This is how Household Bank Credit Card company referred to me whenever they called over the years with one of their varied and countless offers... 'You are such a valued customer, let's up your credit...' or 'You are such a valued customer... we wanted to let you know that you can transfer a balance for [an obscenely low] APR for a period of [yada yada] months.' The number of "courtesy" calls I received over the years for so many different offers is absolutely crazy now that I think about how they couldn't give me one single courtesy call at the beginning of this month to let me know that they were about to close my account...
Why wasn't I a valued customer now? Why did they close my account? It wasn't due to my being over the credit limit, or for lack of making a payment- I didn't even have a balance! Yes, responsible and VALUED customer that I am, I paid off my credit card last year. How could I fall from grace so quickly?
To add insult to injury, the only reason that I found out that my credit had been cut, was that as a responsible credit user, I regularly checked my statement online, once a month to be exact. When I called to inquire about what had happened, the customer service rep told me that my account had been closed due to INACTIVITY! I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I asked that my account be reinstated, after all, I was a valued customer and long-time account holder- I had been with them for 7 years! Couldn't they have at least given me a heads up before this happened?! The representative said that the only thing that I could do would be to re-apply for a new account! They were treating me like I was a BRAND NEW customer! Not like someone who had built a credit history with them. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This would affect my credit score, which I had worked so hard to build. I was so beyond angry. Oh, he tried to reassure me that it wouldn't affect my credit, but that is an outright lie! It most certainly can affect your score if you lose credit. This is why financial advisors and gurus tell you not to close a credit account once you've paid it off. Your credit score is gaged on a ratio of how much total credit you have vs. how much debt you carry.
Fuming, I asked to speak to a manager, and even though I pleaded my case, he said that it was their policy to close accounts due to inactivity. Where?! I inquired, because I had never received a piece of literature stating that this was part of their policy. I never saw this listed on their website when I checked my account over the years. I had never even heard of something like this happening to anyone I knew. Furthermore, and more importantly, why was I not alerted, either via phone or preferably in writing, that my account was going to be closed due to this supposed policy? Aren't there any ethics left? Apparently, not with some credit card companies... The manager told me that I could write a complaint, etc. etc. However, it didn't change the ugly truth of the matter. I got dropped because on the scale of our all consumptive American society, I didn't charge enough. Oh, I did charge something in the past year. It wasn't like I hadn't used the card in years... it had been months. We have had a lot of new things come up in the past year, a new house, a new baby, and I'm sorry, but the interest rate on this card wasn't enticing enough for it to be my 'go to' card. Instead, I use a card with a more favorable interest rate. That being said, I still liked the idea of having the credit there for emergency use, and as I said before, the loss of this credit can be damaging to your credit score. I knew that the only reason that they closed the account was that they were failing to make money off of me since I didn't carry a balance, so they cut me loose.
I promised the manager that I would file a complaint, and then proceeded to call the BBB [Better Business Bureau] and the OCC [Office of the Comptroller of Currency] and sadly found out that a credit card company can close an account at any time for any reason. They don't have to give written notice first... Somehow, this seems so wrong. It is just shady if you ask me. It almost seems that good customer service and courtesy is going the way of the Marlboro Man. I did, however, find out that there are others out there. People that Household Bank has really given the shaft in the form of predatory mortgage lending, and shady business practices. There is even a HSBC watchdog website: householdwatch.com, dedicated to protecting and informing customers of this lending institution. It is appaling when you read the real-life instances of shameful tactics used on their customer base. Believe me-my little story pales in comparison.
Just before I hung up with the manager at HSBC I asked him, if I had been delinquint in payments, I wonder how many calls I would have received before they decided to close my account- I guarantee you I would have gotten at least one!
