Came back from a trip to London this weekend. Used my Diners Club in the UK with no problem; in fact it seems to be accepted at many more retailers there than it does stateside.
Arrived at JFK on the late AA flight Sunday night. Rented a car at National to drive back to IAD where my own car was parked. Gave my Diners to the exit booth agent...no problems.
Monday morning, I insert my card into the "Pay & Go" parking machine at Dulles...and my measly $45 parking charge is declined. I use my AmEx card to pay instead and call Diners from my cell phone, thinking that they had placed some sort of fraud alert on my account with my overseas travel.
The friendly representative I speak to at 1-800-2-DINERS looks over her notes and tells me that over the weekend, the credit department has decided to close my account. The reason? My age (I'm 22), limited credit history with Diners/Citibank (have had the card for only 5 months) and high balance on the card (I always try to take advantage of the "float" and don't pay in full until a couple of days before the due date) has flagged me as a supposed high risk of default.
The rep says that the VP of Credit Management has made his/her decision final, and that even when I pay the full $5000 or so balance at the end of this billing cycle there's no way that my account can ever be reopened until I submit extensive income verification and allow Diners to take a closer look at my Experian credit report.
As much as I have enjoyed the benefits of Diners Club (especially the primary car rental insurance) I'm not going to bother going through all the hassle of reopening the account. Visa's secondary car rental insurance is adequate for my needs, and there are plenty of other credit cards out there that earn airline miles and/or other rewards similar to DC's.
Problem is, why would they have approved me for the card in the first place if they considered me "high risk?" Doesn't make sense to me...and now I'll have the arguably negative mark on my credit reports of an account "closed at creditor's request."
I'm VERY frustrated at Diners right now...
