Today, I just received a notice that Citi Cards was closing my VISA account. You might think that on Tax Horror Day (April 15th) the IRS is thinking the worst. I guess I was wrong about that one.
In part, the notice reads “In the normal course of business, we will review the standards we use for credit. We recently updated our credit standards and your account does not meet the new standards.” Hence my visa account with them will be closed next month.
My exact errors are “The balance to credit limit ratio is too high in revolving accounts, too many accounts with a balance, the ratio of loan balance to loan amount is too high.”
None of these offenses are particularly surprising in today’s economy. With unemployment between nine and ten percent, personal income tax down, and underutilized work, many people are at risk of they will sin in the same economic crimes. I’m surprised they didn’t add “self-employed writer, full-time college student” to the list.
In my case, these paper boards could not come at the maximum time. I was planning that summer semester. And since many companies tighten the credit card screws, this closure just increases the likelihood that I will lose. Several of my credit limits remain, unless several cards are closed. After all, Citi just increased the “use ratio.”
Given my moment of mind, I’m not surprised by the indignation that just poured out of the 227,000 results I got from a simple search for “Citi Cards closing accounts.” I understand the sentiment of Stephanie Quilan, who compared Citi to “loan sharks” when it interest-rate from fifteen to thirty percent.
At least, I had notice of the closure of my visa account, unlike many of the customers who closed the gasoline company co-branded MasterCards in October 2009 (Shell, Citgo, ExxonMobil, Phillips 66). I also do not worry about the orders of $2400 or more in a year, so that the credit of the annual sixty dollars, like card holders. Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards MasterCard, Citi Dividend World MasterCard, and Citi mtvU, announced in February (annual fee effective April 1).
But, I admit, I wonder about Citi, CitiCards, and CitiBank. How can a company afford to generate this much corporate ill will? In my case, I will never, ever do business with Citi again if I can humanly help it. Not so much because they closed my account, but because I think their thinking is not very clear and slightly disturbed.
Why do you think to disturb their thinking slightly? One, I have been a loyal customer for ten years. Two, they never made a late payment (and this, although it took a long time to discover unemployment). I had three, three credit three in the same decade; I had enough credit that I didn’t need credit cards anymore. Basically, I’m a good customer.
Citi also felt the way. Earlier this year Citi increased my credit limit. Is there anything greater evidence of infatuated thinking than deleting my VISA card shortly after increasing my account? Thinking of the other group, Citi is not disturbed; He is clearly schizoid.
