Wells Fargo Vs. Small Business

So, the other day, while doing some routine financial maintenance, I noticed that my business credit card had been mysteriously been canceled. Had I mistakenly canceled the account? Had I forgotten to activate the new card they had sent me a month ago? Was this somehow the result of credit fraud? Being the vigilant small business owner that I am, I quickly made inquiries to Wells Fargo, to resolve the situation and discovered that the only one messing with my credit card was Wells Fargo.

Their Business Claims unit explained to me that due to the tough financial times, they had deemed me too great of a credit risk to continue giving me credit. What are their reasons for deeming me a credit risk? I don't use the card enough, I have a negative tick on my credit report from 2004, and I've had too many inquiries over the last 12 months (which included setting up a merchant's account with them last year). All of this despite the fact that I've had the card for over 3 years, I pay it off every month, and I have a credit score that is not only good, but has been steadily improving for the past several years (apparently what Wells Fargo deems as risky it not of much concern to Experian).

So, part of what irks me about this is the ex post facto nature of the action, but what really gets under my skin is that I was blind-sided with this cancellation before I've received any notification. On top of that, I was informed that there is no process for appeal, discussion or re-negotiation (I was however invited to re-apply).

Apparently, I'm not the only one this has happened to: Wells Fargo Cancels Credit

So now I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Are my other credit lines with them going to magically vanish? I have no way of knowing. I may just wake up one day to find that what was once good credit is now bad credit according to Wells Fargo. Seriously, is this good banking practice to have your customers in fear that at any moment the rug can be arbitrarily pulled out from under them?

I'm now seriously considering jumping ship. I understand Wells Fargo needs to protect its back, but when it comes at the cost of giving terrible service then I need to do what's right for my business and find a bank that's willing to engage with me like a real human being.

What's really absurd is that Wells Fargo gets to ambush its customers using arbitrary algorithms while peer-to-peer lending continues to be hounded by the SEC.