Comments on: Your Credit Card Company Could Unexpectedly Lower Your Limit

By: tara

tara — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:40:33 +0000

I have been with the same cc company for years now and I have limit of 15K I went to use my card which is paid off each month and it was declined was only for 200.00. I tried calling to see what the problem was and was not able to get a response from the person that answered the phone. I use my canrd for the bonus flying miles I get with it since in my line of work I have to travel. I had purchased some investment property that went into foreclosure because the mortgage company did not want to work with me. I have not received any notice of them lowering my limit – why would they do this?

By: Todd G

Todd G — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:55:31 +0000

BEWARE B OF A!!!!!! It does “hurt to ask” to have your credit limits raised.

Quoting from this article:

“What should you do if your credit card company does unexpectedly lower your limit?

Call your credit card company and request that they raise your credit limit again – Let’s face it, they probably aren’t going to be willing to do this, but it never hurts to ask. If you have a long, and positive payment history with them, then you are in a good position to negotiate.”

My experience with Bank of America today: My credit limit on a B of A VISA card I have used for 15 years was $21000. They recently lowered it to $7000. Because lower credit limits can lower your credit score, and because, according to this and other articles, “it never hurts to ask”, I called to respectfully request that it be raised back to the original amount, The B of A representative’s response was not only to deny my request but to lower it further to $2400! Right there on the spot! When I complained that I had been a B of A customer since I was 8 years old, that B of a holds my home mortgage, that I had NEVER had a late payment with them or any other credit card or loan, his response was to offer to close my account for me.

My advice: Do not talk to the credit card companies, talk to a lawyer!

By: Customer Service and Loyalty | Ask Mr Credit Card's Blog

Customer Service and Loyalty | Ask Mr Credit Card's Blog — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:27:04 +0000

[...] with their credit card companies, paid on time, but credit card issuers in this credit crisis have reduced credit limits, increased interest rates and closed accounts. There are many unhappy campers out there. But who to [...]

By: dave w.

dave w. — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 08:07:37 +0000

I opened a acct from Bank OF AMerica, and I was given a limit of $9000.00 and I have never been late and I pay at least $1000.00 but my average payment is about $1250.00 a month. I have never received a bill saying my payment due was anything but sero because I pay several times per month. If I have a extra $100.00 it goes straight to the BOA Choice Platinum card. I would not have used so much of the card since January but the Dr.s who are treating my mother for recurring colo-rectal cancer wanted her to use a hidra therapy tub to increase her bloodlfow down there. I checked on Sunday Sept 13th my balance was still $9000.00 and I went to the drug stotre Monday Sept 14 and forgot my checkbook so I went online and paid back the $100/00 I spent and I paid another $50.00 Wednmesday of this week. I am afraid to keep making high payments because I am afraid in 2 or 3 months they will be paid down another $4000.00 and they will lower my credit again. It is easier to use a credit card, and I travel oftenn, meaning at least 3 days per week and the free rooms help, but I would have been in a tight spot had they lowered my credit lower than the $2100.00 I know have owe about $6700.00 and my limit is $6900.00 This was humiliating. I chgecked my credit report and my score is about 705. They offered me more cards after I got the first one and approvced me for a truck loan, but I wanted to pay them off. My home is paid for, as is my car. I get a good VA pension, I served 23 years as a Naval Aviator. I feel that what BOA did was dirty., It seemes like they tried to damage my credit. They said any checks wrote on the old limit and any authorizations would not be honored. I will stay wih my bank, and get a card and vehiohle loan from them. Thank you for this article, it answered many questions for me. I assume going to the BBB would be a wasye of time. For anyone who calls them, the reps at BOA seem to read from a pre written script as they all say the same things. They also will lie to you. When the economy is back in good shhape we should all boycott BOA. That is if they lowered your limit when you made your payments on time.
Thanks and good luck to all.

By: Randy

Randy — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:52:20 +0000

I am a college student and I admit that I have been very irresponsible with my finances. At the moment, I am trying to fix things and have been making monthly payments on all of my accounts. With me being a college student, money is hard to come by. I work 2 jobs now, because I want to pay my cards off. I feel it is the right thing to do.

Now, I have an amazon.com credit account with GE Money Bank. I orginally had a credit limit of $950.00 on the account. I charged it to a high balance of around $650.00 and because I knew that I wouldn’t be able to cover my purchases I sold some items and paid the cash back to my card (stupid I know, but like I said, I’m trying to pay my accounts off). Right after I paid my balance back down to $230.00 I received a letter from the bank. They told me that due to my recent credit activity they have reduced my limit to $220.00. I just made a very small payment so that my balance is $205.00. Instead of having $700.00 available on the account I now have $15.00 available. Isn’t this going to hurt my credit score? I haven’t even graduated from community college yet. With my score being lowered so much, won’t this make it hard to get a student loan when I finally have to go to a 4 year school?

I believe that this kind of activity by banks should be illegal. They reward your payments by lowering your credit limit. What a waste of tax dollars!

By: Terri

Terri — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:41:02 +0000

Bank of America just did the same thing to us, and my attitude has gone from one of “I always must pay my bills on time” to “They will get what they get when they get it.” I had to use a credit card to rent a car, so I paid off a large amount just for the trip. Soon after, BOA lowered our credit limit and “took” the money I had put on the card. We have always paid our bills on time, and at this moment in time I don’t care if I ever give them one more dime. If it wouldn’t trash our credit I would just let them stew in their own juices.

By: Diane

Diane — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:52:37 +0000

Well today I just got letters for two of my accounts with Bank of America I to have been with this company for years, I had a credit line each $28,000.00 owed each account $15,000.00 each paid $13,000.00 account with my family trust. Today I get a letter saying my limit got lower to $10,000.00 due to the way the world is… I told the guy wait the big company’s took a bell out and got money and little people like me paid there bills on time and did every thing they should have done and this is how we get repaid lowing our accounts and raising our intrest rates WHAT THE HELL..
“PLEASE PUT MY NAME ON ANY THING TO SUE THESE ASS HOLES WHO TOOK TAXS PAYERS $$$ SIGN ME UP SUE THE BIG COMPANYS”!!!!!

By: vanessa

vanessa — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:50:43 +0000

Well, yesterday in the mail I got a letter from both BofA and my Citi card. Bank of America said they are lowering my limit from 10,000$ to 5100$, not a big deal until you factor in that my current balance is 8500$. So now im over my credit limit immediatly and will be charged over the limit fees, which in turn will raise my intrest rate. What a crock! Im not paying it!! My Citi card has a 27000$ limit and I owe 22000$, my intrest rate has always been 7.99%, as of August 4 they are raising it to 29.99%. For what?? I never made a late payment, never went over my limits and have had these cards for over 10 years. I was thinking of refinancing my house soon but how can I do this now that my credit score will be in the toilet?? I was informed that I will be laid off next month so my income will lower than usual because of unemployment. What do I do?? Im not going to be able to afford to pay them with the higher rates and all those fees. What can they do if I just dont pay? Can they take my house from me?? Cant we do something tostand up to these credit companies?? Its just not fair. If theres a class action law siut filed, sign me up!!!

By: d

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:19:46 +0000

Any call you make to Bank of America regarding credit card rate will not be to your advantage. They will begin by telling you “we are going to ask a few questions and this might sound like an application, but it is not”. Moments later expect to be taken down a road of prying eyes upon your spending habits regardless of your faithful, always on time credit card payment. They might even try to befriend you and guide you to a Debt management co, all the while behind the scenes they are lowering your credit limit and steadfastedly refusing to lower your interest rate. Your call will be like a day in court with Bank of America henchmen as both judge and jury….oh, goody we caught a struggling, on time customer to add to our quota for the day. Expect to be treated with more respect if you are behind in your payments, this is when they start to fret…oh, dear, we must be nice to this one….if we’re to get a penny.

By: James Bailey

James Bailey — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:32:30 +0000

Chase Credit Card lowered my credit limit after 36 years of perfect pay. How do I go about either joining a class action suit or starting one?