every month.

Any suggestions of what to do?

[Anonymous]

It’s clear that there’re balance chasing you so it’s very likely that if you pay the balances down they’re very likely to lower your limits even more.  All you can do now is call Chase and talk to them and see if there is anything that you can do to restore the limits now or in the future.  Sorry that this happened to you and good luck.

[AverageJoesCredit]

From what i understand of Chase clding, try to pay off those balances and move on. Im no expert and im sorry they did that to you, but im of belief that if you are utilizing your credit wisely and responsibly, actually using it and paying on time, banks shouldnt do what they do ,or did ,to you. Its probably best to look for other lenders who wont get spooked so easily. Yes, yes, i know you were carrying 20k debt which is alot and thats probably what spooked them in these times, but your income and history should prevent that.

I guess it just hoes to show even with super high income you xhould try not to carry alot of balance. Maybe check out some credit unions like PF or Navy who might appreciate your business . Good luck going forward, i wish you the best.

[CreditMagic7]

As Irish80 mentioned, that's what it is and falls straight to you to take up some form of damage control the best you can. When this happens it's a rush and scramble to try to put something on track as fast as possible so that other lenders don't turn either.

One of our members 12njoy went through this very same thing about a year ago with Chase.

Sorry you're experiencing this but hopefully Chase will restore something and/or at least help move limits for you from either a paid off balance/restored limit to take the worse of the edge off the other ones while you deal with the fallout.

I would call and give it a try.

[K-in-Boston]

I am assuming that you don't have a private banker relationship with them since you didn't bring it up?  If you do, that should certainly be your first call.

I'm very sorry that this happened to you.  During the credit crunch a decade ago, guess who put the Chase in balance chase for DW?  Most likely it was triggered by crossing the 30% utilization mark, but that still doesn't make it right.  Given time, they will increase the limits again.  As others have stated, damage control right now is likely a very good route to take especially as you'll have 4 cards reporting as maxed-out lowering your scores quite a bit until those come down.  I would call and speak with a credit analyst.  Your profile obviously has great things going for it.  Don't sweat the balances too much if you can handle them; I'm still right at 6 figures on my cards (slowly creeping down) and income is a touch lower.

"Any suggestions" was a bit open-ended, so forgive me if this is unsolicited, but if they don't give you a satisfactory outcome, it may be worth reevaluating your banking relationship with them.  Your checking balance alone would qualify you for Gold Preferred Rewards with Bank of America/Merrill Lynch/Merrill Edge even without other assets, for example - and in my experience they are not at all concerned with high utilization on their cards (not that I think your Chase balances even fall into that category).  There are many other institutions that would value your business.  Best of luck, and please let us know if/how they resolve this.

[kilroy8]

Old school bankers like to see you come out of (reduce to zero) any short term loans/lines at least once per year. If this becomes a problem, roll it up into some kind of  longer term installment loan, but get it out of revolving once per year for at least a month. Just my 2 cents.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all of your responses.

I just sent certified letters to the VP of consumer credit cards and the general Chase credit services addresses.  No angry threats, just outlined my previous relationship with Chase, adn that unfortunately I'd have to take my business to a competitor if my limits weren't restored. I did the math, and I've had over 1 million dollars go in and out of my checking accounts over the past 5 years.  In the last year alone, I had $60,000 of charges on my Marriott Rewards card.

One thing I just remembered - the only thing I did out of the ordinary was cash out my rewards balance on Sapphire.  I'm a heavy user, and have over $1500 in rewards.  The CLD came like 3 days later.

If I don't get the outcome I want, I'll simply close all of my accounts and take my business elsewhere.  I already have a small relationship with Wells Fargo, and I'm sure they will be happy to be my primary bank.  I have cards with all the major banks, so I don't need Chase.

It really is a shame.  About 2 years ago I got one 30 day late that was a mistake (got it deleted within 2 weeks).  American Express promptly closed all of my cards.  In the past my credit has dipped, and other lenders have cut my line of credit.  All along, Chase has never taken negative action - only now that my credit is actually better than it was when I originally opened the cards.  Oh well - I guess my 'innocence' with them is lost.

Thanks again for the responses.

[Anonymous]

Closing cards that earn you cash back rewards better than other cards is a bad idea.

Running high utilization on one card for a few months is fine.  Running high utilization on many counts is not.  Not even if you have high income.  I've had high income most of my life and twice now I've gone from high 700s FICL to 400/500s because of a blip in income that lasted 3 or 4 months.  Does't matter if you make $50,000 or $500,000, if you're overspending your income, a blip can cause catastrophe and the banks have the analysts and data points to prove it.

Right now, we're in a credit boom for sure but we're also seeing a lot of charge-offs -- not just in low income households.  I know two different couples who earned $5-$10 million combined in the past decade who are currently doing cash advances (ouch) because one of them lost a job or had a financial problem and they had no savings to back it up.

Sounds like you need to NOT threaten Chase with account closure (IMHO) but pay down your utilization and then ask for your limits to be restored.

Also pay for a 3B if you don't have a recent one -- CCT $1 trial is enough.  See if anything majorly derogatory happened.

A few questions:

• Any cash advances on Chase or any credit card?
• Any major gift card purchases repeatedly on a credit card (not just Chase)?
• Any utilization over 89% on any credit card post to a statement?
• Any "late" payment that wasn't a 30D late but was after the due date (not reported to CRAs)?
• Did you recently use Plastiq or Venmo or Paypal to send a large payment to yourself or family or to pay a loan due?

[negg]

"Granted, I owe Chase about 20k. Total credit card debt (across all banks) is 40k, which I know seems high, but income also high". 

   Right here is the issue. 40K in credit card debt is high not seems high. Chase soft pulled you and saw this and the computer bells and whistle went crazy.  Can't blame them. 

[Appleman]

Check out SoFi.com and see what they offer on the pre-qual page. This will be a SP unless you take them up on the loan.

They like great payment histories, high income earners. Flip all that revolving debt into a personal loan and your score will soar. Just don't put a bunch of spending back on the cards. FICO scores an installment loan differently than revolving CC debt.