During the past year, I’ve read a lot of credit card horror stories from visitors of Smart Balance Transfers. The following story, however, really stands out. After reading this story, I was reminded of how crucial it is to have a credit card available at all times and the havoc that not having a credit card can create. After reading this, you will likely agree that it is important to have at least two credit cards available when you travel, as the decision of a credit card company to reduce a person’s credit limit had devastating consequences. Here is the last and worst credit card horror story of 2009, submitted by Patti:
“Last month my elderly father became very ill, so I decided to visit him. On a daily basis, I use a debit card and not credit card, so I needed to take one with me for the rental car. I grabbed my Chase card with the $3300 limit, verified that it still had the limit and even made a gas purchase on the way to the airport to make sure it was functional. Eight hours later I go to the rental counter to pick up the vehicle and was told I couldn’t use my Chase card to rent the vehicle, that the transaction was “denied”. So I called Chase and found out that my credit line had been reduced to $400. I asked that they temporarily restore the limit so I could rent a car to visit my terminally ill father and they declined to do so. I spoke to several supervisors and begged for compassion, but they wouldn’t budge. The rental car company wouldn’t accept my debit card, even though I had more than $10,000 in my checking account and would have gladly let them put a hold on any amount.
The story was the same with the next rental car company I talked to. So, I decided to figure out how to get to hospital which was in a town 150 miles away, via public transportation. I took an airport shuttle and then a bus and then walked to the hospital, as I didn’t see any taxis. I just missed one bus by about 10 minutes and had to wait 4 hours for the next one. Unfortunately my father passed away before I arrived. My stepmom said he asked about me in his final hours. I am so mad at the credit card companies, that I am going to make it my top priority to pay off my credit cards and never use them again.
I feel as though I was targeted because I used their balance transfer offers, but they didn’t make money off of me as I didn’t allow the rates to increase because of late payments or going over the credit line. I will figure out how to rent a vehicle without a credit card, as I thought that it could be done. From what I’ve read in this forum, what Chase did was within their terms and conditions, but it certainly wasn’t ethical. Obviously the credit card companies made mistakes in giving people large credit lines on multiple cards, but their current tactic of reducing credit lines to near nothing without notice is not an ethical way to make up for their past mistakes.” Post Source: http://www.smartbalancetransfers.com/blog/2009/10/credit-card-horror-stories-part-37/#comment-6501
What credit card companies did this year may never happen again. Credit limit reductions were widespread and many companies simply cancelled credit card accounts with little notice. However, credit limit decreases and credit card account closures could continue next year if the predictions of banking analysist Meredith Whitney come to fruition. This could lead to more incidents like the horror story above, and the best way to prevent such an event from occuring is to always have access to at least two credit cards, especially when you are travelling.
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