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only publishing my interpretation of my situation. You should seek your
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I received an email today from American Express that
they have lowered my credit card limit. The limit used to be
$13,000. The limit is now $2,300. It is good that they emailed
me as I was fast on track for breaking that limit for the month.
Obviously, this is
because of my lowered credit score and maybe American Express's
efforts at curbing its credit offerings in the current financial
crisis. I have never missed or been late on an American Express
payment. Plus, I rarely carry a balance from one month to the
next. I almost always pay the statement balance in full each
month. I had worried that they would just cancel my card due to
my foreclosures so I suppose lowering my credit limit is better
than cancelling the card altogether.
My reaction to the email
went from extremely emotional to now calm. Even though I knew
this would probably happen, I felt insulted when I read the
email and got very mad very quickly. I thought about writing
them an email back immediately, but I took some time as I had to
go to a piano lesson so that I had a chance to relax and calm down.
I am glad that I did. Writing an email to the credit card
company would probably have done no good. It could have done
worse, in fact. They could have gotten mad at my email and
cancelled my account. Writing an irate email would have
accomplished nothing. I could have pleaded for more credit. I
could have urged them to look at my payment history with them. I
could have explained the lower credit score was only due to the
foreclosures and had nothing to do with credit card payments or
car payments or utilities. Still, none of this would have
mattered. I would have wasted time and energy for nothing.
So what will I do? I will
keep going. I will keep using the card. My lower credit limit
will encourage me to spend less and monitor my expenditures more
closely. I
will keep in mind that the credit card could be cancelled at any
time by American Express. This will probably keep me from using
it when it might be potentially embarrassing if they have
cancelled the card when I try to use it (i.e. I will not be
using the credit card on dates or with business clients). I will rely on my debit card in
those instances or cold hard cash (Cash is King).
Why not go ahead and cut
up the credit card? I could, but that would cut me off from an
amount of credit that I might dearly need in an emergency later.
Plus, as long as I have the card and use it the way I have been
using it (paying off the balance on-time and in-full each
month), it will reflect positively on my credit report (not that
it matters at the moment as I will not be buying anything big
anytime soon, but you can never tell when I might need to move
and apply for a new apartment which might pull my credit
report). These are very good reasons not to cancel the card.
If you find yourself in similar circumstances, do not let your emotions get the best of
you. Take a minute to review your options and realize what is
best for you in your situation. I wish you the best. Hang in
there.
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