Egg withdraws cards from ‘riskier’ customers

After carrying out a risk review, an Egg spokesman has announced their intention to withdraw credit cards from 161,000 of their customers.

Already, 7% of their credit card customers have received 35 days’ notice that their credit card agreement was being terminated.

The reason for this decision was the result of a one-off extensive risk review of Eggs customers, and those customers whose credit profiles had deteriorated between the time they had joined Egg and Citigroup’s acquisition in May last year, were selected to be given notice.

This comes at a time when banks are tightening their lending criteria during what is now commonly called, the ‘credit crunch’.

The Financial Services Authority stated last week in an annual review that UK banks face their toughest conditions since the 1990’s due to ‘escalating consumer defaults’.

Those who are having their agreements terminated will not be allowed to use their Egg credit card after the date stated in their notice, however they can either pay their balance on full, or continue with minimum monthly payments.

The company stress they are not demanding immediate payment in full for any outstanding balances, nor are they making changes to their current terms and conditions or interest rates.