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

markkundinger said: That's really harsh Scoots. Especially since you weren't being that aggressive by FWF standards, and you didn't have much balance with Chase.

ScootyPuffSr said: So I don't know if this is true, but if the regular CSR says they have to transfer you to an account specialist who only works from 8am to 8pm to complete a reallocation, RUN.

I can vouch for this phenomenon, but not with the tragic ending. I tried to reallocate some credit AFTER paying off a monster BT with chase, and I needed to talk to a special ninja rep who only worked during business hours. Her first question was "what was the source of funds for your recent payoff?". She sounded a bit disappointed that she didn't have anything to stick me with.

hmm, I had a similar experience. I was told to call at normal business hours as well to talk to the ninja csr for reallocation. I called and asked for personal to business reallocation. The csr said she'd run it by management and I should check my credit limit in a week.

I thot I got the reallocation until I just read this thread. :S I'm still hoping it's going to go through.

Was moving 5k from my marriot non-reporting limit to my business rebate card for a total of 20k.

I've got a 30$ balance on all chase cards added together.

markkundinger said: That's really harsh Scoots. Especially since you weren't being that aggressive by FWF standards, and you didn't have much balance with Chase.

ScootyPuffSr said: So I don't know if this is true, but if the regular CSR says they have to transfer you to an account specialist who only works from 8am to 8pm to complete a reallocation, RUN.

I can vouch for this phenomenon, but not with the tragic ending. I tried to reallocate some credit AFTER paying off a monster BT with chase, and I needed to talk to a special ninja rep who only worked during business hours. Her first question was "what was the source of funds for your recent payoff?". She sounded a bit disappointed that she didn't have anything to stick me with.

I am completely speculating here, but I believe the fact that I wasn't aggressive by FW standards (i.e. 89% across the board) is what let me keep every single card I had as opposed to others who have lost some/all of their cards. (DavidScubaDiver?? KiausuChick??)

I called Chase around the beginning of August to ask for a $10K limit to be reallocated to a new card with a 12-month 0% APR and $75 capped fee and after being transferred and them looking at my accounts they just took that $10K limit away instead...

Others might not agree with me but while I was kinda mad at first, the way I feel is I didn't lose anything other than an available credit line... the two options here were 1) don't rock the boat (i.e. calling Chase) and not make any extra money or 2) risk losing the credit line but at least try for the change to make another half a grand in interest in the next 12 months... looking at it that way, I'm still exactly where I was before the call... that extra line of credit didn't increase or decrease any money I have...

markkundinger said: That's really harsh Scoots. Especially since you weren't being that aggressive by FWF standards, and you didn't have much balance with Chase.

ScootyPuffSr said: So I don't know if this is true, but if the regular CSR says they have to transfer you to an account specialist who only works from 8am to 8pm to complete a reallocation, RUN.

I can vouch for this phenomenon, but not with the tragic ending. I tried to reallocate some credit AFTER paying off a monster BT with chase, and I needed to talk to a special ninja rep who only worked during business hours. Her first question was "what was the source of funds for your recent payoff?". She sounded a bit disappointed that she didn't have anything to stick me with.

For people who had their credit card account closed, does it ever helped if you also bank with the bank where you got the credit card from and you are a high level customer there?

Reporting adverse rxn from BofA:

Route: Phone call from a credit analyst following their credit review.

Result: Closing of all credit lines.
He mentions 5 - I have 6 (1 old MBNA, 3 BofA, 1 Fidelity and 1 BofA Biz) - not sure which one will be spared and I didn't ask as not to draw any attention to it.

Reasons for closure:
- billpay
- $116k overall debt (44% overal util)
- 22 new accts since 01/2006

Was grilled on the billpay aspect of my accounts even before I have been told about the account closures.

Losses:
- $39.8k CL from 5 personal cards
- $34.5k CL from 1 biz card (possibly)
- BillPay (had ex-MBNA card and Fidelity card)

More info: jairocon AOR 2.0

brushwood said: jairocon said: Reporting adverse rxn from BofA:

Route: Phone call from a credit analyst following their credit review.

Result: Closing of all credit lines.
He mentions 5 - I have 6 (1 old MBNA, 3 BofA, 1 Fidelity and 1 BofA Biz) - not sure which one will be spared and I didn't ask as not to draw any attention to it.

Reasons for closure:
- billpay
- $116k overall debt (44% overal util)
- 22 new accts since 01/2006

Was grilled on the billpay aspect of my accounts even before I have been told about the account closures.

Losses:
- $39.8k CL from 5 personal cards
- $34.5k CL from 1 biz card (possibly)
- BillPay (had ex-MBNA card and Fidelity card)

More info: jairocon AOR 2.0

What was your billpay usage like?Id'say fairly extensive - but regular.
Up until my AOR in June - it was mostly used to send almost the whole CL ($30k+) to a depositary acct in one lump transaction and the rest of the CL was used for minimum payments. So in general I'd have about 6-7 billpays a month and about 2 purchases to keep on the safe side. Since the AOR when I re-allocated CLs, I left only $500 on both Fidelity (new card recived in June AOR) and ex-MBNA and used them to make minimum payments - so about 3-4 billpays on each card, with 1 purchase on each card. The card was always paid down to $0 on or before the statement date and never reported any balance.

I was grilled extensively by the credit analyst about the reasons for doing billpays and he specifically said that their credit cards are not designed to be used for transactions A->B->C (pay your cc using bill pay, then pay your bofa card) but to be used A->B (meaning make purchases). I told him that I've always done it and I have regular chats with CSRs even with their credit analysts when I need CLIs or a new line and that nobody has ever expressed any disapproval of this.

The point is - there wasn't anything really extra-ordinary about my billpay usage that has not been there during their previous credit reviews, the only difference was that my CL for billpay went from $30k+ to $500 (*2).

I think it was unfortunately the combination of events that led to the adverse rxn. Most likely the increase in overall debt triggered a red flag, then the analyst saw the increase in new accounts and eventually upon a close review he didn't like the billpay usage.

I'm not surprised by their actions and I would actually say that it was a smart prevention on bank's side to protect itself against this kind of exposure. I don't think it did them much good, since I'm already extended at about $68k from them, so I couldn't really do much more harm even if I wanted to. I pleaded to keep my old MBNA (est.2000) card alive, but since billpay was one of the outlined problems, the analyst had absolutely no interest in keeping anything open.

lhendricks92 said: Do you think the analyst meant they don't want you to pay other BofA CCs with billpay, but it's OK to pay non-BofA CCs? That's how I would interpret A->B->C versus A->B.No, in fact I have never paid another BofA card using BillPay, so that is not a problem.

I'll have to take a look at my TU report (I believe they pulled that one for the Account Review) and see what other dates they did their Account Reviews on. I think more than anything it is the sudden rise in balances ($0 accross the board on 6/19 to $116k today and the 13 new accounts in that period). BillPay might have been the cherry on the top that pushed them toward closure.

Edit: jairocon said: I was grilled extensively by the credit analyst about the reasons for doing billpays and he specifically said that their credit cards are not designed to be used for transactions A->B->C (pay your cc using bill pay, then pay your bofa card) but to be used A->B (meaning make purchases).What the guy was asking is why would I pay my other credit cards through MBNA card and then pay off that MBNA (bofa) card from my checking, instead of just paying the other cards directly. Basically he smelled something fishy going on, too much money being moved in strange ways that were out of normal in his book and nothing I said made sense to him.

AMEX just dropped my CL from $44K to $35K, just above the current balance. (Context: AOR in December; started with 89% individual and perhaps 70% overall; both are still pretty high.) i.e. I continue to get moderate adverse action from aggressive utilization, though it's still a good tradeoff for me (especially given long credit history).

mbhadoria said: Today I received a letter from Citi stating that they have closed one of my oldest credit account...stating too many enquiries in past 12 months....effect of AOR in February. I wonder if Citi is coming harsh on AORs now ??

I just got a letter from Citi saying they were closing one of my oldest accounts too. But they said it was due to "Serious delinquency, and derogatory public record or collection filed" So I checked my 3 in 1 report again, and I still am unable to find anything remotely negative. So I called Citi's Credit dept. and they said they couldn't tell me why this was generated other than what was in the letter. So now I have to find a way to dispute an error that doesn't exist!!!

SCREW YOU CITI BANK!!!!!!!

Edit: more angry faces were needed

MikeR397 said: abracadabra11 said: Here's an experience with Chase today. Recently conducted an AOR (around the 5th of July). The following accounts were opened with chase:
Name/Limit/Balance
Sony Card/$11k/$0
Borders 321 Visa/$6k/$0
Amazon.com Business Visa/$12k
(another chase card yet to arrive)/$12k/$10,500

I called today to check on a balance transfer and was told that all of my accounts had been closed. The CSR explained that Chase had reviewed my account and chosen to close the accounts because of the multiple requests for credit. I asked the CSR if I could provide any financial documentation to verify my ability to pay with liquid assets. She then looked over my credit report and found that I only had $1900 in revolving debt and reinstated all accounts.
Good job on fighting the closures. I see a lot of people not putting up a fight when this sort of thing happens. If you are a good customer and show you can pay back your debt (ie: income statement and savings balances), I think you stand a very good chance of getting the adverse action appealed.

I have been in a battle to get my funds unfrozen at USAA. You can search for the thread if interested in the details. Today, I received a call from USAA informing me that Chase had requested that BT funds be returned to them (I did 2 BTs from Chase, 1 for $10,500 another for $25,000). I have contacted Chase and am in the process of trying to get that request removed.

Here's my recent experience with FIA Card services on my Visa: (AOR in EARLY JUNE)

I recently called to reallocate some lines from BofA cards to my Fido Visa up to $6500.... That must have triggered something, and soon after, FIA closed my accounts. EVEN the BOfA ones... (total: 5) Talked to CSR and told me "you are not credit worthy, you have a $65000 credit limit, you have been aggressively applying for credit... blah blah blah..."

The b*tch on the other line told me she didn't care if I can show annual income of $50K+, investments in the $100,000 range... she just said "why do you NEED a credit card?? People don't really NEED a credit card..."

FIA no longer has my business...

that person was me....

yes, they closed all 5 accounts!

I guess it didn't help that I was arguing with the CSR, but she was a total B*TCH...

Now, anyone know how to get my $250 bonus from the IOWA MASTERCARD that BOfA just closed on me??

I am pretty sure by now I am on FIA's blacklist... (I feel like such a deadbeat with closed CC accounts...)

Uhh, yeah, right. Very believable.

I've noticed a lot of hostility on this thread toward submitting tax docs during a Financial Review.

What is the disadvantage of submitting tax docs?

lorcha said: I've noticed a lot of hostility on this thread toward submitting tax docs during a Financial Review.

What is the disadvantage of submitting tax docs?

To comment on this some more:
1) though there's hostility toward submitting tax docs, most of the anger is generated by the fact that cards a locked first, without much of a warning
2) having to submit the tax docs creates extra work (for which you don't get paid)
3) do you know how AM3X uses your tax docs? If their operating assumption is that they're entitled to see something that backs up HHI shown on the cc application -- they are wrong .. for many reasons, e.g., HHI may include income not shown on your personal tax return, your last year income is less that this year's income (must be true for every FWer ), etc.

debentureboy said: Citi just canceled my AT&T Universal for too many inquiries and 11 months of inactivity. I called CSR, she said they'd reconsider in another month if I dropped my balances / utilization. She didn't seem to buy any of my stories of why I have sporadic business expenses, lots of reimbursable travel expenses for multiple people, starting up a business. Dang. It was a $25K line I've had for better than 10 years!

My UT is low by FW standards. Even Dave would be proud of me.

So, how many inquiries is too many for CITI? This sounds pretty extreme. OTOH, "too many inquiries" may have been just a "tacked on" excuse, the real reason was no activity and (ab)use of other cards.

Question:

If a credit card issuer closes an account that already has a BT balance, how is this reported to the CRA's in terms of utilizaiton? 100%? the last utilization percent? or is utilization still updated as the balance is paid down?

For example, if Barclays closes a 10,000 CL that had a 9000 balance, what would show up on the CRA report: 100%, 90%? and once you paid it down to 8000, would the utilization be 100%? 90% (from when it was closed) or 80% (updated balance)?

More importantly, how does this affect credit scores? Does carrying a balance on a closed (by issuer) card hurt you more than if you carried the balance on an open line?

Thanks in advance!

Economist said: I do wonder if closing the $300 account would help improve the score.It probably would not change your score, but remember that the decisioning process isn't just your score. Issuers can look at whatever they want and develop their own models.

Personally, I would close the $300 account. Some issuers will give you a smaller line if they see that sub-prime CC.

lorcha said: Economist said: I do wonder if closing the $300 account would help improve the score.It probably would not change your score, but remember that the decisioning process isn't just your score. Issuers can look at whatever they want and develop their own models.

Personally, I would close the $300 account. Some issuers will give you a smaller line if they see that sub-prime CC.

I started a thread on this very subject. I'd love to revisit that discussion if others have thoughts (and especially data points) to share.

Success! After 3 calls and paying down several accounts, they reinstated my account (reference my Oct/21/2007 post). Nothing special, just kept to my (truthful) story of why I had so many accounts and had such high balances on some of them -- yet un-reimbursed business expenses, un-reimbursed charity related expenses and borrowing to invest.

This was a waste of time for little benefit, but it's the PRINCIPAL of the matter, eh? I've had the account 15+ years, with a $25K limit.

Thanks, Citi!!!!