There have been reports that some credit card issuers are refusing to renew cards if a person has large balances outstanding or other "unusual" activity on their credit report.

This thread is to document WHICH CREDIT CARD ISSUERS have taken some form of adverse action (refused to renew, reduced credit line, requested docs, etc) simply bc of your "strategic" use of CCs.

List which issuer, which particular card, the type of adverse action taken, the circumstances which brought about the action, etc.

it would be much more useful if posters gave as many details as possible concerning their outstanding balances, % utilization, etc. at the time the adverse action was taken.

Please do NOT list any adverse action taken as a result of mistakes or irresponsible CC use - ie making late payments, going over credit limit, filing BK, etc. The proper place to discuss mistakes is in the I Screwed Up! FAQ This thread is SOLELY to report adverse action that was taken when you were otherwise in compliance with ALL bank terms.

nm

MBNA threatened to close my AAA card when I when I applied for a Merrill Lynch card (operated by MBNA) due to excessive balances on other non-MBNA cards which they became aware of after pulling my CR during the ML app process.

The rep called after I applied for ML card online and asked me to confirm my income, etc. He then said please hold. He came back and said we will not be issuing you a ML card and will be CLOSING your other MBNA account (AAA visa). Needless to say I was furious. I asked why. He said that when he pulled my credit report he saw I had 80% of my yearly income extended on other cards and he viewed me as high risk. I told him I was po'd on two grounds: the first was because I didn't authorize them to do use my credit report to review my AAA card (rather to consider me for ML card...I had never had a high balance on my AAA card btw and always paid in full) the second was because I was amply funded to pay off all my other balances. I spoke to a supervisor who asked me to send him documentation (e.g. photocopies of US bonds, brokerage statements, paystubs, etc.). I obliged and he issued me a ML card and kept my AAA card. I since moved most of my AAA CL to ML with no problem to build my spending power on ML card. I'm digging the ML card, btw.

Detail added per Dave Hansen's request: Prior to applying to ML I had tapped 3 other 0% deals and had these limits fully utilized. The reason cited during my app was % of all unsecured lines as a % of my quoted annual income; not % of open Credit utilized.

Good thread idea. Suggestion: it would be much more useful if posters gave as many details as possible concerning their outstanding balances, % utilization, etc. at the time the adverse action was taken.

I haven't had any adverse action aside from the incidents documented in the AMEX thread OP mentioned. All the AMEX accounts were resintated eventually, as described there.

Fly01 said:Perhaps CC issuers are cracking down on certain types of "strategic" or "rolling" CC use because they deem some of these "usage patterns" to be "kiting".I doubt it. It's a simple question of whether they feel you've overextended yourself and might possibly be unable to repay the large amount of debt incurred.

ObPost: I haven't had any negative action on my accounts yet. I'm still floating 100K of 0% BTs spread across 9 credit cards. I've considered paying my debts down to 50% utilization to improve the appearance of my debt, but at this point I've pretty much decided to hold tight. The only thing I'll be doing to improve appearances is paying the minimum payments due each month within a day or two of the new statement becoming available. Wish me luck.

capital one visa closed my account cause of non usage for over a year. had paid in full every month there was a purchase, never a late fee/late penalty. had it for 3 years total

First off, your account, heck, any account is subject to closure if you never use it for a year or more. No issuer wants dormant accounts laying around.

On topic however, Chase cut my limit down to 3K when they discovered that I had 80% util, on an MBNA card. I called and they said high outstanding balances on other cards. After it was paid down to under 20%, Chase refused to reinstate, citing I am a risk, but not being specific. Account closed. Never will do business with Chase EVER again.

I used a BT check from Cap1 to artificially inflate my credit limit reporting, it was paid in full once the cra's updated. Well, MBNA most certainly did not like that during an AR and subsequently jacked me to 19.99%. I had to explain cap1's credit limit reporting policy and had to suffer a hard inquiry to get my rate lowered back down to 7.9%.

I think that banks have a hair trigger response when their analytic models tell them that a customer "might" be ready for filing BK out of the blue. I know they are sensitive to it and have been burned by people suddenly going BK without any warning. But, these "risk" models need some serious tuning/adjustment, they are just too trigger happy when it comes to adverse action on accounts.

Juniper Bank. Initially they lowered my limit dramatically. They then closed the account completely. Both decisions were based on 'large amount owed on other lines'.

I've had MANY accounts close after being dormant a long time. I don't think it's even worth bothering to list those.

In March, my Chase purchase APR went from 13.74% to 16.99% because of "outstanding credit loans on revolving accounts that are too high" and "insufficient amount of credit on open installment/revolving accounts." At the time, the Chase card was maxxed out on a 0% offer, which was not affected, and I had 3 other cards with 40-50% utilization and one card with apparently 100% utilization since the credit limit didn't show. Overall, 14K in balances out of a total of 39K.