Consumer complaint received 2021-03-10
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Trouble using your card — Credit card company won't increase or decrease your credit limit
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (CA)

Complaint:
I have a Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card, and have had it since XXXX. I've had a {$13000.00} credit limit since soon after I opened the account. I've carried a relatively high balance for at least the two years ( thanks in part to COVID ) and the whole time Chase did nothing to reduce my credit limit. 

Around the middle of XX/XX/XXXX, I paid off the entire balance on the card ( with fees and interests, it was nearly {$14000.00} ). I paid if off in an effort to get my credit score to a point that my wife and I could qualify for a home loan. Within two weeks of paying off my card ( as well as another card I had ), Chase dropped my available credit from {$13000.00} to {$800.00} without any warning. I only found out after I tried to use my card and it was declined. 

I understand from the applicable Chase card user agreement that the bank can unilaterally change my available credit line, but it's pretty frustrating that they did this right after I paid off my card in full and paid the fees and near-usurious interest rates Chase charges. Of course the impact of this has been that my credit score has dropped precipitously. By dropping my available credit on this card so low, my credit usage percentage increased a significant amount ( from around 8 % post-payment to now 80 % ) and my overall credit available is now reported to be quite low. 

So, thanks to Chase making a unilateral choice to drop my available credit after the bank was fine with me having a high credit limit in the height of the COVID quarantine, my credit score is in a significantly worse position after having paid the bank back in full.

If I were a less responsible consumer, I would've defaulted on the amount I owe Chase instead of paying off my card. Kind of wish I was that kind of person now because there's precious little difference between having a default-level credit score and one around 610. Funny thing though is that if I paid just the minimum or well less than that balance, my credit limit likely wouldn't have been dropped as low. 

I spoke to two individuals in the Chase lending department to nicely request that they raise my credit rating back, both of whom told me there was nothing that they could do to raise my credit limit back and that Chase dropped my limit based on a " periodic review '' and its concern over some negative entries on my credit report. The insult to injury through this whole process is that the Chase representatives said they could not consider raising my credit limit back unless they accessed my credit report. So, I had to take another ding to my credit by Chase making a hard inquiry to look at credit information that it apparently was able to somehow access prior to making the decision to drop my credit. 

All I want back is my {$13000.00} credit limit. What does it hurt Chase? Haven't I alleviated my credit risk to the bank by paying Chase back in full? Wouldn't it make me a more loyal customer if they stuck by me and kept the status quo?

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation