Citibank Closed My Credit Card!

Okay, I have to say that I'm outraged. I have had a Citibank credit card for the past 7 years. I have never been late with a single payment. My balance is around $5000 and my credit limit is $15,000. I have never been over the limit or close to the limit.

Well today I receive a letter saying not to use my card anymore because they closed my account as of August 29, 2004. They said that they closed the account. It said in the letter:

"A recent review of your credit report has caused us to close your account as of 8/29/04. Please do not attempt to use the account as no new transactions will be authorized.

Our credit decision was based in whole or in part on information obtained in a report from the consumer reporting agency listed below. Specifically, the agency's report shows the amount owed on revolving accounts is too high and the amounts owed on accounts is to high. "

The credit reporting agency was Equifax.

I am totally puzzled, as we recently refinanced (in March 2004) our mortgage and paid off all of our balances except for $5000 on Citibank.

The only thing shown owing on our credit report is the Citibank balance, our mortgage and our auto loan. I have never made a late payment or went over the limit on any of our cards and have always handled our bills well. There is nothing negative on our reports. We have $8000 in the bank, and have no trouble making our payments. I keep the $8000 as a cushion, but now I'm disgusted and going to pay off the Citibank balance with some of it.

To be honest, I was planning on cancelling that card anyway once it was paid because I hate paying the $50 annual fee (this is a Citibank AA Mastercard) and also, they never report the correct credit limit on the credit report. They have reported my $15,000 credit limit as 0.00 for years, which throws off my debt/available credit ratios. Capital One also reports my available credit as 0.00 too and that really screws things up as the two of them give me the most available credit. I had asked both companies to correct that over the past 2 years and there was never a response. I noticed that on another board, someone was having the same problem with Citibank not reporting the correct credit limits.

At first I was going to send a really nasty letter, but then I thought, well, I'll just order a copy of my credit report in case something is incorrect on it (but I just reviewed it last month and it was fine!). Because I was going to cancel it anyway so why make a big deal of it. But the more I think of it, the madder I get! That is how Citibank treats their good customers? To just cut off their credit limits without any warning! Thankfully, I didn't find out the hard way by getting declined at the grocery store or something!

Also today, I received a letter from Discover Card raising my credit limit by $2000!

Has this happened to anyone else? I'm totally confused by this and don't know if I should call Citibank and question this. Also, my friend told me that they'll ruin my credit by marking the account Closed by Credit Grantor and that will take a huge amount of points off my credit score (which is around 700). Is this true?

Any advise would be appreciated.

 

Okay, now I'm really puzzled. I went to log into my Citibank online and it showed that the account was fine, showed my credit limit/available credit, and nothing to indicate that it was closed or cancelled.

So I happen to look at my actual credit card number and notice that the credit card number on the letter they sent doesn't match! It is a totally different number.

I only have one Citibank credit account. The name and address on the letter is correct, but the account number is wrong. I am even more confused.

Does anyone have any ideas? Now I'm all paranoid that someone else has a card from Citibank in my name. But how would they get a card when it would have to be delivered to my house and activated from my phone number. And I viewed my credit report last month and it didn't mention any other accounts from Citibank and everything looked in order.

Should I just disregard the letter because it isn't my account number? Maybe their computer sent letters to the wrong person in error?

 

When I call the automated line, it says my available credit is $9800 which is correct. I also checked it online and it doesn't appear to be closed. I am so worried about this! I don't know who's account number is on the letter, but it isn't the number on my actual Citibank Card, which is a Gold Level World Citi AAdvantage Card.

I don't want to talk to an operator or CS Rep, I want to talk to the person who sent this letter. She signed the letter and she is a manager. I'm afraid if I talk to a CS rep, they will screw it up more! I had a terrible experience once with Providian when they applied my $1000 payment to someone else's account. You'd think that would be an easy thing to take care of, as I had the cancelled check and faxed it to them, but I talked to about 10 CS reps over a period of a week, and none of them could take care of it. They acted like it was my fault and was rude to me! They even made me pay the extra interest, and never even gave me an apology other than giving me credit for the incorrect late fee.

This is my only account with Citibank, I've never seen that other number and I just saw my credit report last month and there were no discrepancies. I'm hoping that this will just be a glitch and the wrong name and address ended up on this letter.

If it is a fraud, how would the person have gotten the card and activated it, if Citibank has my correct name and address? Wouldn't any card issued go to my house? I've heard alot about identity theft lately, but I'm not exactly sure how it works.