My Favorite Business Resources
- Cheap Business Phone Service - Make phone calls anywhere for free or darn close to it.
- Cheap Printing - Always amazing deals on cheap printing with loads of free items.
- Manage Mobile Phone Costs - Great phone for controlling cell phone costs for business or teenagers.
- Really Good Web Hosting - As bullet proof as there is. A strong hosting provider with all the resources you need.

My Favorite Credit Resources
- Consolidate Your Debt - One monthly payment. Stop collection calls.
- Help Budgeting - Online and easy.
- Lower Your Car Payment - Refinance to reduce your monthly payment.
- Credit Report / Credit Score - This consolidated report is better than most.
- Credit Cards - Find the best card for you for low rates, balance transfer, credit rebuilding and rewards.

Feb

2008

Citigroup Kicks 161,000 Cardholders to the Curb

Posted by Steve Rhode as Banking, Credit Cards, Credit Report, Credit Score

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Last year Citigroup swooped in and snatched up the UK internet bank Egg. And just in the past few days Egg has sent notices to 7% of their customers and notified them, We Don’t Want You Anymore.

What makes the story interesting is that while the banks are spinning this as an exercise in financial prudence by terminating the accounts of people that fail to pay their bills that appears not to be the whole story.

It appears that as part of the 161,000 cardholders that got the kiss off letter that the group also contained people that paid their balances off in full each month and did not make the bank profit. Listen to BBC audio about this.

Imagine, exercising sound financial prudence by paying your account off in full each month and that gets you punished. From the banks point of view you are a non-profit customer so your worth less than a bad credit customer.

Just imagine how you’d feel having lived up to all the stuff taught in financial literacy classes only to have it wind up with getting your credit card cancelled and a potential ding on your credit report.

Why a ding? Well if the account closed on you is among your oldest accounts that carries a significant weight towards your good credit score, closing that card eliminates that benefit.

One further consideration, if you are an elder person such as Gillian Cox of Farnham, southern England, who was an Egg customer and you get your credit card account closed on you, you could find it much harder to get a similar credit agreement to replace it because of your age.

Mrs. Cox told the BBC that she and her husband had always paid off their balance in full each month. “We are retired, no mortgage, no debts, joint income of about 35,000 pounds (47,000 euros, 69,000 dollars),” When Mrs Cox contacted credit reference agency Experian, she was told she had an “excellent” credit rating.

Egg is very sorry that some customers are upset after receiving notification that it is ending their credit agreements,” a spokesman for the firm said.

“Egg has decided that it no longer wishes to offer credit to these customers, after conducting a one-off extensive review of its credit card book following the acquisition of Egg by Citi in May 2007.”

Now that Citigroup has dipped their toe with this policy in the UK, what’s next, massive card cancellations in the US? Could be.

Watch BBC News Story About This.

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Steve