Comments on: What To Do When Your Credit Limit is Decreased

By: Balance Transfers Helper

Balance Transfers Helper — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:21:01 +0000

Thanks for posting the tips Nick. Your insights are always much appreciated here.

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:53:57 +0000

Leslie, remember also that this is a free market system. If I were you, I would:

1) Stop shopping at Target. Write their head office a letter and TELL THEM WHY you are boycotting Target.

2) If you bank at Chase… go in to close your account. Ask for a manager. TELL THEM WHY. Why should you “loan” your money to a bank (usually interest free) just so they can loan it to someone else whom they consider more credit worthy than you are *and* earn interest on it? Consider opening an account at a local bank or credit union.

3) Write the Comptroller of Currency about Chase. The more people that write them, the more they may take notice.

4) If you’ve had offers in the mail for any other credit cards, apply for them. If you can get new lines of credit, it will help keep your FICO up. Best to do this BEFORE the lower limit on your existing cards shows up on your report – usually takes a few days.

By: Balance Transfers Helper

Balance Transfers Helper — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:22:20 +0000

Leslie, I really understand your frustration. Credit limit cuts are literally destroying credit scores. And this is going to go on for a while, as banks can't raise rates anymore. But you made the smart move. Opening a new credit card that gives you more available credit will help to offset the damage done by your credit limit cut. If you haven't applied already, you might want to consider transferring your balance to the new card, so Target doesn't earn any more interest on your balance.

By: Leslie

Leslie — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:54:48 +0000

Well… I’m the millionth person this ‘foolishness’ has happened to. I thought I had great credit, until just an hour ago, I called to check my Target balance… and the computer said… “your available credit is $100″… WT*&%$*… when a month ago the computer said, “your available credit is 9K”… I am livid… I don’t want this to DING my FICO… so I thank all of you… I will apply for a new card, & write a letter to Controller of Currency (also, since I just got my census collection letter, I WILL MAKE SURE TO WRITE ABOUT THIS SOMEWHERE ON THAT PAPER & gladly mail back!) … REALLY, how do you go from 10% utilization rate to 98% utilization rate over night??? This is insane!!!! Grrrrrr!!!!

By: Leslie

Leslie — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:43:00 +0000

Just looked at my chase freedom today and saw my limit was lowered from 1800 to 700 even though I was never late on a payment. Like everyone else had a balance of about a 1000 for about a month – then paid it down to 300 and my credit limit gets lowered to 2 weeks later.

By: Balance Transfers Helper

Balance Transfers Helper — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:02:24 +0000

Jarrod,

You may want to try to open a new credit card account if you need available credit. While it is really obnoxious of the bank to engage in these practices, you can at least take solace in the fact that you will be paying them much less interest in the coming months.

By: Jarrod

Jarrod — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:01:26 +0000

I had no idea this was happening, and I saw it happen to me today. I have a very similar story to everyone else, but I would like to add that I called Bank of America to see what their reasoning was. I also have excellent payment history, and I made a substantial payment on my card to reduce my utilization from 93% to 59%, and the reduction put me back at 96%. I thought there has to be some sort of human element behind these people’s decisions, but that is an incorrect assumption. The ’senior credit analsyt’ I spoke with was completely scripted like she wasn’t dealing with someone’s life. She continued to tell me she completely understands, and I said I beg to differ unless she had been through the same situation and she said that there was no need to get personal. HELLO! This is my life, what do you mean? I have never felt like nothing more than a number in my life, especially considering I was penalized for a massive step in the right direction. I will try to go to a branch and see what I can do about having the limit restored (I’m sure all in vain) and will let you know what I run into when the experience is face to face and not over the phone. How can you possibly take progressive steps to improve your life when there are practices like this in place?

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 15:06:31 +0000

Who needs this grief. Bank of American doesn’t have the integrity of a Payday Loan operation. Why work to improve you credit scores, when they can arbitrarily keep your credit score low. You can have no confidence in these sorts of people.
They are worse than the health insurance companies, your ok as long as you don’t get sick, and we are going to make sure you stay sick.

I agree with Dave. Pay the minimum balance. Your score is screwed anyway, and they are going to keep it that way. Look out for yourself. Be your own credit card company.

By: Balance Transfers Helper

Balance Transfers Helper — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:16:03 +0000

That’s the first postive response I’ve heard of someone getting from a government agency. Thanks for passing on the contact info Nick.

By: Nick

Nick — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:08:33 +0000

UPDATE:
Just to let everyone know (who’s following this thread)… I wrote to the Comptroller of the Currency with my complaint about how CitiBank lowered my limit to just $37 dollars over my balance without any prior warning whatsoever. I received a letter today from them saying they had opened a case file and had forwarded my complaint to CitiBank for a response.
Although I don’t expect any miracles, it’s good to vent and have someone who seems to actually care about my complaint.
I would strongly suggest that anyone else reading this post who has gone through a similar problem with their bank to do the same. The more of us that write in with complaints, the more these regulatory bodies will take note.
The address is:

Comptroller of the Currency
Customer Assistance Group
1301 McKinney Street
Suite 3450
Houston, TX 77101-9050

By: January

January — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:18:46 +0000

Thanks, Balance Transfer Helper.
I didnt cancel the payment–after mulling it over, I figured I might as well take a shot and see what happens! So, I will just sit tight and see if they lower my limit or not! Yes, I do carry a hefty interest rate. I have had the card since 2006 and have been late on two payments, the first time I was late they skyrocketed my interest rate to 29.99% and the second time they cut $1000 off my limit, so I think you’re right–paying it off is really the best idea.