*** BEWARE DOING BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY ***

in late 1998, i opened a visa card account with associate's under a promotion with washington mutual-- washington's logo was on the card, but the card issuer is associate's. if you have a visa card with washington mutual's name on it and make your checks payable to washington each month, this does not necessarily mean it is a washington account. check the back of your card and read the small print on your statement to determine who the card issuer actually is.

christmas 1999, these folks offered me a 6.9% balance transfer, which i used. my january 2000 statement showed the transaction but also showed available credit as 0. when i called to question this, i was told that the account had been cancelled, and i would be sent a letter explaining why. this arrived in due time, and i found out it was because my FICO score had fallen below 680. the account had always been kept in good standing.

my next statement came with a finance charge reflecting a very high rate of interest. they were quick to explain that the account was no longer in good standing an so no longer qualified for the promotional rate. this i disputed, and applied to have the account reopened. my request was denied, and it was only after a series of aggravating phone calls and lots of runaround through various departments that i reached a supervisor who reinstated the low rate.

this month, i finally paid the account off completely. there was an adjustable rate provision in the cardholder agreement that made the overall interest rate about 9% over the course of the time it was in repayment, so i hadn't paid it off earlier.

i just applied again this week to reopen the account, and was denied again. their first denial letter cited reasons consistent with an automated decision, bu these reasons made no sense at all, in that they did not apply to my current credit profile. "length of time accounts have been open" was one; i have 15 years of perfect credit, so have my accounts been open for too long or not long enough?? "number of inquiries"-- i believe there are three in the past 90 days and perhaps a dozen over the last year-- i did refinance my house in may.

this is one bank you'll want to avoid doing business-- not only is it an outright insult and poor customer relations to terminate an account that has never been problematic, sudden disappearance of a line of credit with "account closed at credit grantor's request" and a reduction in one's overall available credit is likely to cause a decline in credit score. the models appear to weigh the amount of credit available vs. outstanding debt quite heavily, deducting points as the debt:unused ratio increases. secondly, many of us may be under the impression that a certain amount of credit is available, and will remain available, so long as the account is kept in good standing, and make financial plans accordingly. a sudden loss of a $12,000 credit line which i had just nearly maxed out didn't pose this type of problem for me-- for somebody living from paycheck to paycheck who might have to borrow a few thousand in a pinch to have that cushion no longer there at a moment's notice could cause serious hardship, homelessness, bankruptcy, etc.... among other things.

associate's national bank obviously has an account management system that automatically makes periodic reviews, and spontaneously cancels customers whose FICO scores fall below a given point-- 680 seems to be the magic number. anyone who has an account with this bank, or may be considering opening one, should give this fact serious consideration. your credit line may just evaporate without rhyme or reason.

MBNA also engages in this type of practise-- i have a $24,500 MC account that used to have a $27,000 limit -- they lowered $2,500, again without warning or apparent cause. when this happened, about a year ago, it seemed very strange indeed-- the account is still open, has been in good standing since 1995, and i'm carrying a big balance on it at 1.7% annual interest-- if i don't have a high interest balance to pay off, i just put the money into something that yields a better return and pay it all off when the promotional term expires. many banks are giving platinum cards at 0% for a year- i've got one with chase. taking advantage of these offers is no more risky behavior than accepting free money; that's exactly what it is. MBNA sent me a letter confirming this action, citing a p"periodic review of my account." no more information was given, and it still doesn't make sense.

adverse actions of any kind that show up on your credit report are likely to drop credit scores. i'm still doing business with MBNA because of their 1.7% interest rate. hopefully they won't pull any more rats out of the hat on me. associates, on the other hand, has chosen not to do business with me for no good reason, and may have hurt my credit scores in the process.

speaking strictly from customer satisfaction/marketing standpoint associate's has lost my business forever, and i do recommend to everyone on this board not to do business with them either. they don't care squatt for customers, and make a habit of trashing what was until now a mutually beneficial banking relationship.

*** ASSOCIATE'S NATIONAL BANK SUCKS! ***

another episode in the never-ending drama of lose/lose scenario, brought to us by none other than {UN}fair isaac, san rafael, ca.--

check out this link:-- "credit scoring, scam or monopoly?"--
http://www.legalfox.com/credit/score.html

the legalfox site has lots of other useful and interesting food for thought--
enjoy--

Doug, reducing your credit lines and closing accounts are "adverse actions." I think they HAVE to tell you why they're taking adverse actions. Ask MBNA why they lowered your limit.

Re. Associates, I'm not sure they're still around, they may have merged or something.

"this arrived in due time, and i found out it was because my FICO score had fallen below 680."

Do you still have that notice?