Complain about a product or service

Lowe's - Credit Denied

Katherine of Monrovia, MD (07/01/04):
My husband and I are remodeling our kitchen. I tried to place an order for cabinets last night, and at the same time applied for a credit card to take advantage of their "One Year, Same as Cash" credit offer. However, because my husband was not with me at the time, the account could only be in my name. They gave me a limit of $4000.

Lowe's • Products • Special Orders • Floors • Kitchen Remodeling • Low Price Guarantee • Credit & Billing Problems • Credit Denied • Chargegard Credit "Protection" • "No Interest" Deals • Rebates • "Protecting" the Dead -- • Home Depot, Lowe's Settle Credit Card Suit

This amount would not cover the cost of the cabinets, and we tried to raise the limit. Despite our excellent credit history, the woman on the phone refused to do so, allegedly because I have no revolving credit in my name. (This is not actually true.) I called my husband and had him come to the store so we could add his name to the account and raise the limit. Still no go.

The situation was ultimately resolved by their giving my husband a credit card with a limit of $11,000. He was not asked to provide proof of employment, whereas the woman on the phone refused to believe that I was employed unless I faxed her a paystub.

While I was technically not denied credit, I was denied sufficient credit to make the purchase. But they were perfectly willing to grant this amount to a man with the same financial history.

Mustafa of Fairview NJ writes (8/19/02):
I apply for credit card. Thay say decline and I received a leter from Monogram and my name was mistaken on the letter. Maybe my aplication was declined because the identity was wrong. My name is Mustafa. On letter it was spelled Mustafly.

Charles of Sharon MA (6/30/02):
Monogram refused to provide credit information or credit bureau name they utilized for credit decisions. Monogram said that their computer made all decisions and there was not a supervisor or manager available to talk to me.

Local store customer service rep has been extremely helpful and he has made repeated calls, even speaking to supervisors, with no effect. I even asked for a letter from Monogram stating that the original credit limit was $1500 and was reduced to $ 500 before the refrigerator was paid for and they refused.

From 1995-98 we were part of a credit counseling program to help get our finances in order after several years of personal family problems. When we withdrew from the program regretfully we found out some very negative things about being part of the program. While we were part of the prgram and making payments that were agreed on with businesses they were continuing to turn in negative reports to credit bureaus because of reduced payments. We had several things show up as much as 24 months behind because we were making reduced payments. This was the reason we withdrew from the program to try and set out to catch up payments and improve our credit. the refinancing of our home and susequent pay-off of several accounts was approaching the end of a 3 year effort to this end, only to have Monogram pull this "trick". It seems that I the customer am at the mercy of whatever the business wants to do and it takes me years to get corrected what they can do in one day. It's disgusting and demoralizing.

"K" of Saltillo MS (7/8/02):
Monogram has terminated my credit card accout with them because I recently got a payment behind. I Think that this is wrong considering I have faithfully repaid my past balances with them (over a thousand dollars), and just sent a payment in about 3 days ago. Do they not know people have unforseen circumstances that will cause you to possibily skip a payment and then catch back up? I have very good credit & pay the bills that I owe. What's their problem? I will never use them again.

Susan of Swartz Creek MI (6/3/02):
When I visited Lowe's & picked out a kitchen cabinet for my home, all was going well until I was refused credit for this cabinet. I was informed by the cashier that my credit was declined. Yes, after my ex-husband walked out 10 yrs ago, trying to keep up with the bills he left me with, I worked 2 & 3 jobs to keep my credit at a decent level. It wasn't until I ended up in the hospital for 10 days, dealing from fatigue & exaustion, and having to have a non-working gall bladder removed, that I ended up (on orders from my doctor) to omit my 2nd & 3rd jobs ... just to stay alive.

Then I tried to get help through Credit Counseling. That in itself was a joke! My only recourse, was to file for bankruptcy. My attorney advised that I keep my Sears card as well as my Credit Union acct. Also, my rent was kept up to date. The bankruptcy was a desperate measure. That will have been 8 yrs in Sept '02.

Since then, I have purchased a decent car from my credit union (after I repaid that loan), and also have good enough credit TO PURCHASE A HOME! Without my Sears credit, I was still in the 90 percent bracket for a home loan for $95,000! I am wondering why my ex-husband's faults are still being plagued upon me by this company? Just for the record, please check my credit report for the past 7 1/2 yrs. There is no slow pay or lack of payment ... nor do I send minimum payments to any of my creditors.

After 7 yrs the bankrupcy was supposed to be off from my record ... and not public knowledge.

Teresa of Madisonville KY (1/22/01):
The people from Lowe's agency turned my application for credit down. I have no credit and that is the reason that I am applying for this card to establish credit. I have the money to just pay for anything Lowe's has in stock but that is not the reason that I applied. I thought that Lowe's was running a fair business that people with my status would have a chance to build credit but I guess I thought wrong.

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