Skycard/Barclaycard suddenly & dramatically reducing credit limits?

londonuk2008

good luck -the more I read on here regarding Barclaycard - the more I see people having problems.It doesnt give you much confidence using any of there cards - in case they suddenly slash your limit .

It sounds as though they have had their fingers burnt during this 'credit crunch' and are nervous....

DesG

Have you followed Sky's formal complaints procedure, if not the regulator won't look at it.

Cheers, Des.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

MoneyMuppet wrote: »

the way these things tend to work is the more people that complain about the same thing the better off we will all be.

Barclaycard took 3250 off my limit, leaving me with £250 limit? what use is that?? its barely a months shopping in my house!!! overnight, no warning, after 2 days of trying to do a transaction to get my car MOT'd and serviced no one in the call centre said anything to me then a letter arrived!!!

The nerve! Grrrrr!

Of course, if you had no other means of payment available at the time, you would have been unable to get your car back too. I think they should be forced, by law, into giving notice of these reductions. When something like this happened to me, it was only by luck that I didn't end up stranded in Spain without a pot to pee in.
It was a different CC but they all seem to be at it.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

IcklePickle wrote: »

I've arranged to transfer the balance to another card so at least I don't have to worry about paying the whole lot off in the next 8 weeks.

I'm annoyed about them being able to charge me £94 BT fee for absolutely nothing (!!) so I spoke to Customer Relations to see if they'd refund the BT fee as a goodwill gesture. They checked with a manager and said no. Because technically I can still get the benefit of the 0% rate, just as long as I bring my balance from £3000 down to £500. Arghh!! How is that fair?

So I'll write to Ombudsman and hope that they'll agree it's an unfair charge. Honestly, £94 for holding a balance at 0% for 10 days... now I can see how the banks make their fortune :rolleyes:

As a bare minimum, they should only charge the 3% on the £500 IMO. But maybe you would be able to take action against them for the extra BT fee when you switch away from them. I'm wondering if anyone has ever gone to small claims regarding something like this. Probably not as it's a hassle.

IcklePickle_2

DesG wrote: »

Have you followed Sky's formal complaints procedure, if not the regulator won't look at it.

Cheers, Des.

The guy at Customer Relations said he is the end of the line as far as complaining via SkyCard goes. I have a reference number etc. from him for my complaint and a letter from him stating, "This is the final resolution, if we don't hear from you in 4 weeks we'll consider the matter settled.. blah blah blah"

Does that sound like it?

IcklePickle_2

Paulgonnabedebtfree wrote: »

As a bare minimum, they should only charge the 3% on the £500 IMO. But maybe you would be able to take action against them for the extra BT fee when you switch away from them. I'm wondering if anyone has ever gone to small claims regarding something like this. Probably not as it's a hassle.

I guess there might be costs involved in small claims which may be more than the £94 I've lost?

I've processed the balance transfer so it should clear the account in a few days. It's just so frustrating, when I'm trying to do the responsible thing and get out of debt quicker by minimizing my interest charges (keeping balances at 0%) and then I end up increasing my debt by almost a hundred pounds with no benefit to me.. no extended period at 0%, which is worth paying the one-off 3% fee for. Argh. :mad:

Thanks for being sympathetic.

DesG

IcklePickle wrote: »

The guy at Customer Relations said he is the end of the line as far as complaining via SkyCard goes. I have a reference number etc. from him for my complaint and a letter from him stating, "This is the final resolution, if we don't hear from you in 4 weeks we'll consider the matter settled.. blah blah blah"

Does that sound like it?

It does sound like it, but you should satisfy yourself by checking what their formal complaints procedure is, don't they have it on their website?

Once you are at the end of the line, definitely go to the regulator.

Cheers, Des.

BankingHood

Hi Ickle Pickle.

Check that you are still within your terms and conditions. Did you make a late payment? A 0% rate can be thrown out if you are even one day late. Check first with customer relations. You can also call customer services and ask for the interest to be suspended on you account for the length of the balance transfer agreed. If the customer service agent refuses. Ask to speak to a team leader. Be polite, you are more likely to get results. If all fails, write to
cutomer relations. State that you don't think that you have been treated fairly. If this can't be resolved, you can go first to the Ombudsman and then to the FSA.

IcklePickle_2

BankingHood wrote: »

Hi Ickle Pickle.

Check that you are still within your terms and conditions. Did you make a late payment? A 0% rate can be thrown out if you are even one day late. Check first with customer relations. You can also call customer services and ask for the interest to be suspended on you account for the length of the balance transfer agreed. If the customer service agent refuses. Ask to speak to a team leader. Be polite, you are more likely to get results. If all fails, write to
cutomer relations. State that you don't think that you have been treated fairly. If this can't be resolved, you can go first to the Ombudsman and then to the FSA.

Hi there

Thanks for posting. I've definitely not breached the T&Cs. The account was kept in order and had been dormant (zero balance) for *ages* before I did the BT. It seems it was an unhappy coincidence that their computer system reduced my limit a couple of hours after I called to transfer balance.

I've written to the FOS because I'm still irate that they're able to justify keeping my £94 BT fee when they have backed out of the agreement we made (0% for 6mths on £3000).

Will update when I receive a reply from FOS.

IcklePickle_2

Oh, and I've cleared the balance by doing another BT to a different card. Account is now £0.81 in credit.