Help My Limits Are Dropping

[Red1Blue]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Red1Blue wrote:

  I am sure CLD is triggered by computer. Calling and talking to a human and explaining is not going to hurt. They already did CLD what other damage can they do. Worst case they might close your accounts. So what thank them and move on. Any Bank would love to have you as a customer. I would not be afraid of calling. 

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You sort of answer your own question there, closing is worse than CLD, and balance chasing can end with the card still intact.   And while I assume it is well meant, it's clearly not the case that "Any Bank would love to have you as a customer"   The current relationship isn't one of love.   Banks like customers who pose very little risk, and the behavior to date apparently doesn't meet that criteria.  

Paying on time, every time, is just their basic expecation, no good marks for that (but of course many bad marks if you don't).  OP has met their committments, as has the issuer.   Part of the conditions is that either side can close at any time, and credit limits can change.

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@Anonymousyou are talking text book stuff. If I remember the OP mentioned Macy's and Discover. I do not know about Discover personally but from what I hear they are very considerate. For Macy's OP instead of talking to Credit department OP should talk to one of the Macy's store managers and plead OPs case. I am sure Macy's as a departmental store would love to sell things and I am sure Store Manager has some leverage with these things. OP can always setup a commercial account with Macy's and continue business. We are here only sharing our thoughts. It is upto OP to make the final decision. From what I see even in the Pandemic OP kept his/her side of the bargain and paid ontime and no lates and finally paid in full. I'll let OP decided and do what ever OP feel it is appropriate in their situation.

[stonedog23]

I can't figure this credit thing out most of the time. If they grant you credit and you don't use it, they're upset, but if you use too much of the credit line, you're in trouble as well. All I've figured out is not carrying a large balance more than 3 months. 

[lgtwriter]

@Red1Blue  the Macy's card is issued by Citibank. Talking to a retail store manager is not going to affect any terms on the credit card. I also agree with @Anonymous that balance chasing indicates that there are banks that do NOT want to do business with the OP, and view the OP as a risk at the moment.

Paying minimum payments on high balances for long periods of time is not behavior that banks will applaud. Risk algorithms will get triggered by growing balances and small payments.

I don't think balance padding is an option for the OP at this point. The card balances need to be paid off before the limits will increase again. Trying to cosmetically improve utilization through higher credit limits isn't going to be an option for the OP if the OP has reached a certain threshold where their total credit card debt is too high relative to their income. As with anything YMMV.

[Red1Blue]

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@lgtwriter wrote:

@Red1Blue  the Macy's card is issued by Citibank. Talking to a retail store manager is not going to affect any terms on the credit card. I also agree with @Anonymous that balance chasing indicates that there are banks that do NOT want to do business with the OP, and view the OP as a risk at the moment.

Paying minimum payments on high balances for long periods of time is not behavior that banks will applaud. Risk algorithms will get triggered by growing balances and small payments.

I don't think balance padding is an option for the OP at this point. The card balances need to be paid off before the limits will increase again. Trying to cosmetically improve utilization through higher credit limits isn't going to be an option for the OP if the OP has reached a certain threshold where their total credit card debt is too high relative to their income. As with anything YMMV.

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Hi @lgtwriter I am going to stay out of this conversation. It is upto OP to decide what to do and how to pursue. From what I see here, OP borrowed on the card and paid every single penny back with interest on time as promised. I do not see an thing wrong. Holidays and Christmas around the corner I am not sure if Macy's want to upset their paying customers.

Just few months ago this entire country was shutdown due to pandameic. Millions of people lost their jobs and rise in bankrupcies and foreclosures. Banks were trying desparately trying to help people. As far as I know Macy's card is issued by DSNB (though it is part of the Citi) it operates independently. From now on I am out of this conversation and it is upto OP to decide what is their best approach.

[Anonymous]

What exactly was the average utilization rate from the last increase to the most recent decrease?

[Anonymous]

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@Red1Blue wrote:

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@lgtwriter wrote:

@Red1Blue  the Macy's card is issued by Citibank. Talking to a retail store manager is not going to affect any terms on the credit card. I also agree with @Anonymous that balance chasing indicates that there are banks that do NOT want to do business with the OP, and view the OP as a risk at the moment.

Paying minimum payments on high balances for long periods of time is not behavior that banks will applaud. Risk algorithms will get triggered by growing balances and small payments.

I don't think balance padding is an option for the OP at this point. The card balances need to be paid off before the limits will increase again. Trying to cosmetically improve utilization through higher credit limits isn't going to be an option for the OP if the OP has reached a certain threshold where their total credit card debt is too high relative to their income. As with anything YMMV.

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Hi @lgtwriter I am going to stay out of this conversation. It is upto OP to decide what to do and how to pursue. From what I see here, OP borrowed on the card and paid every single penny back with interest on time as promised. I do not see an thing wrong. Holidays and Christmas around the corner I am not sure if Macy's want to upset their paying customers.

Just few months ago this entire country was shutdown due to pandameic. Millions of people lost their jobs and rise in bankrupcies and foreclosures. Banks were trying desparately trying to help people. As far as I know Macy's card is issued by DSNB (though it is part of the Citi) it operates independently. From now on I am out of this conversation and it is upto OP to decide what is their best approach.

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A good way of staying out of the conversation!   OF COURSE, it is up to OP to decide the best approach.   (While in the planning stages, MyFico currently doesn't have a paramilitary force that enforces group consensus on those foolish enough to post.  Well, we do, but not officially)  OP presumably posted wanting advice, knowing it wasn't binding. 

From what I see here, OP borrowed on the card and paid every single penny back with interest on time as promised. I do not see an thing wrong.

No-one is accusing OP of doing anything "wrong" in any culpable sense.   And neither has the issuer.  They merely revaluated the parameters of the relationship, as was agreed by both sides at the opening of the account.

[UncleB]

@Jolo0801 you've been given some good advice here about letting sleeping dogs lie, and I have a data point specific to Macy's that you might find useful.

Years ago I had a lot going on with my credit, but I had always paid Macy's like clockwork - never late, not even once - and I even had quite a bit of available revolving credit on my Macy's account.  With this in mind, I went to my local store and found an inexpensive dresser I liked.  The sales rep told me I could get it on a 90-day 0% interest deal (this was back when Macy's had multiple account types) and it would only take a quick call to the credit dept - I already had a couple of additional account types, so I knew the drill - no biggie.

Anyway, my sales rep made the call, and the credit analyst asked to speak to me... the analyst proceeded to tell me that based on a review of my credit file, she had closed my Macy's account completely.  I was dumbfounded - after hanging up I told the store sales rep what had happened, and she was more shocked than I was - she said she had never seen that happen before. 

At the sales rep's insistence, I allowed her to call the credit department a second time (basically HUCA), and got another credit analyst who said she would not have made the same decision but was unable to override the first analyst.  She volunteered to escalate the situation to her supervisor, but that was fruitless as well.  To say I was annoyed would be an understatement; after all, before the call I had enough revolving credit limit to cover the price of the dresser without bothering with the 0% deal (and like I said, I had been very careful to take good care of my Macy's account).

So, the "tldr" version of this is if things are already shaky with Macy's it's probably best not to 'poke the bear' until things get better.  If you get the wrong credit analyst things might end up worse than they are now.

[trvlscmmr]

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@Jolo0801 wrote:

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@Red1Blue wrote:

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@Jolo0801 wrote:

Help, I need advice.

For several months I have been carrying high credit usage on several cc's.

However, I always pay on time and more recently I have paid a few of them completely down. I no derogs at all.

Recently,

Macy's dropped my card from $8,000 to $3,200 and Discovery dropped me from $5,800 to $500. Both after I paid them completely to a 0 balance.

This is damaging my UTL futher and not helping my score.

How can I get them to raise my limits again.

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You can call them and ask them to restore your credit limits. Just explain your situation. They might do it.

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Do you know of this situation every being reversed after a call?

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I once had success with Discover after paying off remaining balance after they CLD'd me but I believe that was due to speaking with an unusually kind and sympathic customer service rep. This was at least a year pre-covid

[Anonymous]

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@Red1Blue wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Red1Blue wrote:

  I am sure CLD is triggered by computer. Calling and talking to a human and explaining is not going to hurt. They already did CLD what other damage can they do. Worst case they might close your accounts. So what thank them and move on. Any Bank would love to have you as a customer. I would not be afraid of calling. 

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You sort of answer your own question there, closing is worse than CLD, and balance chasing can end with the card still intact.   And while I assume it is well meant, it's clearly not the case that "Any Bank would love to have you as a customer"   The current relationship isn't one of love.   Banks like customers who pose very little risk, and the behavior to date apparently doesn't meet that criteria.  

Paying on time, every time, is just their basic expecation, no good marks for that (but of course many bad marks if you don't).  OP has met their committments, as has the issuer.   Part of the conditions is that either side can close at any time, and credit limits can change.

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@Anonymousyou are talking text book stuff. If I remember the OP mentioned Macy's and Discover. I do not know about Discover personally but from what I hear they are very considerate. For Macy's OP instead of talking to Credit department OP should talk to one of the Macy's store managers and plead OPs case. I am sure Macy's as a departmental store would love to sell things and I am sure Store Manager has some leverage with these things. OP can always setup a commercial account with Macy's and continue business. We are here only sharing our thoughts. It is upto OP to make the final decision. From what I see even in the Pandemic OP kept his/her side of the bargain and paid ontime and no lates and finally paid in full. I'll let OP decided and do what ever OP feel it is appropriate in their situation.

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What? You are "sure" a Macy's store manager has leverage in terms of a bank extending credit... because stores like to sell things?! And the OP "can always set up a commercial account with Macy's"? I can't believe what I reading in this thread. It doesn't work that way.

CLDs happen. Sometimes it's because you're not a good risk. Sometimes it's because you have a ton of available credit you never use, so the bank chooses to free it up by giving it to someone else instead.

It can definitely hurt to call and bring more attention to your situation if you are in financial hot water and they've already taken AA. Just continue paying off your debts, OP, because right now you are in no position to ask for any more credit, especially from lenders who have already taken it away.

[RSX]

i think a good data point the OP could provide would be the list of all CC's and their Invidual Usage numbers

if you are running some cards at 90+ utilization, this could be causing the CLDs on the cards you mentioned

post up a grid with the Lender name - the Total CL - and the Utilization amount and/or % used

then we will have the whole picture