List Credit card issuers that closed accounts / reduced credit lines / taken other adverse action due to usage patterns

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.

how badly does it affect your rating if the bank closes your account.

Citibank recently closed all 4 of my CL's bcoz I missed the minimum payment on 2 of the cards on the same date. But i've always paid off in full before this.

Penguinator said: Bank One closed my $15K VISA charge card after I suddenly paid it down to 0 when my 0% balance transfer expired. They said "too much credit elsewhere, balances too high, etc." All it was is lots of 0% interest balances of about $80K total.

Is having "too much credit elsewhere" a legitimate reason to lower your CL??

Perhaps it may be worth it to lower your CL on unused cards (that were used once for 0% BT and have been useless since)?

Bank One increased my APR from 9.9% to 15.99% a while back. At the time I didn't pay attention to why they did it because my usuage was only around $200 out of a 12k credit line, and I alway paid the balance in full every month. Later when I called to request a credit line increase, they declined on the basis of excessive balance on other accounts. So I assume that would also be the reason they increased my APR.

GreedyBumps said: MBNA.
I had a 19,000 MasterCard with them. They closed it without notice when I applied for Merrill Lynch (got a $20,000 CL). When I called them to inquire as to why they have closed the account without at least talking to me (maybe I wanted to split the CL between the two - while I as actually hoping to combine the CLs) they did not have a good answer - "do you want the card or not?".

Wow, closing the line w/o notice is harsh. When I applied for the Barnes and Noble MBNA card (my 3rd MBNA card) they gave me a $5k limit and reduced the credit line of one of the other cards by $5k. Then, 6 months later, they bumped that reduced credit line by 9k! And there was NO USAGE of the card!

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

Anyone else who's had this happen? I have some cards I haven't used in a while and I don't want to lose history due to account closed. I'm just wondering what the least time I can get by without use.

just make a charge of like a dollar at your fav gas station every say 4 months and imo you should be OK.

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

Anyone else who's had this happen? I have some cards I haven't used in a while and I don't want to lose history due to account closed. I'm just wondering what the least time I can get by without use.

co-ask.

EugeneV said: civad said: Discover Card - Reduced limit from $ 3500 to $ 2000 due to my BT's to other CC's.
How would they know about your BTs? To them it appears as payment...

bibbub said: Chase card increase my APR 10.99% to 23.24% before the end of the 0% APRDid you ask why ?

Bank One.

I noticed a hard inquiry on my account. I called to ask why. They said my account had come up for review, and during that review, decided to close it based on because I had "$230k credit available elsewhere" and "too many inquiries" (6 on EXP in the last 2 months, 10 in the last year....19 overall on EXP in the last 2 years).

Credit analyst kept asking over & over why I needed so many cards. I explained that each issuer had different promotions, different reasons, yada yada. She said that only way they'd re-open my account is if I closed some of my cards.

Interestingly, I do have approx $30k in 0% balances (all < 50%) ... when I pointed out that all my balances were < 50%, she specifically said "no, your balances are fine, we dont care about that."

other background: never late on anything, credit scores all in the 700s

Back in June, Citi lowered my limits on my two cards from $19,500 and $4,500 to $1000 each, I learned this the hard way when I was declined a charge. I had just paid both of these lines to 0. My usage was to use them and pay them off monthly, however I carried a balance waiting for a customer to pay me. The balance followed by the payment was the red flag. They then felt I was a risk. I did have them restored, but it took a call to the Presidents office and a copy of my current report showing that the rest of my cards were not maxxed out. I faxed a current report, of my choosing, instead of them pulling a hard.
HTH
HD

ShakuniMama said: susieling said: To whoever has been affected by Chase AA -- are you able to apply for new Chase CC at all? All my 4 accounts have been closed (quoted me "too many inquiries" and "too short credit history ( 8-years is still too short?)" while I believe the real hidden reason is my usage pattern) about "one year" back, and I have not applied for any chase card ever since then. Also, the total of inquiries on my credit profile for the entire past year is only 2-3. However, when I tried to apply another cc with chase a couple of days back, I got denied with the reason of "bad bank relationship since customer' accounts have been closed by the bank before". I tried to explain to them even the past "force closing" is kind of unfair to me, but I am told this is the policy and can't be changed. When I ask "does that mean I can't apply for any chase cc at all in the future", the representative simply replied with "I don't know when the policy could change".. Wondering anybody has the same experience? Am I basically excluded for the approval of any chase cc due to a past "fact"(since a fact can't be changed)? OR do I need to wait for more than one year, then normally how long? 2 or 5 years? Never thought this AA is going to affect my future application that hard... BTW, I have very high FICO (800+), and got approved for other loan/cc very easily (instant).

Thanks

Yes, they did that with me also. I don't care as I have tons of CC from other banks.
Screw Chase..........

I agree but I really want 50,000 United miles.