Credit Card Companies Suck

Just exactly what does a “pre-approved” credit card application mean anyway?  Pre-approved suggests to me that the credit card company did their due diligence and decided that I was OK to open an account with them.

With interest rates as low as what they are, you’d think that interest rates on credit cards would follow suit.  Fuck no!  They went higher because of all the defaults when the economy went tits up.  And they got an extra boost when the government enacted new credit card laws forbiding bank from nefarious evil doing.  Banks jacked up their rates prior to the law going into effect.  In other words, “Let’s fuck our customers now while we still have the chance.”  Wells Fargo pulled that shit with me.  Either way, the consumer loses in the form high interest rates.

So about a week ago I got a pre-approved offer from Citibank.  One of those balance transfer things for a 0% interest rate for a rather lengthy time period and at a fairly low 3% transfer fee.  Most other banks are charging 4% and I’ve even seen a 5% one come through in the last couple of weeks.  Greedy fuckers.

So I took them up on their offer and tried to transfer a balance from Bank of America (who’s also ass raping me on interest…me, a person with a 934 FICO score, pfft).  Just got a letter back from Citibank.

“Your total credit obligations, which include outstanding credit lines, are too high to meet our approval guidelines, when compared to your stated income.”

We’re talking TRANSFERRING a current balance, NOT racking up new debt.  Assholes.

Fuck, I should have lied harder about my stated income.  I’m retired and that fat-ass programmer’s salary with bonuses isn’t there anymore, but I still have the same high lines of available credit on my cards, and not maxed out, mind you.  So back in the day when the bucks were rolling in and they kept increasing my credit line, now it works against me. 

Get the shovel.