Bankruptcy

It's Not You, It's Where You Shop

By Bob Lawless

A lot of stories had been circulating on the Internets and through the Google that consumers were getting hit with lower borrowing limits on the credit cards. Sometimes, they received notice the limit was lowered, and sometimes they found out only when they went to go use the card. American Express was often mentioned. A story is up at the New York Times web that delves into the mysteries of this practice. It helps answer a lot of the questions about what the heck was going on. Cutting through the rhetoric, I understand American Express to be admitting that they were cutting credit scores based on where you shopped. Sure, it was not all done on where you shopped, but it appears that was an important component. As the NYT article suggests, we know American Express was doing it--they say they have stopped--but who else is doing it?

Full post as published by Credit Slips on January 30, 2009 (boomark / email).