Egg Policy Change ? 1 February 2008 at 10:28AM in Credit cards 631 replies 68.4K views

sds1pg

Just had a letter from Egg today (followed by an uninformative phone conversation). Theyre ending my use of my card with them, after 10? years based on "credit profile of this account"...

The problem is my credit rating from Experian is excellent, Ive never missed a payment with them and I pay off the debt each month....so wheres the problem?

The only thing I can think of is that they tell me this decision follows Citibanks takeover of Egg.

Could it be that Citibank are simply wanting to rid themselves of customers that do not earn them interest on their accounts?

Id be interested in any thoughts or similar experiences.

P

lisyloo

The problem is my credit rating from Experian is excellent

Have you checked the other 2 credit reports.
It's unlikely to be honest that Egg have looked at them, but it's worth noting that you cannot get the whole picture from just one out of three.

so wheres the problem?

Have you stoozed? taken cashback?
My guess is that they aren't making much money out of you.

Id be interested in any thoughts or similar experiences.

Credit is a privilege not a right. They can choose who they want as customers.
There is a credit crunch underway so it could be that they are under intense scrutiny.

I also never pay interest and take cashback, so I'd be interested to see of this is more widespread.

Loz1984

I recently phoned Egg to discuss the possibility of a deal on a balance transfer (The card is empty, 3,000 limit). I have been with Egg for 4 years and feel i have been a good customer. Their was no offer avalible so i asked to cancel the account. Most companies (and Egg in the past) fight to keep customers with their retention department (Got a great offer from Mint this way) but on this occasion Egg didn't seem to care and closed the account straight away! I also have an Egg Money Card which i have now cleared and will try the same with that one although i suspect it will be cancellation again.

Odd........

YorkshireBoy

Loz1984 wrote: »

I also have an Egg Money Card which i have now cleared and will try the same with that one although i suspect it will be cancellation again.

Think long and hard about cancelling a card as useful/versatile as Egg Money.

HollyDolly

sds1pg wrote: »

Just had a letter from Egg today (followed by an uninformative phone conversation). Theyre ending my use of my card with them, after 10? years based on "credit profile of this account"...

The problem is my credit rating from Experian is excellent, Ive never missed a payment with them and I pay off the debt each month....so wheres the problem?

The only thing I can think of is that they tell me this decision follows Citibanks takeover of Egg.

Could it be that Citibank are simply wanting to rid themselves of customers that do not earn them interest on their accounts?

Id be interested in any thoughts or similar experiences.

What a relief to read this. I had the same letter this morning and phoned egg to register my suprise. In fairness I did speak to a very nice man who seemed slightly embarrassed by the situation. I got the same sort of reply, Citibank had reviewed accounts etc., I have been making overpayments for the last year by montly fixed amounts and had recently changed this amount so that the card would be paid off with the next two payments. Also have a five year loan with them that will be paid off Dec 08 (hooray!) which I have never missed a payment on. Anyway he said he would make a note of my comments on my file and I am now in the process of closing my egg savings account, only wish I could afford to pay off the loan and deny them of the next 11 months interest.

poorbabe

Interesting post. I've not had any communications from Egg regarding this, but maybe I will soon. I have an outstanding balance on my card which I'm slowly reducing, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

Loz1984

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Think long and hard about cancelling a card as useful/versatile as Egg Money.

What do you mean?

I was under the impression that in order to improve my credit rating i should close empty cards. I don't want to use the card to get further into debt and if they can't do an offer on balance transfers what use is the card to me? Except temptation to use it and a negative impact on my credit rating.

I'm confused now!

YorkshireBoy

Loz1984 wrote: »

What do you mean?

I was under the impression that in order to improve my credit rating i should close empty cards. I don't want to use the card to get further into debt and if they can't do an offer on balance transfers what use is the card to me? Except temptation to use it and a negative impact on my credit rating.

I'm confused now!

Example:

You get an offer of a BT from another card provider, who charges a 2% (max £50) BT fee. You have 2 or 3 BT's to conduct, so each one will cost you £50 (if they're reasonably large BT's).

If you hold Egg Money, you can take advantage of the fee cap. ie, you can do the one BT (for £50) from Egg Money, thereby creating a positive balance on Egg Money from where you can settle your other cards fee-free.

And best of all, you only need the minimum £500 credit limit on Egg Money to achieve this so your credit rating is not unduly affected.

You may find these two Egg Money guides useful:

Egg Money Card - Stoozing Analysis
Egg Money Card - Conventional Use

SarahNeedle1872

Interesting thread.... OH and I both have Egg cards..... I had previously used mine to take advantage of 0% deals, but now have a small balance which is earning Egg interest.... OH has a much bigger balance that is earning them interest, but has not had the card for very long (since about Nov I think) I will be interested to see if we also recieve these...
Still gonna apply for Egg Money tho, as YB said, its a very useful card to have....

Psiloman

I have received the same letters as other alledging poor credit profile for the account. I pay full amount monthly and have never missed a payment. This is the real reason for Egg (Citi Bank) cancelling because it is not a profitable account for them. See below:
"Egg Banking to end customer agreements for part of credit card portfolio"
If the article is correct its affecting 20% of accounts
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-22682709.htm

Regards

David

slowe

Me too - I've had this letter which sounds quite insulting. I paid my card off in full last year and only used it 2 weeks ago in an emergency. Its handy to have but we are obviously not profiting the company by not using the card - hence they don't want to have us as customers. The letter is implying that I am in a high risk category which I know I am not. If they don't want my custom then I will take it somewhere else.