Lawyer/legal question about credit card company
broloco
Posts: 1,237
Ok I need some legal/lawyer advice about a credit card company situation.
I sent a somewhat nasty letter to a credit card company complaining about their late fees and APR. In a nutshell I told them in the letter that I’ve torn up my card and would not be using it ever again for purchases. (I know in retrospect not a good move).
They took that to mean that I wanted to cancel the account altogether!
They said my account was cancelled “at your request” (which is wasn’t my request) via email. I then called to complain about the cancelling on their part the next day, and they said there’s nothing that they could do -it's done. They stated my letter said that "I wouldn’t be making purchases ever again", and so they cancelled it. Now, the reason I’m upset is because there is big difference between 1) not using the card ever again ....and... 2) not having the account at all. And the cancelling part will affect my credit now.
My question is this: is there anything I can do? It’s not right that they are ruining my credit by cancelling the account when I didn’t want to do that. I’m sure the customer (me) is ‘at will’ or whatever it is called, but still.
It may be that I simply cannot do anything to improve my situation, but just checking if I can.
Thanks!
I sent a somewhat nasty letter to a credit card company complaining about their late fees and APR. In a nutshell I told them in the letter that I’ve torn up my card and would not be using it ever again for purchases. (I know in retrospect not a good move).
They took that to mean that I wanted to cancel the account altogether!
They said my account was cancelled “at your request” (which is wasn’t my request) via email. I then called to complain about the cancelling on their part the next day, and they said there’s nothing that they could do -it's done. They stated my letter said that "I wouldn’t be making purchases ever again", and so they cancelled it. Now, the reason I’m upset is because there is big difference between 1) not using the card ever again ....and... 2) not having the account at all. And the cancelling part will affect my credit now.
My question is this: is there anything I can do? It’s not right that they are ruining my credit by cancelling the account when I didn’t want to do that. I’m sure the customer (me) is ‘at will’ or whatever it is called, but still.
It may be that I simply cannot do anything to improve my situation, but just checking if I can.
Thanks!
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
I had a credit card with a department store, I spent a LOT of money and earned their 'Platinum' status card, well I didn't spend as much money there when I moved and bought a house, so they closed my account due to 'inactivity'. In your situation, if you had not sent the letter, and just not used the card, it potentially could have been closed by the company anyway due to 'inactivity'.
When a CUSTOMER requests to close an account, it looks better on your credit report than the company closing it for you (closing it due to non-payment or late payments). Closure due to inactivity apparently has no affect.
the amount of 'available credit' on a credit card goes AGAINST your credit score. Let's say you have a $10,000 credit limit on a credit card. If you carry a $7000 balance on that card, it looks better (for your credit score) than if you only carried a $2000 balance on the card. Why? The credit card company looks at how much debt you could potentially rack up. People have been known to go on a spending spree and then file bankruptcy.
All the credit reporting agencies have different rating systems, so don't ask me about debt to income ratios. Just make sure you can pay more than the minimum payments (if not the entire balance) every month and you're golden.
- Christopher McCandless