I have a B of A Visa card. I went over the limit in Nov by $35. I paid the OL fee and made my payment. The next month they put me OL with the finance charge. Then they said since I was OL 2 moths in a row they are doubling my interest rate to 32% for 6 months. I called them and complained that I have never been OL or paid late as long as I was a customer with them. They basically said too bad and they warned me which they never did. They also said even if they did not warn my it was in my agreement. I then sent them and email and they said sorry for the inconvience but too bad. I called them and told them to cancel my card. I will stick with other CC issuers that treat you like a customer.
Choosing not to use, and cancelling, are two different decisions. Make sure if you cancel, that you don't throw off your debt to available credit ratio enough to cause other lenders to also jack your rates. If this might be the case, open an account with a lender with better terms before closing this one. OL at least isn't 30 days late, so there should be little damage to other credit relations thru your scores.
That's why you should AVOID letting any card go >30% of the limit... and NEVER go over 50%. This raises flags (not to mention lowers your scores) and can trigger many issues to lower limits, raise rates, or both. Closing the account would be bad - many issuers have clauses allowing them to raise rates on "closed" accounts. That would also reduce the available credit to $0 but still show a balance on your credit report, lowering your score even more ... and possibly triggering other issuers to follow suit, starting a downward spiral. If you can get your balance a comfortable distance from your credit limit - say under 75% - then I'd do it and send a PlanetFeedback to the BofA executive offices. No guarantees, but you may get a sympathetic ear. Before your credit report really starts to show damage, I'd get another card or two and use BTs. Good luck, mj
I already di the planet feedback and have been email B of A on a regular basis. They said there was nothing they could no but then refunded one of the overlimit fees. I then called and asked to reopen the account and they said they could not without doing a new application. I told them no thank you.
That's why you should never react out of anger and in the instant that you get upset. Next time, keep the account open to help your utilization and length of history. Use it to buy a tank of gas every month or so. Then pay the bill when it comes, so you don't pay any interest. In six months it will go back down and then you can use the card more.
