Finally paying down high utilization and Chase is screwing me on CL's

[Anonymous]

I have been at 90-95% utilization for about a year and finally paying everything WAY down.  I just paid down all of my cards to below 50% utilization and was feeling really good and watching and waiting for my score to jump up from 680's to over 700 (hopefully).  

Every extra payment I make in an effort to lower my debt and improve my credit is being followed with a decreasing CL with Chase!

For example, let's say I have a balance of 10k with a CL of 11k.  I pay 3k.  My balance should now be 7k with a CL of 11k.  But no - I pay 3k and now my balance shows 7k with a CL of $7.5k

I'm sitting here hoping that paying these down will significantly lower my UT and my credit will improve, but if Chase keeps doing this my UT will stay the same on any Chase cards!  

I am actually surprised that they would do this considering I have never missed a payment so you would think they would want me to spend more and keep my UT as high as I want because they make more money off me that way. 

Has anyone seen this happening to them, and if so did you do anything about it?

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, you are being balanced chased. With 90-95% utility for a year or so....it spooked them. In their eyes, what's to keep you from running high balances again? They are trying to protect themselves from your spending habits based on your history. 

Sorry....but I would just continue to pay down the balances. That's really all you can do. 

[simplynoir]

---

@Justagirl73 wrote:

Unfortunately, you are being balanced chased. With 90-95% utility for a year or so....it spooked them. In their eyes, what's to keep you from running high balances again? They are trying to protect themselves from your spending habits based on your history. 

Sorry....but I would just continue to pay down the balances. That's really all you can do. 

---

Agreed. It would have been different if you had just carried a high balance for period of several months while paying it down but to leave a card at that high a utilization for about/over a year is gonna result in CLD/balance chasing. Like she said only thing you can do is continue to pay down.

[Anonymous]

Is there any chance they will reinstate them once I pay off everything in full and show good habits for a few months? I am working really hard to tackle my debt and be responsible and yet these banks make it very hard to make progress!

[Anonymous]

I've read that some banks will once utility is lowered. I don't know about Chase specifically, but I'm sure someone else might be able to chime in. Good luck! 

[K-in-Boston]

That's one of the primary reasons I am in the situation I am in (around $100k of revolving debt).  Chase is the king of balance chasing.  About ten years ago, my wife and I both had big balances with reasonable interest rates.  The markets crashed, lenders got spooked and one would lower a line causing even higher util so the next lender would see that we were maxed out on this card and that card and then they would lower their credit line, rinse and repeat over and over.  Then the rate jacking began with cards that had been in the low teens skyrocketing to 25% APR!

Get the balances paid off ASAP and things will eventually recover.  My wife's Chase card, while right at $20k now, is still lower than it was before they balance chased her to under $10k a decade ago but all of the other lenders that we've kept have either far surpassed where we were then or never did the balance chasing to begin with (thank you Bank of America, Capital One and Discover for not panicking).

[Anonymous]

You have shown the bank some bad behavior. They do not like that. They are adjusting their risk. When YOU improve YOUR behavior, they will of course adjust their actions. That payment behavior screams "I don't have enough money...I am living beyond my means." 

[Anonymous]

@ K-in-Beantown

Extra props for you for hanging in there and kicking A$$ on your debt! You have my respect.

[Anonymous]

I went into debt while quitting my job and starting a business that has taken off and it was the best thing I ever did for myself and my family, and now I'm tackling the debt and they don't make it easy to recover!

I will just keep paying it off and doing it the hard way, it will all pay off in a few months I'm sure once I've paid it all off

Thanks for the input!

[K-in-Boston]

Best of luck to you.  It is completely possible to recover from it.  And thanks for the kind words, zipperhead.  I mentioned before that it was so much that looking back now it would have been so much easier to just file bankrupcy and we'd be completely fresh all these years later, but it is peeling off $20k or so a year and that will speed up to $30k in a year or so.