(Scene – a lone pilot in a small jet plane, swooping and swerving avoiding enemy fire and SAM missiles as they come at him.

Strains of Kenny Loggins’ "Danger Zone" playing in the background. Switch to flashbacks with the commanding officer telling the pilot how dangerous the mission is, but how important it is that the target be taken out.)

Pilot – Base, this is Creditwarrior making final approach to the target, request permission for weapons hot.

Base – Creditwarrior, you have weapons hot, over.

Pilot – (as he swoops down towards a small suburban house in the mid-west) Weapons hot! Fox two away.

(The pilot pulls up, taking four G’s of pressure, and flies off towards the horizon as the missile blazes directly towards the post box of the unsuspecting target. At the last minute, using correctional jets to stop in mid-air. A small arm opens the post box and deposits a letter. With a slight fizzle, the missile sputters out and drops to the ground. )

Pilot - Yeeeeeehaaaa! Direct hit base!

We Now Return You to Reality, Already in Progress

Ok, it might not have happened exactly that way yesterday, but the effect is basically the same. We received notice yesterday that one of my wife’s cards went from a $7500 credit limit to a $305 credit limit overnight. No explanation other than ‘we have re-examined your credit records and have decided,…" blah blah blah. The card was empty, and barely used, but it still was kind of a surprise, since my wife’s spending habits haven’t changed significantly in years, and she’s carrying no more or less debt than she usually does.

I even got a copy of her credit record for her a couple of months ago (as usual) and her rating is actually higher than mine, so that ’shouldn’t’ have been the problem.

So, Where’s the Beef?

The only reason I can think of is that she hasn’t been using the credit card, and HSBC decided they don’t want that much dangling credit out there for some reason. Does that bode bad for HSBC? That’s one way of looking at it.

It’s annoying only in the fact that it affects my wife’s credit rating adversely, because the credit balances vs. available credit ratio gets whacked.

Credit Utilization Level = Total Available credit / Total used credit = 30% FICO Credit score

Excellent ratios are below 20% utilization. Good are 50% or below, and the score gets progressively more affected the higher the ratio goes.

It’s a Wash

Since it’s a credit card we have in the sock drawer (sock drawer = never use) it’s not a huge loss. HSBC just goes on the credit card blacklist, and we continue on as usual. The FICO score is used so rarely nowadays, as we aren’t trying to get any more credit, that it doesn’t affect day-to-day finances.

Besides, on the same day, her CITI card mysteriously INCREASED the credit line on one of her cards. Go figure.

Do you have a story of a pre-emptive strike by a credit card company? Leave us a comment and let us know!