I was in Target a few years ago around christmas and they were having a promotion for their new Visa Card. I applied and got a card and made some purchases. I have had the card for a few years now and to the best of my knowledge I have never missed a payment.
Last fall I was planning on refinancing my house and so I payed all of my credit cards down to below 1/2 balance to reflect well on my credit. The same month Target lowered my credit card maximum by 1/2. If I had not just paid on it I would have been over my new credit limit. I called them and asked why they would have lowered the account limit on a credit card that had never been late in several years and they stated that I had a lot of credit activity that reflected as a risk.
My credit score was higher at this point than when I got the card in the first place. They said there was nothing they could do to restore the account to the previous balance and I thanked them for rewarding me in this way for years of loyal service. A few months later when I got my Tax return I decided I better pay off the account and get away from them before they screwed up my credit anymore.
I called them on March 16th and payed the balance and closed the account. I was very clear to them that I was closing the account and that it was because of their lack of customer service and concern for their customers.
2 months later I got a letter from them stating that they were lower my maximum account limit again due to my reporting from the credit bureaus. I have a membership to Experian so I know that my credit score is about 5 points higher than it was when they lowered it 6 months ago but I am not sure what they are lowering anyway since I closed the accout. I called the help line and was sent to a call center in India. I find this funny since I live in Minneapolis where Target Corporation it located. I told them my issue and they said they had no record of me closing my account on 3/16.
I told them I had called in to pay off the balance and close the account on the same day because of now fed up I was with their incompetance. They said they could close the account today. I told them they need to close the account on 3/16 and report the the credit bureau that it was closed on that date and the balance was the previous balance not the new balance that they lowered it to. They said they could not do this.
I argued with them and finally got a supervisor on the phone who said he would send a letter to the credit bureau explaining the issue and what the balance should have been when the account was closed. He seemed to be very patronizing and was just telling me whatever I wanted to hear to get off the phone.
I will be following up with Target during the day to ask about their incompetence with cancelling the account and make sure that they close it with the correct credit limit so it does not adversly affest my credit score any more than they have already done. I will also bee contacting experian to make sure they are seeing the correct information.
I am wondering why Target would reward their loyal customers who have never missed a payment by reducing their credit limits and I am wondering if it is legal for them even to check my credit score with the credit bureaus when I have cancelled my account with them. At this point I no longer even want to shop in their stores. There are other places to shop these days!
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