Lets All Ditch Egg

Lavendyr

Oops, yes, I forgot to take my brainwashing pills this morning.

*move along, nothing to see here*

Lavendyr

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

I can't trace the press release anywhere on line.

It was a spokeswoman, Egg's media relations person Rachel something-or-other, who made the comment to the BBC that Egg were shedding customers deemed to be of an "unacceptable risk". This quote was withdrawn by the BBC shortly after complaints from ex-Egg customers. Egg then replaced that initial comment with something about "Regardless of the risk, these are people to whom we no longer wish to lend money" - more or less contradicting themselves directly.

I am an Egg Money cardholder and I won't be dumping Egg, because I do get good use from the card and I have so far had decent customer service. Then again, I am very disappointed with the way they have handled this issue - it's not the "getting rid of unprofitable custom" that I object to, it's the fact that they appeared to tell untruths to the press - and that the letter was clearly strongly worded enough as to give many people undue cause for concern about their credit reports.

rosiedee

There really don't seem to be 'rhyme nor reason' to whom Egg are ditching. Both me and OH have Egg visa cards, mine is about 80% of credit limit on fixed LOB and OH is normal interest rate about 50% of credit limit. So far, and I say this 'tongue in cheek', no letters or online messages. Looking at the poll would have thought we were likely candidates?

MarkyMarkD

Lavendyr wrote: »

Oops, yes, I forgot to take my brainwashing pills this morning.

*move along, nothing to see here*

I don't know what you think I said that makes me brainwashed.

Businesses, including banks, exist to make money for their shareholders. That is their primary purpose. They don't exist to lend people money for free, which is what happens if you repay your Egg balance in full every month after taking 15-45 days' interest free credit.

Obviously Egg's press spokesperson was a numpty or was caught off guard, or didn't know about the full reasons for the account closures. She is bad for making stuff up on the spot, or for being fed an untruthful party line, or for something. But irrespective of all that, the letter does NOT say your account is being closed because you are a bad credit risk, and there's nothing wrong with any lender choosing to close your account - with appropriate notice - if they don't want to do business with you any longer for any reason.

Jennifer_Jane

Clariman on the stoozing website posted this e-mail quote from Egg:
Quote:

"Egg has given a number (7% or 161,000) of its credit card customers 35 days notice that it is ending their card agreements.

"Customers will not be able to use their Egg credit card once the notice period has ended, but can continue to pay at least the minimum monthly repayment, continue with their current monthly payment arrangement or have the option to pay their balance in full. Egg is not asking for immediate repayment of balances or making any changes to their current terms and conditions or interest rates.

"The credit profiles of affected customer had deteriorated between the time they joined Egg and the acquisition in May 2007. The decision to end these customer agreements was taken after conducting a one-off, extensive risk review of our book, following the acquisition of Egg by Citi in May 2007."

And I can't find it now, but I definitely remember somebody posting that they had been told to contact Experian, and I read it as a quote somewhere.

The point was that a lot of the posters on this and the Stoozing website were jolted by this as they took pride in maintaining their credit scores, and some felt they might have had their IDs stolen.

Jen

ado

The reference you are looking for from the Egg letter is this:

'To find out more about your credit record you can get in touch with a credit referencing agency such as Experian at www.experian.co.uk - they'll be able to give you an up to date credit report.'

FREERANGE

Have Egg done an external credit check on their customers or used their own information concderning card usage? If we agreed to a credit check when applying for the card can they do another one years later without asking for consent again? I got my Egg card when they first came out and regularly pay off the whole amount so I guess they're not making any money out of me.

PBA

FREERANGE wrote: »

If we agreed to a credit check when applying for the card can they do another one years later without asking for consent again? I got my Egg card when they first came out and regularly pay off the whole amount so I guess they're not making any money out of me.

Yes. Only the original check will show up on your credit file though, any check they make later on won't be visible to other lenders.

The whingers on this thread make me laugh. Egg ain't gonna be cancelling accounts because you don't make money for them. If they wanted to stop people freeloading they'd just get rid of the interest free period, but they're not doing that because freeloaders do make them money (just not as much as people who pay them interest). It sounds more like what egg have said is actually correct, people's credit scores do change over time and just because they accepted someone for a card 5 years ago doesn't automatically make them a good risk today.

DifferentFromTheNorm

FREERANGE wrote: »

Have Egg done an external credit check on their customers or used their own information concderning card usage? If we agreed to a credit check when applying for the card can they do another one years later without asking for consent again? I got my Egg card when they first came out and regularly pay off the whole amount so I guess they're not making any money out of me.

It's not shown as a credit search on your file because you're not applying for credit. Just because they don't do a credit search doesn't mean to say they can't see what's on your file.

I'm not an expert but I believe that Experian etc share information with Egg and other lenders (in simple terms). So basically, if you miss a payment on another credit card or loan then Egg will know/learn about it at some point.

chriz1000

I’d happily hand my Egg Card back. When they send me promotional offers like “Do a balance transfer for your standard variable rate!” I really do feel insulted.
However I wouldn’t hand my Egg Money card over quite so easily.