What is going on with Mastercard????
 

I have excellent credit, never a late payment, and was just a good customer. They recently closed 2 of my accounts for no reason and with NO warning!!!! I called and they could not give me a reason!!! Im SOOOO mad, and embarrased because I tried to use one at Petsmart today and was declined. Thats how I found out. Then I tried my other mastercard and that one was declined too. :thumbdown No warning whatsoever. This is bad business!

In an internet search, I found lots of posts online about this happening to other people. So if you have a mastercard, keep an eye on it. Mine had been closed for 30 days and I didn't even know.

Wow, now that's bad customer service to not let you know. I don't have a Mastercard so am wasn't aware of this but I got a letter from Chase informing me they closed my account because I haven't used it for two years. That's fine with me but at least they let me know ahead of time.

I heard something similar on the Clark Howard radio show today. He was talking about a man that had a $15,000 credit limit (business card) and they dropped his credit limit to $200. I used a card the other day at Tractor Supply then went to a grocery store and it was declined. I didn't think too much of it until I was listening to the radio station. We are in for some scary times.

What happens if your account gets closed and you still have a balance due? They didn't even contact you to ask you to pay your balances?

could it be that they dont have the money..... all these banks are merging and things.... even if that is the issue they should STILL inform customers of this ahead of time! Dont know though....sorry this happened to you!

So far my mastercard is ok, t's with Capital One.

Well one was paid off (Platinum or something) but the other one I have a 300 balance on the Marathon Mastercard. Come to think of it, I didn't get a statement this month. I can't even reach any customer specialists until business hours tomorrow. The people working today cant tell me anything.

I should have added if you are with citibank, that may be the problem. I'm sure alot more card holders will be hit soon. Yes, we're in for a rough year or two.

I hope its only a year or two and not longer....One of those cards that got cancelled was an established line that I have had for 11 years! So there went my emergency funds....

..that could be! This is scary!!

I'm so sorry. I don't use mine much but I am going to do without completely but not close it since I will need it if I have to fly. It's not good for your credit to close it as I remember.

I have a m/c that's with citibank without issue thus far. *knock on wood*

It may have more to do with the frequency with which you use the card than the solvency of the bank. They are trying to consolidate and cut costs wherever they can. This is just a normal business cycle but it hasn't happened in a while so the "Chicken Little" approach to reporting the news has scared the Bejhesus out of everyone. Don't sweat it...if you need the card just open another one in it's place.

Is it possible they froze your accounts because they believe there was fraudulent activity on them? This happened to my parents, they went to use their mastercard and it was declined. It turned out M/C thought someone had stolen their number and used it in another province. Turns out they were right - the number had been stolen and used to charge thousands of dollars.

That is really bad business. They should have told you ahead of time, and explained why they did it.

Did you pay it off every month? If so, it could be that you are one of those customers by whom they lose money.

There is a name that CC companies give to folks who pay off their balances every month and I can't recall what it is, but there is one. Like for me -- hubby and me never carry a balance, we have no annual fee, and yet we earn miles for every purchase - hence, we're a CC Company's nightmare bc they lose mony on us.

Anyway, maybe it's that? Why on earth could they not tell you the reason? I think that's terrible! :(

No, they made money from us. In an effort to try and build credit, I charge each credit card around $100 worth of stuff, then pay $5 more than minimum. When it is paid off, I use it again. Maybe I just wasnt using them enough. All I have left is a Capital One Visa and a Circuit City card ( which is no longer good anyway since they are closing). Grrrrr... So from 4 credit cards to 1.

Banks and credit companies have over extended themselves for so long that now they are being forced to make cuts . They are cutting people who haven't used their cards or shutting accounts down as soon as a payment is late.

The rules have always been that they can raise your interest rate as soon as a payment was late , but that also includes any late payments to any card. It doesn't have to be THEIR card . They can raise your interest rate even if you are late on a competitors card. That helped for a while but now the are being forced to even more drastic measures so that means anyone can be cut for no reason other than they chose to do so.

But to cancel a card you have had for 11 years without any notification is crazy ! I would be livid ! Call the company and ask why they were cancelled and ask that the SAME card and account number be reopened. To have an established ,well aged , and good line of credit closed can lower your credit score and will mess with your debt to income ratio on your other accounts.

If they reopen it under a new account number that will also drop your score ( in the short term) as it counts as a new card with no established payments...So try to get them to reopen the same account.

They may not be able to since they didn't give you any notice:mad: and it's been over a month but it would be worth a try.

I swear things are getting crazy! :(

A law just passed in Congress that will stop alot of this and it will help the comsumer a great deal but it does not go into effect until 2010. The charge card companies of course know this and are out to do eveything now that they can't do in 2010.

Wondering if you found out what happened yet?

That's terrible business. It had to be a mistake. I would certainly call them
and get it straightened out. How can they just erase 11yrs of credit from your
credit score?
I was just complaining this morning, once again, about NOT receiving a
bill from Bank of America this month. This is the fourth time in about
eight months I had to call for a copy and they want $5.00 for it to boot.
They don't care I missed it and want to pay it! So I will just send in a check
with the account # on it to cover my butt in late fees.
I am starting to believe they don't mail bills out knowing
people rely on receiving them which remind them their payment is due.
Think about all those who don't miss getting their current bill and how
much in late fees the bank collects! I receive every bill but this one from
time to time. It's too much of a coincedence not to receive 4 out of
4 months of the same bill. Could this be yet another way to make some
money for the banks? I find this very questionable.

Wow!! I have the same problem with GE Money Bank!!

That happened to me. I have an AMEX card. It had a $16,000 limit. A couple weeks ago I got a letter that they dropped the limit to $500 and the interest rate went up to 32.99%. Luckily i never carry a balance on that card so it didn't affect me at all, but still... uugghhhh

Oh and minimize charging prices are going up in stores since these stupid Credit Card companies are charging store owners higher fees to process credit card charges.

Well, I got an answer (sort of) for the one card I didnt have a balance on. They told me my payments were late for Sept and Oct. But.........I paid the card off in August. So how does that work? They said my balance was $1. What???

Okay. So if I had a balance or something, you would think they would send me a statement, right? Well the last statement I recieved from them was early August right before I paid off the account. They also should have sent me notice that the account was closing. (I keep all my cc statements filed in my filing cabinet.) Now, according to chase, they sent me these documents!! If I had a bill for a dollar, um, i would have paid it.......

Lastly, this card has been closed for 3 months without me knowing!

My MIL told me to contact the BBB and dispute the listing on my credit report. I think I might just do that.

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Now for the other card. They refused to give me a reason why they closed it. I argued with her for 45 minutes before she hung up on me. She also refused to let me speak with a manager or anybody else. They said I can continue making my payments on the account, but it is closed and I can never use it again.


Both cards, they refused to reopen them, or reopen a new account. Guess this is my punishment for being responsible with my finances right?

That is CRAZY and dosen't sound right AT all. Not letting you speak to a manager is bad bussiness, but I assume the orders have came from the top to do this to a lot of people.

Good Luck and do whatever you can to show you were a good customer to future credit lines you may need,
Angie

I heard that credit card companies are reducing their risk by lowering balances and closing accounts, even with a good payment history. Unfortunately, it reflects badly on the credit rating of the consumer when the card is closed by the bank rather than by the consumer.

First immediately pull a copy of your credit report and dispute every item on it that is negative. They have to remove it from your report until resolved. Alot of times the companies will ignore the notice and it gets removed from your report forever. They have 45 days to reply with proof and it is up to the company to prove the validity of the statement.
I would suggest going to who you have your bank account with and opening a card. IF YOUR CARD WAS WITH YOUR BANK LOSE THEM! They have failed to provide you basic customer service. Call back and immediately ask for a manager to discuss a private matter. Write letters to the President. If no one will give you the name of the President have a friend call and say that they wanted to extend a letter in these tough times expressing the level of customer service you received recently and deem it appropriate to let the President know that you simply cant believe the experience you have had. The trick is to make is sound like a positive experience. They will sing like a canary. This experience is not a joke. The economy is going to get worse before better. Companies are cutting their losses and with that they evaluate usage and profitability of their customers and basically lose what is not making them money. They are also cutting postage costs and notification requirements. You will also find that alot of credit card companies do not send out statements in December and allow you to SLIDE on your December payment as a courtesy. What you dont see is the additional interest they charge to let you do that. You need to try to get a credit card established now since they are not going to do it. You need an emergency back up just in case. The one credit card may be a blessing but if you lose your job or fall on otherwise tough times an emergency card will help for a few months.

Actualluy they just have to mark it in dispute/under review till resolved , but they do not have to remove it from your report unless it is found to be inaccurate. Sinse most credit reporting companies use a computer system to verify account status , it almost always comes back in the companies favor , but you can dispute the use of machines and request that the CR company sent you notification/proof of how the account was verified .If they do not send it within the allotted time they must remove the account from your report and cant reinsert the same account without notification , and if they do it must be immediately removed and you can sue them.

It took me only 5 years to reestablish my credit after a foreclosure and bankruptcy. Every item I disputed was removed until resolved. Just my experience. The burden of proof is on the company. Also, I disputed my report annually for 5 years and had all the negative information slowly removed. Alot of the companies went out of business, I would dispute again, it got removed. Some just plain got tired of replying and it got removed. But in every case my dispute was removed until proven. Again, my experience only.

Oh yeah, you still get your monthly bill