?? on Credit card accts- how soon do they cut your credit?

[J2911]

We normally don't use our credit cards. We do have one open right now, where we owe around $5K. We have several unused ones with credit lines up to $25K.
We are taking a 2 week Mediterranean cruise with my parents this fall, that we really shouldn't be taking...can't really afford it. But it's always been my mom's dream to visit Italy and she is almost 77 and seems to think that she may not be around much longer. I would have preferred to do this next year, with all that is going on this year, but what's done is done. We have already booked it. We will have to pay around $15K for our portion (five of us).
I paid the deposit of $1800 and the balance is due in August.
We may have to put some of this on a credit card.
Our first missed mortgage payment was January 2009.

How long does it take the credit card companies to cut/cancel credit cards based on the delinquent mortgage?
Should we just charge the balance now?

[turksteelman]

Made last mortgage payment in June of 08 and foreclosed on Jan 20, 2009. Chase cut my limit on a card I have never used from 10k to $500 around December 08. Another card company reduced from 7.5k to 5k around the same time period and one card didn't do anything. Perhaps paying for the trip now while you have the credit would be a smart thing to do in case they cut your credit line in the future. I think you need to consider that when the time does come to foreclose, will you need to show a negative equity the day before foreclosure for the 1099c you will be getting? If that is the route you are going to take, I would put it all on my card now and when you need to do a means test, if you need to do one, then it will help towards showing you have a negative equity. Those are my thoughts but I am not a CPA or lawyer, just my thoughts, so travel with care.

[AZChick]

It depends on the cc company I think, some do nothing, some do something. I called around this week to inquire with Chase, Citi, and Wells Frago, seems the WF and Citi card are def. going to be raising my interest rate sky high and cutting balances, customer service was honest about that.....now with Chase, IF you have one of those special balance transfer rates till the paying off of the loan thing like I do...well they can't change that on you as long as you stay current. I was very happy about that....maybe you can do a balance transfer at a good rate now.....

[MH_Sucker]

We stopped paying November 2008. I just got a letter today from our only card with a balance and they did not cut the limit, but they jacked the rate to 29%, formerly 9%!! I think it just depends on the company. We are paying the card off this month with the money we have saved by not paying our mortgage so it doesn't matter. I would say to save up your money and be able to pay it off when you get the notice that they have cut your balance or raise your interest rate. It would suck to have to pay 29% interest even on a small amount of money. Good luck!

[trajay]

Well Citibank cut our just a few days ago. We were only officially late on 1/30. So that was super fast. I didn't even realize they did this....which really foils our plan to pay off our cards with the Mortgage money.

[tryingtostay]

American Express and Kohls cut them at the 60 day mark. AE REALLY cut it, which isn't surprising in a way, because I heard for years that one was harder to obtain. None of my DH's cards have been cut yet.

I think it may make a difference if your mortgage loan is with the same company as your credit card loan. If you have a BOA loan and a BOA card, I'd keep your BOA card empty. Leave the credit line open though for longetivity on your scores.

I would consider paying for it all now, even better if you are still getting offers in the mail and you can find a 0% balance transfer offer. Even if you end up paying a balance transfer fee, it would be better than paying interest on the amount for months.

Also, because it is a cruise, I would buy travel insurance at the same time. Just pay for that now, while you have the credit lines open. You can shop around on the Internet and you can find some great reputable companies with great deals.

[J2911]

We just got email alerts from My FICO.com...
So at the 30 Days Late mark:
My husbands score went down 74 (from 804 to 730)
Mine went down 97 points (from 794 to 697) seems a little unfair that mine went down more!
So looks like we'd better take action now
AZChick, we do have a Chase card with 0% interest through Sept 09, so maybe I'll use that right now to pay off the cruise.

[AZChick]

That's the way I would if I was was you....yeah it sucks, our scores were really great too, seems unfair that JUST having a foreclosure would be 150-200 points when you are current on everything esle.......