they lower your line of credit does that affect your credit credit score thanks rick

I've been with AMEX for 13 years. Last month I paid my bill through their online site. At the same time, I discovered fraud on my checking account and had to close it. I called AMEX immediately and rectified everything. Now I get a letter telling me I must close the account or accept a 27% interest rate on the daily balance, no grace period because of the returned payment. I have great credit, fairly conservative and have only one other crdit card. This should be illegal! What a bunch of crooks!

I just received a copy of my credit report from Equifax and noted that they underreported my credit limit by over $30,000. This resulted in my appearing to be using much more of my available credit than is the case. I called CitiBank to ask why my credit limit was showing as zero and was told that, although the card agreement says the limit is $10,000, since I can actually exceed that amount, they report it as zero. Thus my three cards, with $30,000 in total credit available, show as zero available. Please check your reports if you have CitiBank AAdvantage cards.

Just received a letter in the mail from Chase informing me they're closing my account basically because I don't use the credit card. What can I do to avoid this? I did use it a few months ago and paid off the balance. I owe '0' on both cards. HELP

We have done the same thing - never activated card. I'd send a letter to the 3 credit bureaus stating just what you said - backed up w/statements showing $0.00 balance (be sure to black out acct #.
Unfortunately, those of us that are responsible by paying >min due & on time, not activating/using card, and paying w/in the "#'s same as cash", say a month or two earlier - seem to be the ones treated more poorly than irresponsible purchasers. Why? My thought is the credit card companies are betting they can get 60-70% of the higher interest rate debts (those w/interest rates jack up to >20%) than those of us who have reasonable rates <9% - the rates we EARNED to use.

I am three weeks away from closing on my first home. I have a Washington Mutual/Chase credit card that had a credit limit of $3500 with $2000 available limit. I always paid on time and paid large amounts of money $500+ every month because this is the card that I use for business travel. Needless to say when I went to rent a car on a business trip this week I live in Fort Worth and was in Virginia on business-my card was declined...I felt sick to my stomach because I was stranded. Thank goodness I had money in savings or I don't know what I would have done. Chase sent me a letter dated the 7th of May, I tried to use my card on the 11th of May...I did not receive my letter from Chase until I arrived home from my travel. I hope this does not hurt my chances of getting my loan on my home.

I just received a letter from Bank of America stating that my credit line was reduced from 45,000 to 23,000 because of "the way I have historically used my account" (I carry a balance less than $1,000). Although I never intended to use my entire credit line, it was comforting to have the safety net and I relied on it to have a positive impact on my credit score. Shame, shame, shame on the giant monster mega banks for taking advantage of their loyal and dependable customers!

After calling B of A, I went back online the next day - my $9500 limit had been re-established! Now while I am very grateful for that, after reading everyone else's experiences with various creditors, I also feel lucky - but still angry at the credit industry as a whole. They are not treating people fairly and this only gives the current Administration more ammunition to push bigger government and more regulation.

And even when they warn you they might close is early. I received a letter from Citi stating that I had to use My AT&T "Lifetime" Mastercard by 5/15/2009. Well I just tried to use it today (4/17) and it was declined. I just called Customer Service and the the laughing Representive said that it was closed on 4/12 but would be restored. Darn funny of them.

Bank of America recently made an error in posting my payment and sent me a ridiculous letter saying that because of my late payments they are lowering my limit. I feel this is fraud. What can I do?

Wamu (chase) citibank, and capital one. Wamu sent a letter in nov cancelling my account for inactivity. I had not used for it two years bacause of a large apr. But the biggest suprise came from Citibank. We have 2 accounts. one my husband uses for business travel.THe limit on his card had been raised by the cc co until it was 21,200.00 This card is paid usually twice a month or more depending on when he is reembursed from his employer. So he leaves out of town and calls me to tell me that his card has been denied. I had just paid $7800.00 3 days earlier. My balance was 16,000. So I get online to see what is the problem and they had reduced my limit to 12,760.00 which of course makes me over my limit. So then they increaded my apr from 7.99% to 29.99%. So I called citibank and complained I had not received any notification about this. So I did get them to reduce the apr but they had changed it from a fixed rate to a variable rate and doubled it to 14.99%
They did not charge me an over-limit fee and said they did not report this to a credit agency. we always got fixed rate cards and did not know they could change them to a variable rate. These 2 accounts are the ones we use for drugs, gas and groceries because of the cash back. In fact I called right after talking to citi and cashed in my cash back and they sent me a check.
We have 4 capital one accounts Most are 0 balance. One we use for medical and had only a 5500.00 limit. Same thing . I went oneline to pay and the limit had been reduced to 1000.00. On one other cap one account that I rarely use because of the large apr has a limit of 17,500.00. I am expecting it to be lowered too. My concern is that my fico score well be low because of my debt to limit ratio. I have not canceled my 0 balance accounts because I was told it would affect my fico score. I guess if any of my cards start to charge an annual or monthly fee I will have to cancel..We are not in as bad a place as a lot of people are but I am angry because as others here have said, we have been good about paying off balances and living mostly on a cash basis and we get screwed because the cc companies can't get money from the ones who don't or can't pay. I feel like I should just declare bankruptsy and not give them a red cent. If my credit score is going to be ruined anyway, why not?

I had 2 of my credit cards shut off just out of the blue! They let a company called acai berry put a charge that was NOT mine on the card (both of them) then when I disputed it they closed my account! WHILE I was on vacation! So, basically if you don't let them just charge whatever they want you cannot have a credit card anymore. THis was BOTH chase Bank Disney Visa and Juniper/Barclay mastercard cards! Now I have one card left which is Discover. They said they would not do that. It makes you wonder though. :( What a scam. Now that the accounts are closed, they have raised the interest so I have to pay more and owe more on a card that I cannot use!!!!!!!!

I called to ask if they could decrease my interest rate. They told me they could not but try back in 6 months. I got a letter 3 days later stating that my account had been closed because of my inquiry into the interest rates. My husband got a letter stating that because I am an authorized user on his account they were closing his as well. We have excellent credit and do not carry a large balance. I am not sure what is going on.

Add CAPITAL ONE to the list of idiots. I have been a customer for 17 years and they cancelled my account for lack of use. What are these people thinking? Cancelling the folks that CAN pay their bills.

I have a Carnival SeaMiles MasterCard wiht a balance. I went on a Cruise the week of Dec 15th. I put a $ 1000.00 on the card right before the 15th with anticipation of using it on the Cruise to you know get "SeaMiles". Well during the cruise, my limit was reduced. I had to put my Debit Card on the onboard account to cover remaining charges. Even though I had put the extra cash on the account, they reduced it to a new lower balance. Of course, on the cruise, I did not have a good way of checking on what was going on. Right after the cruise, I made one other charge, but later realized the change made to the limit. I was still under my original limit, but now over the new limit. Why did they allow the charge? They charged me an overlimit fee. I was able to have that credited back to the account. Then a couple of weeks later, I got to thinking, you know that interest was pretty high. They changed the rate from a APR of 15.24 (high I know) to 25.24. I called and explained to them unless they reduced to the rate back that to at least 15.24, I would cease payments until some sort of agreement could be made. I also wanted the interest credited (difference) back to the account. I've suspended the account and will wait to see what happens. They created this situation and now are trying to screw me over. I was looking forward to building up "SeaMiles", but now looking back, that was a bad idea. I originally obtained the card to transfer some other balances to a low 12-month 0% offer. I am sick and tired of getting screwed by these people. Now, the Feds are going to stiff us with the so-called Stimulus package as well. I am starting to feel like I don't care if I pay it back.

After BOA got bailed out they notified me
that my credit line was reduced and
closed out another account which I used.

Closed! my WaMu c.c.(now Chase)w/0 bal. and no activity in 12mo.. Closed! my Chase c.c.(I think,last4#only)w/0 bal.and no activity in 24mo.Which ones next? I am self employed single f., this very upsetting. It will have a major impact on my credit,last check my ficos 834. My payment history on my home of 10yr. and past credit card history has been the proof I've needed to show that I'm not a credit risk. This will blow my chance of getting into new home. Like everyone's said no contact info what so ever, no name, phone #. This is bad,I'm ------!!!

I have to say that I agree with LB's post. Not everyone who carries a credit card balance is financially irresponsible. It's not all from shopping spree's and buying consumer goods that you have no need for. Granted this might be the case in a good many cases, but, most people use their credit properly. It's not from "people living beyond their means". There used to be "usery" laws that protected people from this cycle of preditory lending practices. It's even talked about in the Bible. I noticed that ever since this "financial meltdown" began it's seems like there are a whole lot of people and financial insitutions that just love to "blame the victims. I can understand it from the "insitutions", but not all of us are blessed with the same financial prosperity. So, if you done well financially, count your blessings and stop believing that everyone is just in debt because their not as smart as you.

I had one of my Chase cards closed today. I had not used the card in 5 years and had no intention of using it. I thought it was strange that I would receive a rather nondescript letter just shutting down the card without an "option" to continue using the card. I believe it's actually the credit card companies cleaning their books and reducing the liability that they have on available credit. It's not a bad strategy since accounts such as mine are not in use and could potentially make them look bad. With little risk, they reduce the apparent liability on their books.

While I appreciate all the comments posted, I feel some are a bit snide and narrow-minded. Not all credit card reductions are due to non-payment. I am a small business ownere and by necessity have several credit cards. ALL of which are ALWAYS paid on time or early with MORE than the MINIMUM balance due. Nevertheless, both Amex and Chase have reduced my credit lines to pretty much what I owe on these accounts. In doing so, they have caused me to be maxed out and negatively impacted my credit scores. If I have an excellent payment history, I feel this is unjust. My strong credit report is no longer stellar.

what all of this teeth gnashing shows is the abysmal addiction our society has with credit cards. In virtually all cases, people who carry balances on credit cards have in the past and/or are now living beyond their means. Otherwise, why not just pay off the balances and avoid the high interest rates or lower limits. After all, who cares if your credit card charges 30, 40, or 50% interest if you do not have to pay it? Who in their right mind would borrow money where the lender can at will change the interest rate or other key terms of the loan? Answer? Financial idiots.

I set my billpay up to Automatically send a payment LARGER then usual minimum every
4 weeks. This way if I miss one or forget it automatically gets sent. I can then go in and adjust payments as needed.

I just had three cards closed on me this month. One was a business card and the other were both Chase cards that were not used in the past 24 months. This slightly lowered my monthly debt to credit ratio, but it is still lower than the suggested 30%. If I didn't have other cards open or low limits, this could have really hurt my fico score.

Is it bad to the credit card companies to close your inactive accounts?