More bad news came today. Citibank sent me a letter saying due to increased risk based on a TU report, they are lowering my credit limit to $1,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I also confirmed that MBNA checked TU. I am wondering if what breeze said is right, that TU gives me one report and others another report. I cannot believe this. I supposedly got 2 deletions from TU since 8/01, and the baddies were on there when I got both cards, so the picture is better. I've got 3 inquiries on TU now too (got some deletions through BBB!) Geez. I am feeling frustrated! There is obviously something going on with my credit that I don't even know about!
Author_22, A couple of my cards did this to me as well. I cancelled them both...Providian & Nextcard. I've been doing a little research on this, and it seems that many of the cc's are adopting this technique (checking overall credit) for reducing their risk. Some companies are even increasing the APR's for customers who appear "overextended" on thier credit reports. I read this somewhere. Providian & Nextcard raised my APR's, despite the fact my scores have only increased since applying for their cards. They based their decision on a review of my three credit reports in October 01. Anyhow, I have a question for you. I would like to get a citi card, and my scores are very close to yours. But I figured I would not be approved. What do you think? Calmest_LA
If you have derogs of tiny amounts (less than $100) or they're paid and at least 2 years old, there's a good chance you can get the AA silver. May I ask what you're dealing with on your reports to make sure inquiry isn't wasted?
Hi Author_22, I have two negatives left on my reports...from 1999. Both are under $100.00. But for some reason, my score NEVER moves. These two items are currenlty being disputed, and I have about ten days left before the thirty days are up. I recently paid down my cards to below 50% usage and got only one (1) point! I cannot figure it out. My reports look pretty good (to me), considering what they used to look like two years ago. But I am consistently denied new credit. Calmest_LA
This type of action is my fear with CITI. Big surprises like wacking the APR or lowering the CL. I'm afraid that all the BDDing will comback to haunt some of us who applied several times, converted , then combined ending, costh
Sorry about the incomplete response above. I had a visitor. I'm just worried that CITI allowed the BDD by accident and later they'll come around and take it away!
I'd like to offer another theory for your MBNA/Citi problems steph...You got both of them via a PFB reconsideration (right?). When they reviewed your account, they forget what you said for the reconsideration. Maybe they are looking at it like "this person went from being approved 3 months ago to being in the low 600s now" (i'm not saying I agree with this, I just think this may be the reason...) -scott
What you're referring to is a "Reprice" - By law a credit card company can just change your terms to whatever they please, so long as they give you 30 days notice and a chance to opt out (By cancelling your card of course). What credit card companies have done is slip a small card, say 3X5 into the ads of your bill (Yes, very sneaky). Most people (Including me) would get the bill and the return envelope, then trash everything else not realizing that our rates are about to be jacked up 6-8% or even more. Citibank has a habit of doing it to everybody at one time. Most companies, like FirstUSA where I used to work will do a percentage (Say 20-25% of the cardholders every 2-3 months). If you're in the right range, then they'll either reward you or do nothing, if they find a reason to screw you, they will. Don't listen to their excuse as to why they're doing it, they're trying to make money or find a way to stick it to you. Unfortunately, all bank cards do this - best thing is to keep an eye out and call them when they try a reprice and get them to not change anything. GT
"JACKING" THE INTEREST RATE TO LIKE 25% IS ONE THING...but cutting the credit limit is NOT acceptable!!! FIRST USA "JACKED" MY INTEREST RATE...SO I PAID IT AT THE OLD RATE AND THEY ARE GONE...WE HAD 3 ACCOUNTS TOTALING ABOUT $72,000...ALL GONE.
THIS WOULD BE MORE LOGICAL..."YOU CAN'T USE YOUR CARD ANY MORE" I don't know if the COMPTROLLER OF THE COURENCY, BBB, or PFB, or AG, would help...
author_22, this happened to me in 1999 and 2000. At that time I'd had my Chase Gold card for many years, and they lowered the credit line from $6000 to $4000 based upon my credit reports. Citibank and MBNA did much worse that that -- they flat-out cancelled my cards. I was lucky Chase treated me as well as they did, I guess. If my own history provides any lesson, I think I can safely say that your Trans Union score of 500 is in pretty dangerous territory and can invite that kind of response. I began my credit repair in earnest in March 2001. By the end of 2001, my Chase had been upgraded to Platinum and the line of credit bumped up to $5000 (still lower than where it was, although the terms are a lot better), and I also have a Citibank Platinum Select with a $9500 LOC (thanks in part to the Citi Shuffle described on this board -- thanks to marci and others, lol). I still have no MBNA card and really don't plan to do business with them ever again. In a phrase, MBNA sucks. Calmest_LA, I wanted to make a quick point regarding how you'd paid your balances below 50% but only saw a 1 point score improvement. Anything over 30% usage hits your score pretty hard. I personally think it's silly, but that's the way it is. You would think that consumers should be able to spend their credit line however they like without penalty -- otherwise the banks shouldn't approve those amounts in the first place. Unfortunately, they never asked PsychDoc when they were figuring the rules for scoring. Doc
When you have one party that has one rule of secrecy to keep the consumer in the dark and the other party makes their own rules as they go and changes them when ever they want to you aren't going to figure anything out. This is especially so when the actions of the rule making party affects the results of the other party! ================================ Lets play a game of checkers. I get to make and change the rules as I see fit. Guess who will win the game every time!
