Coronavirus Pandemic Continuing To Cause Financial Concerns For Credit Card Companies, Lenders And Borrowers
By: John Shumway
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The millions of people who have lost their jobs is impacting those still in the workforce in an unusual way.
Credit card customers with good credit are seeing their credit limits lowered or their cards canceled.
Its been happening since early May and Analyst Mark Rossman from CreditCards.com says the card companies are taking a closer look at the credit they have extended to their customers.
"Really, what banks are doing, they are very worried not only about new customers, they've really clamped down on acquiring new customers but they are even worried about their existing customer base," Rossman says.
"They are worried that people with dormant cards may fall into distress and those dormant cards might spring to life with charges that might not be paid back."
But Rossman says there's another major factor prompting the changes, "They also worry about people with risky behaviors if you're paying late or close to maxing out your card, that's another instance where you might see your limit cut or your card cancelled in an extreme case, just because they are worried that they might not get paid back."
You can protect your credit card from getting altered.
Rossman says, "Its often enough just to use the card once in a while. It could even be making a small purchase every few months you pay it off right away, if you show some activity that generally helps. So basically what you want to do is use a little bit of credit but have a lot available to you.
Rossman points out that you could be holding a card with a credit limit you never get close to, and the bank looks at that and lowers the limit to something closer to what you use.
While that might not impact your credit needs, it could affect your credit report.
The change will lower your debt-to-limit ratio and that is seen as a negative on your credit report.
Rossman says once your credit gets changed it may be difficult to get the decision reversed.
