Credit limit slashed after balance cleared

Bismarck

Just wondering if anyone has any experience of their credit limit being slashed after they've cleared a balance?

As part of my shuffle routine, I zero the balances before transferring over and would like to know if anyone has had any experience recently of having their limit shut right down as soon as the balance is paid off. I'm thinking it's unlikely but in these uncertain times who knows?

thanks for any input...

YorkshireBoy

It's not a new response, in these "uncertain times".

Co-op cut mine from around £14K to £500 the same day I cleared a £13K stoozing balance 12 months ago.

withabix

Quite common at the moment.

One of my Barclaycards has recently had its limit reduced to £350 (so I told them to stick it where the sun doesn't shine) and my partner has recently had her LloydsTSB card with a £10,000 limit cancelled because she hardly ever uses it and when she does she pays off the balance without incurring any interest (ie she's no use to LloydsTSB)..

On the other hand, John Lewis Partnership card have just doubled my credit limit without me even asking!

udydudy

Bismarck wrote: »

......credit limit being slashed after they've cleared a balance? ....

Loads of card companies doing that at the moment, barclays has been doing that for the past 9-12 months. I had a limit of £8750, had held the card for 3 years, home owner, no missed payments ever, good income , OH also works!!! the moment i paid of the card balance(it was the 2nd time i had doen it on their card) they lowered the limit to £900 :mad: or something like that(this was last year).
I cancelled the card immediately and told them to stuff it!! that tooo when I had ISAs with them worth 3 times my card balance. and also a regular saver putting in the £250 that they allowed.... I guess they were not earning from me thats why!!!!....:D

TAG

We had a few cards slashed last year. Morgan Stanley from 3k down to £685. Barclaycard from 5k down to £1400.

Marbles in their wisdom have decided to increase the interest rate up to 32.9% on a 2k balance. Tried to BT this month in fact but got declined twice. Never missed a payment on anything, squeaky clean credit history but the computers say no. Be interesting to see if they slash that as it reduces.

So now we're throwing everything at Marbles which should be clear by the end of the year. It amazes me that the banks, credit card companies etc are making everything even harder for every one. By doing what Marbles have done is more likely to push people into missed payments and defaulting. It's madness. And all because of their greed in the first place.

PROLIANT

I could not agree more with the above, just because a credit agreement states a variable APR should not mean that they rope in customers on a low rate then slam it up when they have a heavy balance, bit like the old "dangle the carrot" lure. What can you do? I am not as fortunate as you guys to be able to get a "prime" rate credit card, I have three sub prime cards, Capital One @ 30.04%, Monument @ 26.9% and Vanquis @ 34.04%, but reading some stories about MBNA et al, it seems as if the sub prime cards have lower rates at the moment!

adecor

I've had my Barclaycard slashed & been with them for donkeys - although I hadn't really used for a couple of years. I decided to take advantage of their low lifetime rate (+ £150 for me if I keep a balance until Jan 09). I transferred another card balance & after a few months they've reduced me down to what I owe.

On the other hand my daughter, is in terrible debt & constantly misses payments, was refused a card with Virgin. Good old Vanquis said yes though with their huge interest rate. I tried to talk her out of using it, but I might as well have spoken to the wall grrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhh! How are they allowed to let you get a card & borrow if you have a bad credit rating?

clio

Tag
Do you mean you were refused another 0% card to do the BT,
or refused to be allowed to do a BT as i thought Balance transfers
were not credit checked?

alowery

Im really mad as yesterday Halifax sent me a letter telling me that they'd cut my limit from 1800 to 1100, ok fine theres about 1000 on that card that I'm slowly clearing off, not a massive problem.

But just logged on to my morgan stanley card used to be £5800 limit and now they've down'd it to £4000 just above the balance on the card!!!!

I was going on to transfer a balance to the morgan stanley card too!

Is this something to do with my credit score? Why are they doing this and is it worth ringing up to contest it?

NickX

alowery wrote: »

Is this something to do with my credit score? Why are they doing this and is it worth ringing up to contest it?

Doubt it is your credit score - probably to do with something kown as the "Credit Crunch".

All across the board, Credit Card companies are reducing their exposure to risk, and unfortunately you have been selected to have your facility reduced. Your not alone - remember the 161000 customers of Egg who had their facilities cancelled earlier in the year.

TAG

clio wrote: »

Tag
Do you mean you were refused another 0% card to do the BT,
or refused to be allowed to do a BT as i thought Balance transfers
were not credit checked?

We tried to BT to the Halifax and Egg but were declined for both. Only wanted to transfer the Marbles balance. As I said squeaky clean credit record. So can only be down to the credit crunch.