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I managed to halt Citi balance-chasing

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coreysw12
Valued Contributor

I managed to halt Citi balance-chasing

Posting this story to perhaps help people who might encounter a similar issue.

 

Due to a lot of expensive & unexpected bills earlier this year, I ran up a number of my credit card very close to the limit, and they stayed quite high for 6+ months while I worked on paying them back down. My Citi Rewards+ card was among the cards that sat at 95% utilization for over 6 months.

 

When I finally made a higher-than-minimum payment to the card for $1000, I received an email a couple days later saying that after reviewing my credit history, they've decided to reduce my SL from $7500 to $6720 (a little above my new balance after I made my large payment). I immediately realized Citi was starting to balance-chase that account.

 

Here's how I reacted, in an attempt to stop the balance chasing:

 

  1. I immediately stopped making higher-than-minimum payments on that card, to temporarily prevent further balance chasing
  2. I worked on paying down my other credit cards as much as possible, until several were paid down to 0 and the rest were under 20%.
  3. I waited until all 3 credit bureaus received updated balances from all of my cards, showing the new low utilization.
  4. Then I requested a CLI on my (still maxed out) Rewards+ card, which was obviously denied, but that's not why I did it; I did it to force them to perform a new SP, to make their system see all my new low balances on my other cards, hopefully causing them to reverse course on the balance chasing.
  5. Finally, I made another $1000 payment to the card to see if they would balance chase it again. They didn't! It's been over a month now, and they've left the account alone, with over $1k in available credit.

No idea if this trick might work for other banks or not. But for Citi, at least, it does seem possible to stop a balance-chase!

    Total Loan Balance: $43k / $65k


    Total SL: $78k

United 1K - 725,000 lifetime flight miles    |    Chase Status: 4/24
8 REPLIES 8
ThomasJNewton
Frequent Contributor

Re: I managed to halt Citi balance-chasing

I have suggested a similar strategy to a few friends who have had the issue with various different banks. The idea is to pay down the non-balance chasing accounts as quickly as one can and then after one has good numbers for a month or two, one deals with the balance chaser. I did not suggest that they did a CLI, as I did not think it made sense to push it, but maybe that would have been good.

Message 2 of 9
Lou-natic
Established Contributor

Re: I managed to halt Citi balance-chasing

This is the kind of good science I like to see. Good job dealing with it.



3/3/24
Message 3 of 9
SouthJamaica
Mega Contributor

Re: I managed to halt Citi balance-chasing


@coreysw12 wrote:

Posting this story to perhaps help people who might encounter a similar issue.

 

Due to a lot of expensive & unexpected bills earlier this year, I ran up a number of my credit card very close to the limit, and they stayed quite high for 6+ months while I worked on paying them back down. My Citi Rewards+ card was among the cards that sat at 95% utilization for over 6 months.

 

When I finally made a higher-than-minimum payment to the card for $1000, I received an email a couple days later saying that after reviewing my credit history, they've decided to reduce my SL from $7500 to $6720 (a little above my new balance after I made my large payment). I immediately realized Citi was starting to balance-chase that account.

 

Here's how I reacted, in an attempt to stop the balance chasing:

 

  1. I immediately stopped making higher-than-minimum payments on that card, to temporarily prevent further balance chasing
  2. I worked on paying down my other credit cards as much as possible, until several were paid down to 0 and the rest were under 20%.
  3. I waited until all 3 credit bureaus received updated balances from all of my cards, showing the new low utilization.
  4. Then I requested a CLI on my (still maxed out) Rewards+ card, which was obviously denied, but that's not why I did it; I did it to force them to perform a new SP, to make their system see all my new low balances on my other cards, hopefully causing them to reverse course on the balance chasing.
  5. Finally, I made another $1000 payment to the card to see if they would balance chase it again. They didn't! It's been over a month now, and they've left the account alone, with over $1k in available credit.

No idea if this trick might work for other banks or not. But for Citi, at least, it does seem possible to stop a balance-chase!


Very impressive.  Good job.


Total revolving limits 741200 (620700 reporting) FICO 8: EQ 701 TU 704 EX 685

Message 4 of 9
Curious_George2
Valued Contributor

Re: I managed to halt Citi balance-chasing

Nice method, well executed! The CLI component is particularly clever.

 

One potential drawback you didn't mention is the extra interest you may have paid as a result of carrying a higher-than-necessary balance on the Citi card for a little while. Might not be very many dollars, and you might reasonably consider that the price of keeping your limit from eroding further, but it's something people should consider if they're going to try this.

 

Thanks for sharing!

Message 5 of 9
Samiam81
New Visitor

Re: I managed to halt Citi balance-chasing

I did something similiar, but 8 months later they reduced my limit to $860 so I just closed the account.

Message 6 of 9
Jnbmom
Credit Mentor

Re: I managed to halt Citi balance-chasing


@Samiam81 wrote:

I did something similiar, but 8 months later they reduced my limit to $860 so I just closed the account.


Yes I am curious if OP will encounter this in a few months .

EXP 780 EQ 791TU 795
Message 7 of 9
Jnbmom
Credit Mentor

Re: I managed to halt Citi balance-chasing


@Samiam81 wrote:

I did something similiar, but 8 months later they reduced my limit to $860 so I just closed the account.


Yes I am curious if OP will encounter this in a few months .I certainly hope not and sorry it happen to you 

EXP 780 EQ 791TU 795
Message 8 of 9
ThomasJNewton
Frequent Contributor

Re: I managed to halt Citi balance-chasing


@Samiam81 wrote:

I did something similiar, but 8 months later they reduced my limit to $860 so I just closed the account.


For the 8 months, had your other accounts either been paid in full or under 20% utilization? The person to whom I suggested this, paid everyone of his other accounts off, while making more than the minimum payment on his Chase card, just not a lot more than the minimum (usually $50-100). The explanation usually given for balance chasing is that the credit grantor is concerned that someone making a large payment might be doing so becasue they want to run up a large balance again and then default (often because they got the money for the payment from a balance transfer or a personal loan). On the other hand, if one has lots of available credit and has had for a few months, than the credit grantor can see that the pay down is part of a new pattern rather than a one time thing.

Message 9 of 9
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