All of my Citibank credit card accounts were closed yesterday.
This includes, I believe 5 new credit card accounts (both business, personal, cobranded, etc.) as well as my 3 pre-existing accounts that were in good standing. I have not yet confirmed that ALL were in-fact closed, although this is what I was told by the Credit Analyst I spoke with this evening.
The reason given was exclusively the number of recent inquiries, which I was told were 13 on experian. This is, of course, the result of my App-O-Rama from 2 weeks ago, detailed in FW Finance.
In any event, Citi expects around 5 inquiries per year (this is what I was told). I discussed with the analyst that I had comparatively high and stable income that I could demonstrate with Tax records, current pay stubs, etc. Also described myself as a long time customer with moderate revolving balances that are PIF monthly. No movement whatsoever and I normally do very well on the phone with CSRs since I come across very professionally and courteous.
I was given the names of the Credit Managers to speak with tomorrow, which I will do.
Jevon90 - 4 accts, 1 existing / 3 new, large neg balance refund exceeding CL - noted no new accts on CR since Dec at time of "too many inquiries" on EQ, all were visible at app time, AU card was not closed
brushwood - 7 accts, 3 existing / 4 new, $25K BT on business side
alextan - no detail, 5 accts consolidated to 3 in Feb, $13K BT
74ak - 1 existing citi account, 2 new accts (in 4 years), reallocation from old to new Citi + $20K BT, "numerous reallocation" attemps to business side, 7 inquiries
Technique - Didn't have AOR
xCarsonx - haven't found AOR thread yet
Venturion had A/A but it was in the form of non-renewal of an older card, and the non-renew didn't specifically cite inquiry count.
teammjs - no detail, caused by inquiries from AOR, looks to have been picked up during hard pull for checking acct
Sinhcredible - no detail
DjPiLL - closed all accounts plus all wife's accounts from our AORs (including my oldest account). Credit scores did not change. Screw Citi.
tarcapone - December 4th - they got all my accounts and my wife's, including Key Bank and Associated Bank. 0% offers still good, just no new activity allowed. Interesting that they closed my accounts and my wife's on the same day.
TheManWhoExcaped - March 12. All CC acounts (two) closed probably due to large puchase/refund in a billing cycle. No BT outstanding. No AOR. 1 inquery in 2 years.
Message edited by: TheManWhoExcaped on 2009-05-12 22:35:43 CDT
They Did the same to me after my AOR in October. All of sudden my 10 account (6 existing & 4 from AOR were cancelled) I was in the same boat as you but they closed all the accounts.
This happened to me about a month ago with Chase. I have 3 cards with them - Freedom, Sony, BP. They said they were closing my accounts after an account review because my debt had grown from 2k to over 40k. Obviously an AOR but it scared them. I called got a CSR she said they were closing my BP card and my Sony line was being cut from 12k to $500. Needless to say I was mad. I had just paid back my 10k BT too. So I talked to the CSR and she kept saying that it wasn't normal for a person to gather 40k in CC debt in a year. I told her I had 40k in my bank account and she said so pay your CC bills. She was rather rude. So I asked to speak to a supervisor. Explained that I do BTs and that I had the money. I told him I was just floating my funds because it was at 0%. He must of liked me so he opened my accounts back up.
My lines started at: BP-500 Freedom-500 Sony - 12500 <- My BT
On the phone I told the guy I wasn't ever going to use the Sony to put the limit on the other two cards. BP-6500 Freedom-6500 Sony - 500
Here's the good news. I got a letter saying my account was being restored. Heres my new limits BP-6500 Freedom-6500 Sony - 12500
Yep bank error in my favor. Thanks Chase. From 13500 to 25500.
stook2001 said: Any advice? You may find this post and its follow-ups in the adverse action thread of interest. Technique actually managed to get his cards reopened, although it sounded like he had to give up a few spare years of life to do it.
Good luck. I hope that 5-count business doesn't stick. Interesting that they're pulling EX - I see them looking at my other reports, but not that one (far as I can tell, anyway) for my CitiPro and/or CitiBusiness.
swishyx said:stook2001 said: Any advice? You may find this post and its follow-ups in the adverse action thread of interest. Technologist actually managed to get his cards reopened, although it sounded like he had to give up a few spare years of life to do it.
Good luck. I hope that 5-count business doesn't stick. Interesting that they're pulling EX - I see them looking at my other reports, but not that one (far as I can tell, anyway) for my CitiPro and/or CitiBusiness.
While I appreciate that I am in your "every waking thought", it wasn't me.... it was a user named "Technique".
I've had NO trouble with Citi, nor Chase (other than the CLUSTER-F w/ a BT at chase that had to be re-done 3 times becuase of their over aggressive FRAUD department).
And BoA is still my friend.... I recently got a 1 yr 0% BT offer on an unused card w/ a 500 buck CL... I moved CL from 2 other cards to the card with the offer, creating a 55K+ CL... then procedding to take a 27K BT!!!! It took 3 days for the money to hit my BofA Checking account, and let me lock into a bunch of nice, decent APR, 3 month CD's... as a holding area until my other BT's expire (in, oh.... 35. months!!!).
Technologist said:While I appreciate that I am in your "every waking thought", it wasn't me.... it was a user named "Technique". LOL... woops! Sorry 'bout that! Off to correct my original post...
swishyx said:Technologist said:While I appreciate that I am in your "every waking thought", it wasn't me.... it was a user named "Technique". LOL... woops! Sorry 'bout that! Off to correct my original post...
This is not normal, is it? I did an AOR last year, and none of my old card got canceled. I got about 25 cards all at once. I guess must be the credit crunch recently that spooked the bank.
They did the exact same thing to me except that they pulled EQ. I am trying to bump the inquiries off and then see if they will consider reopening my cards. I have about 100K out in BT's though so I'm not sure if that's going to happen. I had over 70K TY points and quickly ordered some GC's. I am hoping I get them. I am definitely disappointed that I lost all my citi cards, especially the platinum AMEX.
stook2001 said:The reason given was exclusively the number of recent inquiries, which I was told were 13 on experian.Per your AOR, you applied for 8 Citi credit cards..... I haven't read through your entire thread yet but I would venture a guess that 8 is just a little spooky (even in spite of splitting them 4 and 4 fiance and you).
scrock said:This is not normal, is it? I did an AOR last year, and none of my old card got canceled. I got about 25 cards all at once. I guess must be the credit crunch recently that spooked the bank.Actually, what wasn't "normal" was the incredibly loose underwriting standards of the early 2000s through about mid-2007, where multiple large unsecured credit lines were given away like candy without so much as income verification. By historical standards, that gravy train for credit "gameplayers" was unprecedented.
Careful, restrained, and/or targeted applications will likely be fine even in this current environment for people with good credit. But as has been pointed out many times here already, the large AOR is no longer a prudent strategy for the vast majority of credit applicants.
Best of luck stook2001. You'll have an uphill battle with 13 experian inquiries, especially if they are very recent. But good phone skills, patience, and demonstrable assets/liquidity won't hurt. Keep us posted.
jackcrawfish said:stook2001 said:The reason given was exclusively the number of recent inquiries, which I was told were 13 on experian.Per your AOR, you applied for 8 Citi credit cards..... I haven't read through your entire thread yet but I would venture a guess that 8 is just a little spooky (even in spite of splitting them 4 and 4 fiance and you).
Actually, the 8 applications were in my name only (biz and pers). Have not yet done the App-O-Rama for the Fiance. I plan to go more conservative with hers. I may lock experian and do something more like a few rolling AORs.
The 8 apps and 5 new approvals may have spooked them or perhaps flagged me for a general review. No way to know really. But the issue of quantity of apps or number of new accounts was not even mentioned by the credit analyst. The reason given was exclusively the number of inquiries. My app list, by the way, was more or less a duplication of what someone else had previously done. Clearly, the credit markets have changed in a significant way. However, it does seem quite clear from my experience, as well as some of the other very recent experiences on the Adverse Action thread, that we should be treating Citi with kid gloves at this point. It seems to me that they have gone far beyond even AMEX to the point where they are closing all accounts no questions asked and have no interest in even doing a full out customer review. AMEX is in the first first ask questions later. Citi is in the fire and ask no questions zone.
Nonetheless, I will work them over to see about reopening some of these accounts. There is nothing in my credit history to indicate that I am high risk other than the recent AOR. Although I realize that application sprees are not normal, I do believe that it can be explained and that my financial situation should put them at ease.
stook2001 said:jackcrawfish said:stook2001 said:The reason given was exclusively the number of recent inquiries, which I was told were 13 on experian.Per your AOR, you applied for 8 Citi credit cards..... I haven't read through your entire thread yet but I would venture a guess that 8 is just a little spooky (even in spite of splitting them 4 and 4 fiance and you).Actually, the 8 applications were in my name only (biz and pers).No offense but I am a bit more relieved upon hearing your response. I am not so concerned about my Citi accounts anymore. EIGHT applications with any one creditor on the same day seems very high risk (from my perspective).
How fast did they close after your AOR, and how many cards did you apply for before your last Citi one (which they presumably could have seen the inquiries on)?
My wife had two new personal cards closed, two old cards closed (sadly, the 0% for life with 2 purchases/month), but they didn't touch the new business card or her old Professional card. I'm speculating that a hard pull citi initiated on us when we wanted to open a MMA about 20 days after the AOR may have picked up all the activity, rather than fallout from the initial hard pulls (which were early in the AOR order).
On the 0% for life, they never even sent a letter-- only found out about it when the card wouldn't work and the online account services wouldn't allow more than basic functions. And on one of the new cards, they cancelled the card and cancelled the BT check 7 days after it was deposited in the checking account! So, you have you watch carefully.
I just did a major AOR, and am planning to freeze EQ and EX (which Citi tends to pull) to try to protect against a rogue credit request after the 1st 3 days have gone by just in case. I don't believe they can see queries on their routine soft pulls, correct?
jackcrawfish said:stook2001 said:jackcrawfish said:stook2001 said:The reason given was exclusively the number of recent inquiries, which I was told were 13 on experian.Per your AOR, you applied for 8 Citi credit cards..... I haven't read through your entire thread yet but I would venture a guess that 8 is just a little spooky (even in spite of splitting them 4 and 4 fiance and you).Actually, the 8 applications were in my name only (biz and pers).No offense but I am a bit more relieved upon hearing your response. I am not so concerned about my Citi accounts anymore. EIGHT applications with any one creditor on the same day seems very high risk (from my perspective).
No offense taken, look this is not the end of the world, I am reasonably confident that I can reapply for new Citi cards in probably 2 months (more conservatively, of course). The norm for Citi had been 5 cards. I added a couple of cobranded cards and based my apps on prior successes in earlier AORs. Their policies have changed.
That being said, you should be careful with Citi, check out the last few days of posts on the Adverse action thread. There has been similar action taken with MUCH more subtle activity than mine.
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