Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Credit Card Trauma


I received a strange letter in the mail letter yesterday. It seems that a Chase credit card I’ve had since 1978 was cancelled because it hadn’t been used in a couple of years. It hadn’t been used because it had a lousy rate. I kept it because I’d had it a long time and wanted to show my credit history.

My first ‘professional’ job was working for a credit company. I used to watch women come in and try to buy furniture on credit, but they hadn’t established any in their own name and couldn’t qualify. I made a promise to always have credit in my own name. In fact, when I married my current husband, I was sent a new application to include my new husband on the card. I refused to fill it out. I called them up, explained I was the same person I had been before the name change, had never missed a payment and there was no reason to believe I couldn’t have the card solely in my name. They backed off.

Women today still don’t have credit in their own name. If they become single through a divorce or death, it’s like they don’t exist. It’s a shame.

I called up Chase this afternoon and worked my way up the chain of command until I talked to Steven. When I explained this was my credit history and begged a little bit, the card was reinstated.

I know this is has happened to others since I’ve been reading about it on blogs and forums today. My suggestion is to give them a call. I don’t know that you can get your card reinstated, but there’s no harm in trying.

I was assured my credit score wouldn’t be affected, but I’m not convinced. Your credit score is based, in part, on the ratio of credit available to you and your outstanding debt. If they cancel a credit card, that ratio could drop and change your score. In today’s world it’s not worth the risk.
For more information about cancelling a card card, read the following:
I just saw this article and want to pass it along to people who have had their credit cards cancelled. http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20061114_cancel_card_credit_scorea.asp

2 comments:

fatfighter said...

Thanks for the info. Glad you got your credit card reinstated!

Oh, and Happy New Year! :)

WomenBloom said...

Cathy,

Sound advice. I was lucky enough that I picked up this lesson early on when I was married. Don't know how, but I've always paid attention to that. Taking out loans every so often that I didn't necessarily need just so I could pay it back and have it on my credit record.

Women need to be solid on their own financial feet even if there is a man in the picture. It's all to easy to lose him one way or other and then you're in a pickle.