credit card limit lowered after payoff

[tradinglife]

In the last couple years l've used on my cards a lot paying for multiple expenses, carried high balances and paid minimum as well as late charges. I only had one 30 day late on a couple cards  in that period, my score took a huge hit and is now at 590. Back on my feet and in last couple months ive paid off $35000 of my $40000 credit card debt. As soon as i did that several of the cards immediatly lowered my credit limit. As an example my FNBO Jeep card reduced my limit from $8000 to $1000. Called and said it was due to score which was due to my high card debt, which is now paid off!  Discover is only card i havent paid off yet, ive been making a $1,000 payment every week, then they proceed to lower my limit a $1,000. So i'm thinking ill pay off 40k in card debt and my score will jump to the low 700s, but my score hasn't went up yet because my credit lines have all been reduced. anyone else had this happen? I called a couple of the cards, basically said sorry, we can't reverse decision. Card companies dont make money off the 800 score guy who pays his balance in full 10 days early, they make it off people who carry a balance and make minimum payments. I'd close most off them myself if it wouldnt hurt my score even more, ugh!

[FicoMike0]

Sounds like you were balance chased. That's happened to others who have carried high utilization.

[Patient957]

This kind of balance chasing is very common in situations like yours.  If you manage your utilization carefully and practice AZEO once you have all your balances paid off, your scores should improve qickly.

[SouthJamaica]

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@tradinglife wrote:

In the last couple years l've used on my cards a lot paying for multiple expenses, carried high balances and paid minimum as well as late charges. I only had one 30 day late on a couple cards  in that period, my score took a huge hit and is now at 590. Back on my feet and in last couple months ive paid off $35000 of my $40000 credit card debt. As soon as i did that several of the cards immediatly lowered my credit limit. As an example my FNBO Jeep card reduced my limit from $8000 to $1000. Called and said it was due to score which was due to my high card debt, which is now paid off!  Discover is only card i havent paid off yet, ive been making a $1,000 payment every week, then they proceed to lower my limit a $1,000. So i'm thinking ill pay off 40k in card debt and my score will jump to the low 700s, but my score hasn't went up yet because my credit lines have all been reduced. anyone else had this happen? I called a couple of the cards, basically said sorry, we can't reverse decision. Card companies dont make money off the 800 score guy who pays his balance in full 10 days early, they make it off people who carry a balance and make minimum payments. I'd close most off them myself if it wouldnt hurt my score even more, ugh!

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I've been experiencing balance chasing like thay myself lately. The culprits: Amex, Discover, Chase, PenFed. You can always call, explain circumstances, and ask for it to be reinstated.

You could wait until your new balances have all been reported.

Contrary to what you have been told, credit limit decreases are often reversed.

The main thing is to pay them down. Your scores and credit limits will come back.

[FICOdawg]

Is your from maybe too many cards?      I'll never understand a credit card company doing chasing absent a late payment.

limit offered, payment made, and yet their algorithm chases it.       Or is it to keep the score lower so people can't get a new card and balance transfer etc.    I bet looking under the hood there is some questionable business practice by them credit chasing.

[Junejer]

Sorry this happened to you. Balance chasing is a quite common practice, as are decreasing credit limits. I recently had a card lower the limit by about $7,500 on me. I had a recurring subscription charged on the card for the past few years. It was only about $10/month, but when I canceled the subscription they decreased the CL a couple months later. I'll keep the card open but not going out of my way to charge anything to it, maybe once per year or so. These sorts of things suck, but they happen.

As stated earlier, get the new balances to report, then call them for reconsideration.

[CreditPoor]

I wouldn't say this is balance chasing without a cause. You stated that you carried high balances and probably for several months. During this time you made minimum payments and had 30 day lates on multiple accounts.

This is a clear sign to banks that you've over extended yourself and as a result they've mitigated there risk lowering your limits. Once those lates are a couple years old you see your scores rebound. For now they're are going to way your scores down, unless they are removed.

[DanteJuan95]

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@Junejer wrote:

I recently had a card lower the limit by about $7,500 on me. I had a recurring subscription charged on the card for the past few years. It was only about $10/month, but when I canceled the subscription they decreased the CL a couple months later.

As stated earlier, get the new balances to report, then call them for reconsideration.

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While yours was decreased possibly due to low usage, especially if the subscription charged your card $10/mo, which to many, see it as taking back unused credit.

[sjt]

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@tradinglife wrote:

In the last couple years l've used on my cards a lot paying for multiple expenses, carried high balances and paid minimum as well as late charges. I only had one 30 day late on a couple cards  in that period, my score took a huge hit and is now at 590. Back on my feet and in last couple months ive paid off $35000 of my $40000 credit card debt. As soon as i did that several of the cards immediatly lowered my credit limit. As an example my FNBO Jeep card reduced my limit from $8000 to $1000. Called and said it was due to score which was due to my high card debt, which is now paid off!  Discover is only card i havent paid off yet, ive been making a $1,000 payment every week, then they proceed to lower my limit a $1,000. So i'm thinking ill pay off 40k in card debt and my score will jump to the low 700s, but my score hasn't went up yet because my credit lines have all been reduced. anyone else had this happen? I called a couple of the cards, basically said sorry, we can't reverse decision. Card companies dont make money off the 800 score guy who pays his balance in full 10 days early, they make it off people who carry a balance and make minimum payments. I'd close most off them myself if it wouldnt hurt my score even more, ugh!

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First, congrats on paying off $35K of your$40K of credit card debt. That is a huge accomplishment.

You have to look at the big picture. Your scores will increase as you ;pay down the remainder of the debt. Then you can request a CLI and/or apply for better credit cards. Having no debt and PIF, your scores will continue to increase and you will have more financial freedom.

[Fenway2025]

First off, I wanted to say great job for paying off that amount of debt. It's very difficult to start to knock off debt as it gets higher and higher, and I hope you can see the finish line in the near future! I'm sorry to hear about the credit line decreases, I hope like some of the others said you could call the banks and explain the situation, especially for the banks that you have already paid debt off now. Keep on knocking off that debt and hope you can get those increases back up again soon.