Weatherboy

Even though I asked for my World Mastercard to be upgraded to a Presidential Plus card last month (and still would be willing to jump on it today), I got the dreaded letter from Chase today: due to the state of the economy and their need to make more money, they're shutting down my CO Chase account.

After chatting with them, they said this was an effort to drop about 20% of their customers from their ranks. Guess they need to trim their books to afford their bonuses

To be fair, I didn't use my card too much...maybe $30-$300/month above/beyond CO purchases. I guess if I was charging $10k/month and carrying balances they'd want me more.

But now I'm in the odd situation of not having a affinity card tied to the airline I'm most loyal too.

docr775

Get the debit card. You can still earn miles, you still get the bagage fee waived, if you ever loose your elite status, and you do not have to worry about having a balance. I have been credit card free for 8 years now, my credit score is getting close to zero because everything is paid of as nine months ago and I pay for everything with cash.

Weatherboy

Isn't there a max daily charging limit on the debit card though...like $750/day? Wouldn't come in handy for buying a J/F/Y which would often exceed that amount.

thepointsguy

Mine has a $5k daily purchase limit and $1,000 daily cash withdrawal limit. I bet you could get the purchase limit lifted if you asked (especially for a CO purchase).

scubadu

Hmmm... I'm all for fiscal responsibility. I carry no debt. Anything I buy via credit card is paid straight away; haven't paid a finance charge or carried a balance in probably 20 years.

However, I fail to see how having a credit score "getting close to zero" in today's world is a good thing (for countless reasons). Is this just some sort of "stickin' it to the man" thing or something?

But hey, to each is own...

Regards

Crazyhotelguy

Is Dave Ramsey on FT?

cmwilliams72

They dumped me back in October from their United chase card after I got itand held onto to it without use for 12 months. Then, I tried to get the PresPlus a couple months later and Chase wouldn't approve me due to their reason of "Holding previous cards within the last 24 months with no balance."

It was the oddest denial I've heard of. FYI: I have a really good credit rating so I know it was not that (although I got worried so I checked my rating shortly after the denial of the card).

Steph3n

was someone looking to buy cars with cash?

around here I see people serious about buying a brand new lexus on an affinity card, not at all cash

JerseyCityS

Citibank is dropping lots of people, and raising interest rates.

I think what American banks are doing to people is disgusting. Absolutely disgusting, and I wish we could all band together and never use another credit card.

I use the Chase Debit, never had a problem with it, and I get the miles, and free luggage. Never had a large charge declined, so I'm not sure what the limit is, but I have used it exclusively for 4 years.

Steph3n

And our govt told us CARD Act was a great thing!

deltame

OP, I wonder if could share what was the official reason that Chase gave you about their closing your credit card account? Low activity or no activity? Or anything credit score related, such as lots of credit card applications to cause them perform a detailed financial review, thus the adverse action?

[ETA] Maybe I'm totally misunderstanding it, but I also have the regular CO MC & I don't think it a great long term instrument to earn miles/points, except when I make occasional online purchases at their shopping portal. So I am not sure if losing the CO card is that much of a big deal.

CNJMichael

Generally, credit card companies don't like people to over-utilize or under-utilize their cards. If you're overutilized, you may default. If you're under-utilized, the card company has exposure to your entire credit limit, and if they see anything in your credit profile which might indicate a negative change in behavior, they fold.

The ideal customer? When I worked in the industry more than three years ago, the best customer carried a balance, paid monthly interest charges, and had a payment rate at least 2x the minimum.

deltame

But Chase is offering very generous miles bonus on the BA card, and some people don't have that great a credit profile also got approved (as you can see from the thread in the Miles Buzz forum).

I'm sure someone in Chase is smart enough to know that a large percentage of the new BA card holders are just going to spend $2K and get the full miles bonus and then close the account. Why would Chase choose to grant those new BA accounts while close out CO card accounts from their existing customer base. I'm assuming OP and several others have good to above average/good credit scores - no offense.

dlflyer2

The dynamics of the credit industry have changed and the government had little to do with it. The law played catchup, but still lets the banks play their games while taking them to task for the more egregious acts.

When the banks and everyone else was selling credit derivatives, it made little or no difference to the banks whether you wanted big credit lines, would use or could afford them. The value to the banks was being able to sell derivatives based on the amount of credit outstanding with little attention to whether it was good, or had any possibility of repayment. Debt was bundled so there was little accountability or incentive to place limits. The system rewarded lending as much as possible.

Of course it meant that lots of people got much more credit than they merited and the resulting tightening down has been irrationally applied. Banks continue to make money with penalty fees, usurious interest rates, and even when they cause defaults. The new laws do little to change the outcome or dynamics. The banks still have the money.

docr775

Continental Preferred Debit card has a $5K charge limit and $1K cash withdrawl a day limit and caps your earnings at 80k miles per year. The Citibank Gold AAdvantage debit card has a $10K a day purchase limit and a $2K cash limit and does not charge foreign currency conversion fees when used outside US and caps mileage earnings at 100K a year. And yes both are willing to lift the limits if the cash is there. I bought a new chevy equinox for my daughter last week for ~$25K and used my AAdvantage debit card to pay for it.

So as far as the presidential card is concerned, I am not loosing much for not having it. I still get my CO miles for stuff that I buy, including double miles for CO tickets, I use my RewardOne points for my PC membership. The only things I do not get are the Flex EQMs and the discount on premium wines. To me those two things are not that important.