Following Egg’s announcement that 161,000 credit cards were to be withdrawn from customers there has been outrage amongst consumers and some industry professional in the UK. Egg, owner by Citibank, reviewed over 2 million credit card accounts, and contacted 161,000 customers to state that their credit card facility was being withdrawn because they posed a high risk. However, Egg was later accused of cancelling these accounts because the customers were good payers and did not generate enough profit for the bank.

Former consumer affairs minister and Labour MP, Nigel Griffiths, recently announced that he had arranged to meet with the Chief Executive of Egg, Ian Kerr, to get an explanation as to why the cards had been cancelled. He said at the time: “Egg has got a lot of explaining to do. If you want to get rid of customers who are not bad credit risks but who you just don’t make money out of, then you should make a charge for your card.” He added: “Egg’s job now is to prove they have an honest intention in this. They made a mistake, we need an apology and compensation for wasted credit agency checks.”

However, following the meeting Egg has announced that it will not be backing down. The financial giant stated: “The review was based upon a large number of variables and studied the level of risk inherent in groups of customers, rather then every individual. So while some customers in that group may be up to date with their payments and have a good record with credit reference agencies and so on, the probability of them becoming a higher-risk customer in the future is higher than we wish to accept.”

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