I’ve Become a Victim of the Credit Crunch
I already knew the credit card companies considered me a deadbeat, but I didn’t think I was that bad. Sheesh. In the past month or two, at least three CCCs have told me to “get ta steppin’!” LOL! All because I wasn’t showing them any love. And only one had the courtesy of sending me a ‘dear john’ letter. *smh* Here’s the aftermath (and my annual review) of our dreaded love affair:
1. Bank of America Platinum Priority Visa
- Limit: $50,000
- Thoughts: Since this incident, BofA has been on my shyt list. The only reason I keep the card is because it’s one of my oldest AND has the highest limit. I use it for online shopping because it’s my only card with the virtual account number feature.
2. American Express Blue Cash
- Limit: $42,500
- Thoughts: This is one of my oldest cards. For a long time, it was also one of my highest limits, but BofA surpassed it in 2007. I really like it because it’s cute, you can see right through it! The cash back structure (5/1) is pretty sweet too. The only downside - everyone does not accept Amex.
3. USAA Platinum Visa Cash Rewards
- Limit: $35,000
- Thoughts: I love this card!! Their customer service is the absolute best. THE BEST I TELL YA! This speaks volumes because I expect superior customer service wherever I choose to spend my money. This is also my card of choice for EVERYDAY use. The reward structure is 1.5% cash back on anything, anytime, anywhere with no annual limit. This card also had one of the lowest rates (prime plus 1%), but due to uber low historical rates, they’ve established a “minimum” APR regardless of what prime may be at the moment. I think that’s bull ish. But I don’t carry a balance, so I can’t really get mad.
4. Navy Federal Credit Union Platinum Visa
- Limit: $20,000
- Thoughts: Always nice to have a credit union in the family. Never know when you’ll need a loan with a great rate. The monogram is kinda cute and I love the platinum concierge service.
5. Chase Rewards Mastercard
- Limit: $20,000
- Thoughts: Can you say poor customer service? I haven’t used this card regularly in ages. It’s one of my oldest cards and will continue to benefit my credit score, but I refuse to help them earn a dime.
- Last month, I received a letter from Chase. They said they were closing my account due to 24 months of inactivity. *shrug* Ok.
6. Citi Professional Mastercard
- Limit: $19,900
- Thoughts: I originally opened this card (with the Diamond Reward MC) for 10,000 reward points each and redeemed them for $100 each. There was also a nice little BT offer with no fees, but I never took advantage of it. Because of the 5% cash back on Diamond Rewards, Citi quickly become one of my favorite cards. But…as soon as they stopped offering 5%, I stopped using the card. It’s lovely when you have options.
Soon after, I combined the limits and closed the DR. I decided to keep the Professional for business purposes, but I haven’t used it in months. - After I received the Chase notice, I logged into to my Citi account and guess what I saw. They reduced my credit limit to $100! Da hell I’m posta do with $100??? ONE HUNNID FRIGGIN DOLLARS! LOL! I called ‘em up and closed the account. Their retention department offered to increase the credit limit back to $2,000. LOL! I was like, dude, fug outta here with that toy limit. I quit you!
7. Macy’s Store and Visa
- Limit (Store/Visa): $1,500/$8,000
- Thoughts: This is the newest member of the family, born in May 2007. Macy’s is one of my favorite department stores, next to Nordy’s. I love shopping during the semi-annual sale and getting an additional 15-20% off the “clearance” prices with my card. I’ve never used the Visa option outside the store and probably never will.
8. Wa.lm.art Store Card
- Limit: $1,000
- Thoughts: Hate. This. Store. Never. Shop. There. The only reason I still have the card is because it’s my oldest revolving account. Otherwise, it would have been history a long time ago.
- After the Citi debacle and a credit alert from the monitoring service, I logged into all of my credit card accounts and Wa.lm.art was the only other culprit. Back in June, they raised my limit to $1,000. Can you imagine the damage a person can do with $1,000 in Wa.lm.art??? I haven’t shopped there in ages, but I kept the card because it was my oldest revolving account. But then, these fools closed my account too. Damn!
Now I’m down to 5 cards with a total available credit of $155,500, a reduction of $40,000+ from last year. I don’t care about Chase and Citi, but I’m a little irked because Wa.lm.art was my oldest revolving account. When an account is closed in good standing, it remains on the credit report for only 10 years. After that, poof, it’s gone - as if it never existed. 
Has anyone else been affected by the credit crunch?
~*~*~*~*~*~Work to achieve, not to acquire.
And always, BE FABULOUS!
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ahhh… Citi did the same to my Professional card! They cut my limit from 20K to 2K because of inactivity! Jack arses. They did the same thing to my Drivers Edge card (also my oldest card) a few years back… but I refuse to let them close the account!
Mine was the Citi Professional too. Ha!
You don’t have to “let” them close the account. If they want to, they will. I’d rather have a credit notation of “closed at consumer’s request” than “closed by creditor.” When people see that, they assume 2 different things. [-SM]
Not really a victim of the credit crunch, although I’m sure Chase will try to close my Visa account - I haven’t used it since my trip to SA in 2007, I’m 2 months away from 24 months of inactivity. I don’t even think I called to activate my new card.
It’s the mortgage debacle that’s got me in a crunch - I need to buy a new house and I don’t want to put 20% down, don’t want to pay a PMI and don’t want to escrow…I need to call some other lenders because Wells Fargo doesn’t have any options for me. You would think that someone with excellent credit could get a break, but not, LOL.
The mortgage industry is the main culprit of the credit crunch, so it’s all the same thing to me. I feel your pain though. They are getting VERY strict on mortgage loans, even for those with excellent credit, high income, and job stability. I’d like to buy another home too, but I’m going to wait until I can dump the townhouse. [-SM]
I received two Dear John letters last month because the accounts were inactive.
Yep! We got CUT! i say it’s becuz we were too good for ‘em! But it is such a bummer to think how many thousands of dollars we all of a sudden don’t have access to… even if it was just to stick it back in the SAME bank for X% interest…
Arbitration Paradise, that’s how it used to be…
Maybe it’s a good thing I’ve got a revolving balance on Mr. Mastercard….Just kidding! I’ve got a limit of $9,800 - it’s my highest limit and oldest card. I’m done if I close that out!
Heck no! I’d never carry a balance just to keep a credit card. They can have them ALL if that was the case. All you need is “activity.” Charge, pay in full, rinse, and repeat. [-SM]
Citi closed my card I hadn’t used in two years (I only opened it to transfer some of my credit too because of the 0% balance, but then I didn’t even bother to do that).
Hmm… it didn’t occur to me that perhaps the banks closing people’s accounts could actually hurt OUR credit, because it shortens our credit history when the accounts close and go off the report. As a matter of fact, the only ding on two of my credit reports is that my credit history isn’t long enough (um, what? I’ve had credit since I was 18).
Yep, losing a good account will hurt because length of credit history is 15% of your credit score. When that Wa.lm.art card falls off my report, I will lose a 20 year old account. Shoot! [-SM]
I have Target Visa and my limit was over $7,000.00. Card is active and I pay in full every month if I use it. One month I went on the website and kaboom! my credit limit was reduced to under $5,000.00. WTF! I said f*ck and stopped using it all together. so I am going to get Dear John letter soon too.
HSBC and Washington Mutual wrote me some Dear John letters. It is odd how you get punished for NOT wrecking shop with your credit cards. Humph.
So what’s the answer? Use ‘em all up again? Will they even LET you do that nowadays? Should i pull out the old ones and start BT’in’ again? Anyone out there know how to keep a high balance? I have to say, i put EVERYTHING on my little cute discover card and pay it off… and they have not touched my credit limit. What do you think??
tu Shaki
Oooh you know i have MAD LOVE for USAA! Even after their latest stint of adding a “limit” to how low their % are (mine went from Prime - 0.45% to 6%). Their customer service and everything else they have are killer….have over 12 accounts w/ them
Whoops– i mean high credit limit… NOT balance! (methinks we all know pur-ty well how do keep one o’ DEM!)
I don’t understand why you need access to that much credit anyway? Having that much open credit here in Australia would be a big black mark against your ability to get say a mortgage or personal loan.
Holy cow! $155,000 available credit on cards! I’m Australian, and as debtdieter said, there is no way you would get a mortgage or any other type of loan with that much available on credit cards. I have to wonder if many others in the USA are in the same position. Can anyone explain why you would need access to so much credit?
I’ve answered that question many times before. Here is one of many posts. If you need more explanation, use the phrase “available credit” in the search box. [-SM]
Yep! I’ve been getting a steady trickle of Dear John letters over the past few months. My CitiBiz cards were reduced from a 10k line to 500, yesterday! Since I had planned on reducing the number of open accounts held anyway, it’s just a matter of consolidating my dinkier credit lines with the cards I’m keeping active.
I suppose the best solution is to just use all of your cards every once in a while! But seriously, $155K of available credit? Whoo-wee!
Also, tazzee, no one NEEDS to buy a house! Seriously, there are some great rentals on the market. Rent until you can save up enough for a down payment and avoid PMI. Put your interest to work for you instead of getting into debt and having it work against you!
-Erica
I haven’t been hit yet, but I half expect one of my cards to tighten my credit limit. The limit is far above what I normally charge.
I haven’t received anything yet either. There are some cards that I haven’t used in quite awhile. Now I know that Chase is on the rampage. I’ll take my unused Chase cards and buy a pack of gum or something cheap just to get some activity on the account.
I received a “Dear John” letter last week from one of my Best Buy cards, due to inactivity, and my company credit union card (my first credit card EVER, that I’ve had for 17 years) was recently cancelled without notice due to inactivity, but I have been able to easily up my credit limit on my two most active cards, AAA Platinum Diamond Advantage and Citi Platinum Rewards. I also had my credit limit upped, without request, on my Sears and other Best Buy card (probably because I shop there fairly often). I expect to have some of my other department store cards to be cancelled soon due to inactivity, but I’m not stressing, since for most of them, I only opened to get the initial XX% discount on the first purchase, or no payments/no interest for XX months.
So far, just my HEL was closed but I never used it so I am not bothered. I’ll check my others later.
SingleMa, I am wondering what the CC companies are doing to those who are up to the limit on their CCs. Are they closing their CCs and just having them pay on the balance or they allowing them to keep charging?
I’ve been thinking a lot about my credit cards lately because I’m hoping to be able to buy a house in a year or two. I would rather do the work now to increase my credit limits so that when I go through the mortgage loan process, there won’t be recent activity. How were you able to get such high limits on credit cards? Do credit card companies generally just increase your limits over time if you’re a good customer? I have two major credit cards that I use pretty regularly. I’m 24, I believe I’ve had each of them for at least two years, and I’ve never made any late payments. I generally zero them out every month. I was able to call both of them and request an increase, so they’ve both been increased from $2000 to $3000. So yeah, I guess I’m just wondering how to speed up the process of gaining more available credit on the credit cards I already own. Any advice you have would be great
Oh you have a lot of credit cards out there and the credit limits are pretty impressive. I wonder how you have manage to settle your debts then and increase your limits also. What debt relief have you done? Have you seek any advice from a financial expert?