Barclaycard dropping their credit limit

gemfiveashdown

Hi all, this is my first post, so please let me know if it's been raised before.

I recently applied for a Barclaycard, and was approved, and received my card on Thursday 31st July. The letter accompanying the card stated my credit limit was set at £2,000 (with £600 inclusive limit on cash withdrawals) and when I phoned Barclaycard to activate this credit card that day, the lady on the phone again confirmed that my credit limit was £2,000. I used the card over the weekend for purchases, both in shops and online, and withdrew £100 as well.

On Tuesday 5th August I tried to withdraw a further amount but was unable to. I assumed this was just a minor issue and thought nothing of it. This morning (6th August) I tried to pay a bill over the telephone using the card, and it was declined. I called up Barclaycard to see why the card had now been declined for cash withdrawals and purchases, and was then informed that my credit limit "had been reviewed on 4th August and has been dropped to £450".

Am I being incredibly naive here, but if I have been approved for £2,000 on the Thursday, how can my circumstances change so dramatically that I only qualify for £450 credit on the Monday (just over a fifth of the original credit limit)? I put in a complaint to Barclaycard as I had not been informed of this credit limit decrease, and was informed that a letter had been sent to me on Monday. I tried to explain to the lady in customer services that this would not have helped me had I, say, been doing a full weekly shop and expecting to put it on the Barclaycard, safe in the knowledge I had a large amount of credit on it, only to be declined at the checkout. The lady in customer services could only state that I can check my current status online - is she actually suggesting I should 'check in' every day incase Barclaycard decide to change my credit limit?

Unfortunately a lot of the purchases I made were not essential items, but are not returnable items either, as they consisted of birthday presents and cinema tickets, as well as the cash withdrawal. I am now left having to re-assess my budget, as a lot of my planning was including the confirmed £2,000 credit from Barclaycard!

Has this happened to anyone else, is it within their rights morally and legally, and do I have a base for making a complaint against Barclaycard for treating me this way in such a short period of time being their customer?

Thanks all,

speedbird1973

You may have just been unlucky in that after you were accepted they changed their criteria and did a review. A lot of this is automated.

The fact you drew case out as soon as you got the card may have sent alarm bells ringing too. If you need to draw cash out on your CC then a low limit maybe a blessing for you .

gemfiveashdown

Thanks - I am concerned more about the amount they dropped me down to, the speed of it and the lack of information I received. I appreciate that me withdrawing cash is probably not the best way to use a credit card, however it posed the best method for me to assist with getting out of my overdraft (which has a higher charge than the interest on the credit card) for that week.

gomer

They don't notify you before they drop your credit limit because if they did then theoretically you could go out and spend the whole lot before the limit was reduced.