Citizens Bank are low lifes

[Anonymous]

Ive had a citizens bank card for 4 years now and over the past year or so i had a CL of 1600 on it and I held a high balance because I didnt have the money to pay more than the minimum. Back in December i was able to make a big payment and get my balance of 1350 to 1100 and i was elated that I am helping my credit score increase and my utilization getting better and you know what Citizens' does? it lowers my CL to 1130! I was pissed called them and they denied that my big payment had nothing to do with the decrease and nothing can be done until 9 months. So after they tell me big lies i relax and make another large payment  of like $550 so now my balance after interest charger was $565, and this time they didnt lower my credit limit so i was very excited. It was the boost I needed to help my credit score increase to where my wife and I could get a loan. Awesome right? Well I just made another payment of $126 after I made one purchase of $80. My goal was to get the utilization on this card down to $525 so I made the biggest/lowest payment on the card that I could. Feeling like I was going to hit that mark or come very close my statement came out and they lowered my CL again to $550!!! What the ????? This card company is just trying to get me to pay my money and close my account. They are affecting my future for my family and its not right. I want to call them again but I don't know what I would even say. Why are they doing this. They've lowered my CL $1100 in the past 4 months and say it has nothing to do with my attempts to pay what I owe them...im pissed

[Anonymous]

Hi justwanta,

What they are doing is "balance chasing". 

In reality, it has nothing to do with your big payment - it has to do with the fact that you carried a high utilization on that card for a time.

High utilization is a red flag to creditors and they can, and do, respond by lowering CL's as that high balance is paid down.  It's called AA (Adverse Action) and it doesn't make folks very happy.  But creditors see high utilization as risky behavior and respond by lowering their risk through decreasing available credit.

Very frustrating to be on the receiving end.  But the good news is when you get that balance down, you will eventually see the low utilization you are shooting for.  And that utilization will have the same FICO impact at a low CL as it would have on a high CL.  I know it's frustrating that it will take longer than what you were hoping for and anticipating.

Congrats on your paydown - it's the right thing to do and if you continue to paydown, your utilization will soon be where you want it in spite of the lowered CL.  And I sympathize with your surprise and frustration.  But again, this is a common response to high utilization - so your post is a good reminder to us all.  High utlization can bring AA.  However, in the end, you still have control over utilization.  They can only control CL's.

Some folks who work with Citizens will hopefully chime in and let you know if they historically are willing to increase your CL after your paydown. 

Best wishes!

[MrShush]

I'm sure I'd hit the ceiling if this happened to me, so I do empathize. I find it strange that they have been chasing you for making large payments. I don't doubt it, but it doesn't seem to mesh with their lending push. They are very conservative in general and don't really give credit away hastily so maybe there was something that changed in your reports? Maybe they were spooked by the card sitting oer 80% utilization. The credit department, specifically the credit card department, acts independently of the branches. Local bankers have access to backdoors for employees and maybe one can help you get to the bottom of the AA.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi justwanta,

What they are doing is "balance chasing". 

In reality, it has nothing to do with your big payment - it has to do with the fact that you carried a high utilization on that card for a time.

High utilization is a red flag to creditors and they can, and do, respond by lowering CL's as that high balance is paid down.  It's called AA (Adverse Action) and it doesn't make folks very happy.  But creditors see high utilization as risky behavior and respond by lowering their risk through decreasing available credit.

Very frustrating to be on the receiving end.  But the good news is when you get that balance down, you will eventually see the low utilization you are shooting for.  And that utilization will have the same FICO impact at a low CL as it would have on a high CL.  I know it's frustrating that it will take longer than what you were hoping for and anticipating.

Congrats on your paydown - it's the right thing to do and if you continue to paydown, your utilization will soon be where you want it in spite of the lowered CL.  And I sympathize with your surprise and frustration.  But again, this is a common response to high utilization - so your post is a good reminder to us all.  High utlization can bring AA.  However, in the end, you still have control over utilization.  They can only control CL's.

Some folks who work with Citizens will hopefully chime in and let you know if they historically are willing to increase your CL after your paydown. 

Best wishes!

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I get what you are saying and it makes sense, just seems counterintuitive. And the crappy thing about it was I was getting really close to the utiliation I wanted about $10 to be more precise and now my utilization went from 27% and is now up to 51% is a real bummer. I will say the lucky thing is my credit score was pulled for a preapproval when my utilization was at 27% and my cs was 661 so now we have our preapproval letter and in the mean time i can work on getting my balance down again before they pull my credit score for closing which will hopefully be a minium of 60 days (dependent on finding a home which I assume should take about a month). Just hurts when you see your available credit go from $550 to $13 in matter of couple days.

[vish1]

Please be very careful with your credit till you got the keys of your home. AFAIK, mortgage lenders keep softing your statements and if util goes too high, they may not like it.

[Anonymous]

I was being carefully but I cannot predict when the cc will lower my cl and by how much. I feel like I make the right steps forward and they take it away from me. I just feel like if I get my balance down next month to $100 they will lower my cl to $110. And I cannot afford to pay off my cc in full so what do i do you know.. I need at least 2 months to pay off my cc(im not even sure about that) and now what if i find a house in the next 2 weeks....it sucks