CC reduced available credit due to something not my fault...HELP!

[mlynne37wiu]

Good news!  A few days after I posted this I got an email from myfico stating that my credit had jumped back up 74 points.  So, Nissan fixed it right away.  I called Chase and although I had to be transfered to about 5 different people they did put my credit limit back up to $7,500...whew!  Thank goodness it happened so quickly.  Thanks for all of your advice everyone!!

[Anonymous]

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jrnord wrote:

There needs to be severe penalties for companies which post incorrect information, such as a late payment or incorrectly reporting civil actions, on anyone's credit history.  And there needs to be a procedure in place which forces these companies to correct the errors and see to it that the person's credit is restored to its previous status.  Unfortunately companies can post incorrect information without penalty and then it is up to you to try to straighten out the mess.  It seems to me that the credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax and Trans Union) also have some responsibility here.  Any company or agency that posts or holds incorrect information should be held liable.

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The gov is having hearings re: this exact issue- try to watch CSPAN and you will see the hearings. They are really going after the abusive tactics...

[Anonymous]

HI there.

Nissan can fix the problem in 2 hours.  All creditors have a way to correct things fast.  They can fax in a change now.  The 60-90 days is BS.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act does not require creditors to report, but if they do they have to report accurately.

Look up Nissan (USA?) at Moodys.com.  Get the USA's president's name, office number and fax.  If the fax number is not listed, and many times it is not, then call the executive office and get the fax number.  If they refuse to give it to you ask for the General Counsel's name, phone and fax.

Fax a letter to the President or GC advising them they are violating the FCRA and you have already suffered economic damages, that Suzy Q (or whomever you talked with, at extension xxxxxxxxxxxx) says it will take 60-90 days to fix.  Tell them that your damages will be significantly larger if they don't fix it now, and that you are aware that it can easily be fixed in one day.  Include in your fax the tradeline item from your credit report.  Make a copy of the tradeline entry at each of the credit bureaus where it is being reported, cut and paste each to the bottom of your fax.  Make sure you have a profesisonally looking, clear copy to fax--maybe make a copy of the page once you have pasted to the fax so it looks good.

Instruct Nissan to notify you in writing when the change has been made.

Fax it to the responsible person.  Give them four days to respond.  If they don't, get a pen out and mark boldly across the top "2nd request."  Again, wait four days and then get a BIG magic market out and write boldy acorss the paper "3rd request, copy sent to the SEC."

I have never had it take more than that to get something fixed.

Frank in Texas

[Anonymous]

These major credit card companies

like Chase Bank America discover are in reality collection agencies.  So if you want to deal with a collection agency using their card.  Go ahead.  There is other banks that have credit cards, all I know don't give me a major Visa or MasterCard from any one above.  I saved myself headaches not to deal with them.  Hope you can see this if everyone would take a bite out of these major banks.  I think things would go in a different way.  Plus, I do not go crazy over my fico score I had my credit up to 700 and above the slightest movement in my credit sound track and this fico score goes down or up like the gasoline price.  First this was a penny or two every month or 2 now it is $.10.  Every other day up or down, it's a racket, and it's getting bigger

[latin]

If you don't deal with the major credit cards what cards you deal with? Just asking because I don't like Chase either.

[Anonymous]

A couple thoughts... your overall score is marginal to begin with... so you will do well to track that and work to improve it... for instance, make a hard and fast rule to not eat out for a month and watch what that does to your ability to fix your credit score... I don't pretend to know your situation, but you probably know exactly why your score is a little off to begin with. 

Next, why are you dealing with Chase? Big companies like Chase don't care about people like us.  I use a credit union and they are much more personal... and personable than a large bank.  So, if Nissan fumbles the ball, you can actually talk to someone... Chase further hit your score when they reduced your available.  They don't care about you, they care about their shareholders.  I don't recommend closing them... but don't think they are your ally.  They make more money if they charge you more interest, and that is probably why they hit your credit limit and ultimately your credit score.

Sorry for your troubles... Sincerely, I've been there. Many others have too... Patience is key...

Jack (AV8eer)

[Anonymous]

This is all very interesting. Let me start out by saying I have a 35 year credit file and a lot of credit card debt but never in the 35 years have I been late or overlimit and I have or had about ten different accounts. I've always been responsible and I thought these card issuers appreciated the fact that I was never late and carried a balance at a high interest rate. I mean they spend a TON OF MONEY mailing out "pre-selected" offers for their various cards. I would think they would be looking for customers like me. And actually, that was true until Chase came along and bought my account, which was originally issued in 1968 and then sold to several issuers along the way. When Chase bought it, with no provocation whatever, they reduced my credit limit. Well, Hello, Chase! Guess what, I know you could care less but I think you stink and I will never do business with you, EVER. I don't understand the logic behind such a move. But the capper of all cappers is BANK OF AMERICA. They apparently follow the same principles as Chase.

Let me also say all of the other cards I have, including American Express, Citibank, Wells Fargo and Washington Mutual are fine. They don't appear to be predatory lenders like BANK OF AMERICA who just wait for the opportunity to jack up their APRs, reduce your credit limit and a whole host of other things to send you elsewhere. I have never met such a bunch of idiots in my life.

So here's what happened: I had been a cardholder of their for 17 YEARS. Never missed a payment (honest), stayed below my credit limit by 2K or so, always paid more than the minium (minimum $175/I paid $500) and in fact had my credit limit increased recently at my request from $7,400 to $10,500. The week before I was torpedoed I had paid $1,800 towards my balance, which was about $4,800, leaving me with about about $5,700 of available credit.

Out of nowhere and for no reason other than the fact that they were "uncomfortable" with the amount of my debt (which had pretty much been in the same range for most of the 17 years I was their customer), they reduced my credit limit to $4,600 which left me overlimit by $200. Although I was outraged, I maintained a normal tone tone of voice while attempting to reason with a Senior Credit Analyst, who would not budge, so I told him what he could do with my card and account. Shortly thereafter, my statement arrived with a message telling me I better cure my overlimit balance (the one THEY CAUSED) pretty quickly and don't do it again!!

Of course, talking to phone service people was like talking to a wall, Even got the same crap from a supervisor, so I'm done with them. I was so mad I felt like not paying them so I could live down to their expectations but that would obviously work against me.

I guess I'm just old fashioned and naive. In today's market place, companies like BANK OF AMERICA look for ways to screw you. This is predatory lending. They don't care about a long term relationship a customer (in this case, me) has worked hard to maintain. Chase is the same way. They'd rataher reduce your credit limit and tell you to get lost if you protest. It's not enough to maintain your account in a responsible manner. They'll find a way to get you eventually and of course I will never do business with BANK OF AMERICA either. I will be moving my car loan elsewhere also.

It just puzzles me beyond belief why a company would destroy a perfectly fine relationship like BANK OF AMERICA did.

[Anonymous]

I am actually stunned that I stumbled upon this b/c I have had problems with Chase for a long time now. Basically, everything that everyone else has mentioned, I have had happen to me. 29.9% interest hike - and they continuously refused to lower it even though I hadn't been late in making payments - sudden drop in credit limit - and this was "coincidentally" immediately after I had called in to find out my available credit before making a purchase in order to avoid going over the limit. I then got a notice in the mail that I had gone over the credit limit. They had simultaneously lowered it! I have since paid off the card, no thanks to the loan shark interest rate that I had, and the only reason I haven't cancelled it yet is b/c I am waiting to speak to a Mortgage officer first. It happens to be one of my oldest cards. I feel the same way someone else in this forum feels - I wouldn't do business with Chase again unless someone else's life depended on it. To be more proactive - is there any way to control this? Someone mentioned reporting them to the FDIC. Is that the most effective route, or do we have other options?

[Anonymous]

I want to say I am sorry for what happened to both of the previous posters. Unfortunately the personal has gone out of service with banks.  Banks look for peope who historicalycarry a high balance on their cards and they will raise rates or decrease interest rtes in response to the high balances.  They are also likely to do the same if you make minimum payments.

The problem is that they dont let the consumers know what they expect and credit 101 is not a lesson learned in school.  I have only heard of one issuer tht will specifically tell you that if you constantly make minimum payments, they don't like it an that's Amex.

I think it should be required in their T&Cs that they inform cutomers what actions, such as revolving a high balance could subject them to adverse actions by the bank.  As far as CLDs, I think if a bank is going to CLD you, at that point, they should notify  you when you try to make a charge that they will not allow a charge to go through.  they will not notify ahead of time afraid that you will max the card out but to decrease the limit without notice then allow a charge to go through that puts you over the lower limit without ample time for their notification to reach you in ridiculous. This is not a debit card where you are expected to do a daily balance check.