Today I get a letter from Citi Card stating they are lowing my available line of credit. I had a 15k line and they lowered it 7500. They say I was not using enough. I usually average around 1000 a month and always pay in full. I have 800+ credit score.

I have never heard of lowering your available line of credit. What reason would they have to lower the amount? I always thought it looked better on the credit score to have a higher line of credit with a lower balance.

Chase was going to close my account for non-use. I used it for one day and it is back to hibernation.

During the 2008 meltdown BofA got their panties in a wringer. Lowered my unsecured CC from $30k to $3k. I told them to cancel it.

Banking went through a "batshit crazy" phase, regularly raising credit limits with no more to recommend one then regularly paying a balance in full. A few years later I cancelled many and called the others, telling them to set credit at $10k and never raise it.

I did not use my Discover card for five years
The doubled my limit and offered me no interest for a year,

I've used it more in the last three months than I have in four years
And!
My fico went up 20 points !

I had a WM store card and recently noticed my card was "disabled" and then I received an email stating they cancelled my card because I hadn't used it in the last 18 months. I don't care about them closing it but I hope it doesn't affect my credit score.

How much available credit you have affects your score. It indicates that the CC companies trust you enough to give you that much credit. Cancelling a card usually hurts your credit because you now have less available credit in your name.

This all assumes that you are responsible with your credit. If you have a high credit limit, but have your cards all maxed out, that hurts, not helps.

It’s best to have a lot of available credit, but have low balances.

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:
Today I get a letter from Citi Card stating they are lowing my available line of credit. I had a 15k line and they lowered it 7500. They say I was not using enough. I usually average around 1000 a month and always pay in full. I have 800+ credit score.

I have never heard of lowering your available line of credit. What reason would they have to lower the amount? I always thought it looked better on the credit score to have a higher line of credit with a lower balance.

Amex did that to me. I called and I said I was about to use it for a big purchase. They restored the credit limit. And I did use it.

I got one of those.

I called them and told them to restore it and they did.

Back in 2008 Amex did the same thing, but wouldn't restore it. I closed both of my cards with them.

I’ve had them do that. And I recently had Citibank and another card cancel my $20K limit cards for non use. It’s been probably a year since I had balances on them (0% balance transfers). My credit score is 800+.

We recently paid off our house and my college loans. My credit score dropped to like 720 because there was “no record of recurring loan payments.” LOL. Whatever, idiots. If you don’t want my money I guess I won’t give you any.

Chase just sent me a letter advising me of the same thing. Suppose it's time to pay them a visit.

Amex did that to me back in 2008, also.

It was in the news recently- Credit Card Companies are worried about increased risk with all the people being laid off \ unemployed. They were reducing available credit and closing accounts to head off potential defaults.

quote:

Nearly 50 Million Cardholders Had Credit Limits Reduced, Card Closed Involuntarily in Last Month Due to COVID-19 Impact

https://www.prnewswire.com/new...mpact-301051973.html

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:
Today I get a letter from Citi Card stating they are lowing my available line of credit. I had a 15k line and they lowered it 7500. They say I was not using enough. I usually average around 1000 a month and always pay in full. I have 800+ credit score.

I have never heard of lowering your available line of credit. What reason would they have to lower the amount? I always thought it looked better on the credit score to have a higher line of credit with a lower balance.

It matters not as you are smart and pay off at the end of the month aka no interest and CC interest is only slightly better than a loan shark.
I wouldn't care ~ I too have a similar situation and pay cash or pay off the CC each month and have a very high credit score.
Who would ever want to finance $15K on a CC anyway?
Don't sweat it.

Banks can and do reduce credit limits as a means to control their loan liabilities. They tend to do this in times of fiscal and economic retrenchment. I had the same thing done to me in 2008 with a HELOC. We had a $20,000 line, that was $11,000 drawn for a kitchen renovation when the bank trimmed it to $12,000.

Whatever you do, do not cancel the card if it is your oldest account. My wife cancelled her oldest account, and hew next oldest was only 3 years old, and her credit score dropped by 40 points because the duration of your open credit history is so heavily weighed.

Got my notice from Chase/Amazon today. Don't give a shit, $300 is a big month for me on that card and I pay it off every month.

This just happened to my wife. I’ve never experienced it.

CC companies are lowering credit limits across the board. They are reducing their exposure in the event of a recession.

The average US household CC debt has doubled in the last 3 months, and the CC companies are n the hook for that money ultimately since it is unsecured debt.

The extra $600 tagged onto Unemployment Payments expires soon. The true effect of the current situation has worked its way through the system yet.

Capital One just sent me a letter this week telling me my account was closed due to inactivity.
No "hey go and buy something" just buh-bye.

Had a $14k limit and was with them for a couple decades.

My credit rating is over 800 and it will really peeve me if this ends up being significant.

One of the unrealized side effects of having to retire early due to an unexpected disability from a well paid career was a drastic change to my income to debt ratio. Many things are now outside my reach like credit card available limits, future house loans and credit scores. I kept within the 800 range previously but now have taken a ding due to my fixed SSI income. I avoid too those pesky pop-ups in my banking card online sites that ask you to update your income profile

I've learned in time to work within my means and fortunately had a decent amount of savings and a pension. You never expect the unexpected and I thought I would be employed for 30yrs plus, but it just didn't go as planned for me. I've made adjustments and just glad to hold my ground. Things happen, be prepared and anticipate side effects of employment disruption if possible. My creditworthiness was one that I hadn't given better thought to, lesson learned.

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:
Today I get a letter from Citi Card stating they are lowing my available line of credit. I had a 15k line and they lowered it 7500. They say I was not using enough. I usually average around 1000 a month and always pay in full. I have 800+ credit score.

I have never heard of lowering your available line of credit. What reason would they have to lower the amount? I always thought it looked better on the credit score to have a higher line of credit with a lower balance.

They did this to me too and for similar reasons.