1. Blogs
  2. Kwazy's blog
  3. @#$%ing CitiBank

@#$%ing CitiBank

Kwazy

Shared on Tue, 02/01/2011 - 16:29

First things first, haven't posted anything here in a while...but I need to yell and can't do it to my meatspace friends.

Fuck. CitiBank.

Got a letter in the mail today saying ShittyBank had cancelled a credit card I've had FOR EIGHTEEN FUCKING YEARS.  The card had an 18k credit limit which started out as $300 in my second year of college, and despite wreckless spending sprees on rounds of Long Island Ice Teas and pitches of Miller Lite had worked its way up to a more than respectable level.

Why was this done?  Possible reasons include:

A)  Failing to make minimum monthyly payments

B)  Excessive transaction disputes involving online porn sites

C)  Purchasing more than three Sierra Leone war orphans per month for use as my personal man-boy sex slaves

D)  "due to the length of time that has passed since it was last used."

Well campers, if you guessed anything besides D, you're wrong.  Insightful, but still wrong.

How can you have a consumer account for almost two decades and not at least warrant a "Hey buddy, use this card, or we'll close it" letter?  The pisser is that we're getting ready to move and apply for a mortgage on the new home.  Thank you, oh thank you, ShittyBank for putting this huge turd on my credit rating.

CitiBank Board of Directors:  I hope your kids get eye herpes.

 

 

 

Comments

AngryJason's picture
Submitted by AngryJason on Wed, 02/02/2011 - 07:48
Yeah, it will ding it a bit. Debt to credit utilization ratio and all that good stuff. It's all a balancing act though. One nice thing on a credit report is seeing that you're only using a low percentage of your available credit. However, if you have a lot of available credit, then the the lenders could look at that negatively as well, from the perspective of "if Kwazy were to suddenly max out his shit, would he still be able to pay me?". The low utilization is definitely more important in the calculation, but on bubble cases, high availability may pose a slight risk. In the end though, I'm with the "Citi's actions hurt more than they help". Amex was notorious about canceling people's cards and slashing limits when the economy started to tank. Bank of America also got in on the action. My guess is Citi just set some automatic process in motion around that time. It's a necessary evil for banks now - they are under much more scrutiny to show to the Fed that in the event of another colossal cluster - they have a reasonable expectation to cover their accounts (not a 1:1 coverage, but proving that they actually have capital to cover their business). Some of these cats were technically insolvent when things went tits up. Scary stuff. So, if they can whittle down the credit they've extended by closing their inactive accounts, it helps their numbers when reporting to the FDIC or whoever audits that shit.
TheDastard's picture
Submitted by TheDastard on Tue, 02/01/2011 - 17:30
It was the Miller Lite. Shows a pattern of questionable taste.
Big0ne's picture
Submitted by Big0ne on Tue, 02/01/2011 - 18:32
Actually a closed account will look better on your credit report because it's less of a credit line available for you to overspend with. Closing the account regardless of who initiates it does not leave a mark on your report unless there's an unpaid balance.
TANK's picture
Submitted by TANK on Tue, 02/01/2011 - 19:45
Ya citibanks sucks, all banks suck, credit cards suck. I loved that they used the new credit card reform act to jack my interest rates that were below 15% to up in the 25-30% range for no fucking reason at all other than they can. It used to be a flat 20% interest to borrow money from the mob, banks are even worse.
Armorsmith76's picture
Submitted by Armorsmith76 on Tue, 02/01/2011 - 19:56
Eye herpes? I've wished worse on people. :) We had one get canceled. The reason given amounted to, "because we can and we want to."
VenomRudman's picture
Submitted by VenomRudman on Tue, 02/01/2011 - 19:57
BigOne is right, this will help you in the mortgage process.
Kwazy's picture
Submitted by Kwazy on Tue, 02/01/2011 - 21:57
BigOne, Venom...wish you guys were right. But, alas you aren't. http://www.credit.com/credit_information/credit_help/The-Top-10-Credit-M... ANYTIME a credit card account is closed either by consumer or lender action, it is bad mojo for your score.

click for more 2O2P member action

click for more 2O2P member action

© 2007 Media Crumb Inc. All rights reserve Media Crumb Inc.

Join our Universe

Connect with 2o2p