Consumer complaint received 2017-05-07
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: NJ
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Trouble using your card
Sub-issue: Credit card company won't increase or decrease your credit limit

Complaint:
I have been a customer  of Wells Fargo  since   XX/XX/XXXX . I  started off with a secured credit card with a deposit of {$500.00}. After a year of use they refunded my deposit and increased the line to {$700.00}. Abo ut 6 months to 1 year l ater I had applied for an increase and they countered with {$900.00} limit. With my current liabilitie s ( mor tgage, car payments, etc,  my DTI is  only 25 % ). My current  credit score flu ctuates between mid and high  XXXX .  Income  is  XXXX  annually. I do have  XXXX  negative items from high school / college year s ( w hich have been paid off yet still lingering on my report - probably why I do n't have a  XXXX  score at the moment ). However, my report states  XXXX  missed payments on all accounts and my utilization is currently at 22 % ( and again Debt to income ratio is only 25 % ). I do not have any bankruptcies. I also had over {$50000.00} last year in a savings PMA account with  Wells Fargo.  Regardless of this they still would not increase my limit over {$900.00}. I applied with   XXXX   and I now have a {$16000.00} credit limit with  XXXX . This card allows me to make every day purchases while still keeping my utilization under 30 % ( which is known as good utilization ). As a result I had moved all my accounts over to  XXXX . The aforementioned facts are to help you understand why I am filing a formal complaint. I feel that  Wells Fargo ' s business practices are unethical. Considering credit is extremely important in all financial aspects in America, I feel suppressed by unwarranted reasons. The letter I had received in the mail had said I was denied due to " inquiries in last 2 years on credit report and high balance as compared to credit limit or revolving line ''. I had called customer service and expressed the inquiries were due to my home purchase last year. I had also asked how they could perceive a 22 % credit utilization as " high balance ''. She said I was not privy to know what they considered " high utilization '' as it 's part of their proprietary algorithm. That does n't seem very compliant with the fair credit reporting act. The last reason was " insufficient length of time accounts on credit report has been established ''. I have an account that is over 10  years old,  without missed payments, active and in good standing. Again she would not inform me what they considered a " sufficient length of time ''. Overall I feel that banks and credit lendors have an ethical responsibility to inform clients of their business practices and educate their clients as to achieving better credit status. I feel unfairly suppress ed by Wells Fargo and I hope others can learn from this experience.   Unfortunately closing the card would only hinder my credit status.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation