TR in Vermont said: “I got my credit cut two days ago by HSBC, from $3000 to $320. Fortunately, I had an email notification that triggered when I came within $300 of my credit limit, and got it within hours.
Like many I am ticked, but as much over the way it was handled as anything else. If HSBC had sent a letter to ALL of their customers explaining that the recent credit crisis had forced them to limit their risk, explained the credit report and FICO implications, and established a real notification program, people could have dealt with it. What they did was to quietly cut off people’s credit in a series of waves.
This week, a few thousand people are going to find out what happened when they get their card rejected while taking their boss out to dinner, be embarrassed in front of their kid when they pick up Johnny’s new birthday bicycle, and get stuck at the airport when Avis rings up their card and discovers they don’t have the $500 credit to drive a car out of the lot. HSBC has hurt itself, and they deserve it!
A word of advice: Keep an online account for all of your cards, and make sure you have the email notifications in place to warn you when your available credit has taken a hit. This can be accomplished by setting the flag at a limit below your typical upper bound.”
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