Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Advanta and Credit Card Woes

We've been using an Advanta MasterCard for our business for several years now. So today I get an e-mail that they're canceling all their credit card accounts - in four days. Thanks for giving me time to get a new card.

Apparently we have not been like their typical customer. We paid our bills on time consistently. This article in Consumerist says that they had a 20% default rate. Hmm ... maybe we should not pay that last bill. - Nah.

So I started shopping for a new credit card for our firm. Having been a PayPal customer for about six years, I figured they would know me well enough. Nope. See below:

Don't be misled by the "You're approved" at the top. The message says that they're denying me a credit card, but approving me for a whopping $500 credit line.

I understand that the economy is tightening and credit markets are tough, but if I can't get credit then this doesn't make a lot of sense. The only major debt we have left is on our house, and we have well over 50% equity. We have been perfect on our credit card bills and car payments for years. We also have strong revenue, and PayPal should know since that's how most people pay us.

Maybe the economy is in deeper trouble than I thought.

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