Is your bank working for you?

To the editor: I, like any other American, have credit card debt. This occurred when my company, who I had worked for 35 years, prematurely retired me. It took me two years, running my credit cards to their limit, to financially get on my feet. I was not worried as I made my payments on time and felt I could pay them off in a timely manner. Then the notorious credit card companies raised my rates above 20 percent. OK, time to get a line of credit or re-mortgage. The paper was displaying quarter-page bank ads for my business, saying “bad credit OK.” Numerous banks accepted my application only to refuse me, saying “your credit history is bad, your score is too low, and we do not like your credit to income ratio.” Isn’t it the purpose of the bank to lend money? It was a surprise to me that the banks considered me at the “risk” level. If my credit history was good, my credit score higher, and my income larger, I would not need to borrow their precious money. I got my loan from a mortgage broker in Brooklyn. Sandra M. Rothenberger Warwick