Advanta Gives 4-days Notice of Shutdown
May 26th, 2009 by Johnny
I cannot believe that I received a letter today via USPS and e-mail (yes, both arrived today) from Advanta Bank Corp. notifying me that they are shutting down ALL Business Credit Card Accounts effective May 30th. That is in 4 days! Are they going bankrupt? I cannot believe a bank gives a cardholder only 4 days to change all their recurring charges with vendors.
Letter dated: May 26, 2009 (click on image to see larger view)
From the Advanta Bank Corp. website, it appears they are closing all of their credit card accounts; pretty much getting out of the credit card business.
Maybe this is a preemptive measure against the new Obama credit card regulations. I guess the new regulations may not be effective enough. If credit card companies just start to close down existing credit accounts, it effectively gives them the right to make new rules at anytime and force cardholders to adhere to them. For example, if they want to raise the interest rates next month from 9.9% to 29.9%, all they have to do is send out a letter like the one I received from Advanta, giving customers a 3-5 days notice that their accounts would be canceled; then offer a new card application at the higher interest rate and new terms. Guess that is the new loophole in the credit card law.
I guess I am going to expect all of my credit cards (MasterCard and Visa, anyway) is going to make drastic changes to force cardholders off their rewards and cash back programs. Not to mention they are going to raise everyone’s interest rates.
The law that MaoBama signed doesn’t go into effect for 9 months and there has to be a way for them to recoup there losses from dead beats. The new law cripples there ability and now will use the backs of good creditors to offset the dead beats, a common trend in the current climate.