I was just informed by Chase (actually not informed I saw it on my account) that my credit limit on my card was being lowered from $8k to $4k. I called and they said my FICA score was lowered b/c of recent lines of credit taken out. In actuality I actually just ended a lease on my car and did not get a new car (live in the city and dont need a car anymore). The only thing i could think of is that I had a billing dispute with Verizon which eventually hit my credit but they wrote a letter to the credit agencies stating it was in error, etc and that the account is closed without issue. I asked the Chase rep if it was b/c of the Verizon issue and she said no it was b/c I took on additional credit. Could my credit score be lowered becuase my car lease expired? Or is it more likely that this Verizon issue hit my credit report and Chase didnt see the withdraw yet? I am very confused.

Any answers you might receive here will be speculation. Likewise, I would not regard any statement by a first line customer service representative to be authoritative.

Have you retrieved fresh copies of your credit reports to see what is reported? By law you are entitled to download your credit reports once every twelve months at no cost from this site...

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

These reports will not include your FICO scores, only the underlying data. I would not purchase the scores until I had reviewed the reports. Did Chase tell you which bureau they used when reducing your limit?

They said it was my FICO score..I havent been a big credit watcher but after what happened yesterday I am goign to follow it closely from now on. I just haven't opened any new lines and actually paid down a few cards in the past few months.

I was just more curious about the mechanics of the credit score and was wondering if my lease ending actually hurt me or if the ding I had for a few weeks from Verizon which was recently removed was what caused my credit score to lower which in turn lowered my score.

In all honesty I have not been pleased with my service from Chase and can't wait to get my Scwab and SPR cards setup. I am just waiting till next month to apply because I want to finish paying off my Chase card.

Indeed, but you have several FICO scores. You have a file at each of the three credit bureaux, and the information in those files is not identical because all lenders do not report all accounts to all three. Each bureau calculates a FICO score based on the information in their file, and the calculation is different depending on the purpose for which it is requested (e.g. credit card, auto loan, mortgage).

To understand what has happened at Chase you need to see your credit reports -and- you need to know which of the three Chase used to make the decision. Chase should be able to tell you, or you may be able to puzzle it out from looking at the reports.

You can learn about FICO scores here...

http://www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/

Thanks for your help...I called Chase today..apparently it was a timing issue and the Verizon bill was what lowered my score...they acutally raised my creidt limit back over $8,000. Can anyone tell me what score I will need to get approved for the Starwoods Amex? My score should be around 720 right now...i am getting dragged down by an engagement ring purchase plus my home equity line of credit is considred revolving so that hurts as well.