Chase lowered my credit limits! Grrrr...

[Maggie'sMom]

I am hating the effects of this new credit card law. I have two Chase credit cards and was online to make my payment. I normally wouldn't even look at my credit limit, but the "available credit" amount caught my eye. It was about 1/2 of what it should have been. So I looked at my credit limit on the card I was paying and it was 1/2 of what it had been. Then I checked my other Chase card and it had happened there too.

I pay off my balance every month and usually only use about 10% (and often significantly less) of my limit. So generally the lower credit limits don't impact me except they will drag down my credit score because it will drive up my credit usage ratio. But the last few months I have put more on my cards because I was remodeling my kitchen and family room and put some bigger ticket items (cabinets and granite countertops) on my Disney card to get the points. There was one month when I might have used 50% of my limit, but paid it off at month end. The other months it's been 20%, and I should be back down to using 10% or less now that the remodel is finished. What bugs me is I didn't get notice from Chase this was going to happen, and if I had been in the midst of the remodel and putting these large ticket items on my card, I might have inadvertently gone over the lowered limits.

That just ticks me off. I know now that the new law is in place, I don't think they can do this without notifying me first, but it sucks that they rushed to do all this before the new law went into effect.

Okay, rant over. I feel better now!

 

[ohlas]

I bet you get a letter soon say they lowered it. Call them ask them to reverse it.

 

[Laurie Disney]

Chase did it to me too, a few times. I have a balance and I am on automatic withdrawl. Everytime I have a large amount of credit available they cut it to 200-300 available. I will NEVER get another chase cc again. I can't wait till the balance is Paid in full. That's why I refuse to get a Disney cc because of Chase. In fact, my credit line is much lower than a few years ago and my payemnt has almost doubled. That makes my sick.

 

[sandyneck]

At least I know its not personal Last month i had my credit limit lowered and this month I just got my statement and my interest rate went from 14% to over 20 and my monthly pay went up $50 I have made all my payments on time and never missed a payment. I loved having a Disney card, but it will be cancelled tomorrow. I called and asked for them to lower the rate, but they said no. I told them this was a brilliant idea with the economy in the toilet and people having trouble making their payments to raise interest rates and payments. Hope they know sarcasm when they hear it!

 

[dclfun]

So....I thought the changes in the law already went into effect and prevented the CC companies from lowering limits without a reason ( as in someone was late, or didn't make minimum payments). What *can* they still do to us at this point that is legal? ---Kathy

 

[shortbun]

I checked my card, everything is the same.

 

[runwad]

I checked my card, everything is the same.

Me too, we have two chase cards and everything is still the same. Although i didn't check the interest, forgot, but we pay in full every month so I don't care what it is.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Ours is the same too...for today

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

So....I thought the changes in the law already went into effect and prevented the CC companies from lowering limits without a reason ( as in someone was late, or didn't make minimum payments). What *can* they still do to us at this point that is legal? ---Kathy

The majority of the new requlations don't go into effect until February 22, 2010 so they did this change just before the Dead Line.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

So....I thought the changes in the law already went into effect and prevented the CC companies from lowering limits without a reason ( as in someone was late, or didn't make minimum payments). What *can* they still do to us at this point that is legal? ---Kathy

They can't lower your limit without a 45 day notice at this point. That went into effect in August. On Monday the rest of the provisions go into effect

 

[dd50]

Chase has been lower limits and upping interest rate for the last year. Most people don't know that the limits are lower until they look on the statement or get declined or worse get an over the limit charge.

 

[Dotsie]

They did this to my mom a few months ago. She would charge things and at the end of every month, pay it off. She went to buy new living room furniture (she was moving into a new place) and the card was declined for the amount. She stood there in shock. The store ran it through again, and again the same thing happened. She then called Chase and she was told that they lowered her credit amount from $6000 down to $500. She was never late on her payments, always paid in full and doesn't have much debt other than her car payment. They could not give her a reason why. They were very rude to her on the phone as well. About a week later she received the letter that said they lowered her credit limit.

 

[SpaceGirl]

Remember if any of your cards have reward points, dollars or miles...these must be used before you cancel the card or they will be void and you won't be able to get them if you canceled your card.

 

[HsvTeacher]

We have closed two Chase accounts in the past few months, because of the garbage they're pulling with good customers.

My DH and I have never been late, over the limit, or anywhere near the limit, and we have excellent credit. However, that didn't stop them from raising the rate on my DH's card. That account was closed. Then after hearing about how they were lowering limits without notifying customers, we closed my account, too. Good riddance!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Our Disney Chase rate was raised twice since the Spring-getting the old "everyone's rate is going up" Our rate is now 14%...guess I should be happier that it's not even higher. I know what our credit looks like since we bought a house in June. Now I make sure I check my account online all the time to make sure if we do use it to get the points, we won't have any surprises. I don't want the embarrassment of the card being declined because they lowered our limit out of the blue or something

 

[DVC-Don]

We have 3 Chase cards (business and personal) and no changes to date.

 

[sandyneck]

I think it is terrible to lower the credit limit without notice. This happened to my husband also when he was in South Africa!! This was the only CC he had with him. It was terrible. I called and explained this to the CC company but they did not care that they had left him stranded with no card in a foreign country. Luckily, it was toward the end of his trip and he had some money left on his debit card to get him home, but this seems criminal to me. Imagine being at the beginning of a Disney trip and counting on your credit card! Ugghh! I guess with the banks are counting on Obama to keep them in business, not the American consumer

 

[tr-ray]

I had a chase credit card that I stopped using when I paid off, but it's still active...

This thread made me go look on the website - omg, the interest rate is like, 23.74%!!!!

So glad DH and I will be credit card debt free soon!

 

[mamalle]

They can't lower your limit without a 45 day notice at this point. That went into effect in August. On Monday the rest of the provisions go into effect

They can and per the banks its not against the law.. I noticed also my limit was decreased on one of my BOA cards. I called to complain and they told me my letter would be coming in the mail..2/6.. well I really was pissed and in a matter of 5 minutes my other account's limit was decreased after talking to the credit specialist.. so I received yesterday 2 letters dated 2/6 and 2/9 about them decreasing my limits based a review of my credit history. Nothing has changed since the last time they checked it and its actually gone down since we paid off one of our cars... They dont care at all.. He also told me the new credit card laws take affect on the 23rd not 22nd..

 

[lauralana9]

Chase has done this to me at least 3 times over the past year or so. The best part is each time they lower it I get a letter in the mail stating the reason. Their reason you ask? I my debt to credit ratio is too low. LOL its like one big nasty circle. I pay a bunch off, they lower my limit thus keeping my debt to credit ratio too low.