DEAR BRUCE: I recently applied for a gas credit card for my wife and was denied by the issuer. Equifax reported we had one late payment, but this is not the issue. The issue is I have about $150,000 worth of stocks in an investment account by a subsidiary of the card issuer. I have no mortgage, but I do have a home-equity loan from the same company. My feeling is that my 30-year relationship should have some value, but the account manager says that his management team says this is not taken into account, because it is a separate company. My gut reaction is that if they think I am not creditworthy, I should move my assets. Am I expecting too much for the 30 years of my loyalty with the same broker? -- G.R., via e-mail

DEAR G.R.: You should realize not only does the left hand not know what the right hand is doing, more often than not, it doesn't even know there is a right hand. The fact that you have a relationship with one branch of a huge conglomerate rarely will be taken into account. That's the hard fact. If you were dealing with a one- or two-office bank and they were issuing credit cards and you were turned down, without question, they would take this relationship into account. It's not going to happen with the mega-corporations. In many cases, you don't have much choice. You may have a choice with a credit card, but there are very few small companies that you're going to be real comfortable with handling your brokerage account. I'm sure there are some, but most of us rely in some measure on the reputation of the bigger companies that are household names.

DEAR BRUCE: I received from one of my credit cards several checks in the mail to use as I prefer, to transfer balances and so on. The company stated "use these checks today" to save on their low. fixed rate that lasts until the balance is paid in full. As long as I keep my account in good standing, this great low rate won't increase. "Guaranteed!" Well I used one of these checks back in March. When I got my first billing statement, the interest rate was four times what they said it would be in the letter with the checks. I called the credit card company several times, and they won't give me a straight answer why the interest rate is much higher . Is there something that I can do? -- W.R. , via e-mail