Barclaycard Credit Limit Misery

gorbash

Have just received my credit limit from Barclaycard - £260!
I only have one other credit card, no bad credit history and I earn 22,675 p.a.

My partner earns over £30k and he has been offered the same limit of £260, which is apparently the lowest they offer.

Has any one else had this problem?

I spent over an hour on the phone to Barclaycard trying to sort it out and was told it was 'responsible lending'. Yeah great! I had the card to transfer £2,000: They kindly transferred £ 234 for me - nice.

I have my own theory - 0% balance transfers must occur within 60 days. The only way to raise your limit is by writing a letter of complaint, therefore you miss the 60 day window and then I'm sure they will raise the limit.

:mad:

Nipper78

I'm no expert but for the record I've had only a Barclays Debit account for the past 6 years, no credit card, nothing, until just this week I've gotten a Barclaycard Platinum with a £480 limit. This is my first ever credit card, I'm 22, self employed, and have been refused egg, egg money and one other I forget, lol. I thought all that was tight, but £260 and with your circumstances by comparison, ouch, seems a little harsh yes.

LJD1_2

We just got our Barclaycard today and they've given us £3500 which is three times what we wanted. I wouldn't call that 'responsible lending'. Last week we were turned down by capital one so I've no idea how all this is worked out!

Ali-OK

Have you checked your credit reports with Experian, Equifax and CallCredit?

Have you applied for other credit quite recently? Do you already have alot of cards that are not settled, but maybe not used either? (Amount of available credit affects lending decisions).

Have you recently moved house or job?

Are you on the electoral roll?

Hope some of that may help.

gorbash

We've checked our credit reports.
Only one other credit card.
Moved one year ago and changed job one year ago.
We are both on the electoral roll.
Have not applied for a credit card for nearly a year.

It makes no sense.

Gorbash

daveboy

Barclaycard also gave me £3500....only last week I dropped it down to £1300 so as to not get myself in financial trouble. I only got it, as others, for the 0% offer.

Responsible lending....I had to be the responsible one on Barclaycards behalf.

Ali-OK

gorbash wrote:

We've checked our credit reports.
Only one other credit card.
Moved one year ago and changed job one year ago.
We are both on the electoral roll.
Have not applied for a credit card for nearly a year.

It makes no sense.

Gorbash

There are the answers I suspect to why you didn't get bigger limits...

(i) only been at that address 1 year
(ii) only been with current employer 1 year
(iii) only have one other credit card
(iv) not applied for a card in a year

All sounds good and responsible from your perspective...but probably not enough "history" for the lenders. It's no different from those who have lots of cards, pay responsibly and apply more frequently (lenders look at them as possibly can't afford more credit, etc).

And the younger you are (I'm making a big assumption here!) the lower your limit will be. Barclaycard aren't what I'd call "high limit" lenders from my perspective either - been with them over 20 years and still my highest with them was £5,5K, compared to over £14K limits with others I have.

Perhaps you need to look at cards like Virgin, Capital One - they seem better for what they would consider "higher risk" applicants.

Appreciate that doesn't help your current situation, but may help when you come to apply for a different cc. You could always phone a company for a quotation first - thus no footprint on your credit record unless you decide to apply based on the quote.

Nipper78

Well having gotten more of an insight its clear your in a vastly better position than I am. I have zero history, you have some and all good. I'm self employed, your not, and more, yet you get half the amount I do. It really doesnt make sense lol, thats a ridiculously low limit. I was even considering trying to get mine higher but am not sure on the best way to go about it.

So, what is the best way to go about it? Does Martin recommend a particular type/style of contact immediately with just the bank? The facts speak for themselves, based on those details you should without doubt have a much higher credit limit than that. Surely to a reasonable degree it shouldnt be pot luck, and theres good routes to be taken to get it higher, or closer to what it should be based on the facts, and comparison with other customers!?

reehsetin

gorbash wrote:

Have just received my credit limit from Barclaycard - £260!
I only have one other credit card, no bad credit history and I earn 22,675 p.a.

My partner earns over £30k and he has been offered the same limit of £260, which is apparently the lowest they offer.

Has any one else had this problem?

I spent over an hour on the phone to Barclaycard trying to sort it out and was told it was 'responsible lending'. Yeah great! I had the card to transfer £2,000: They kindly transferred £ 234 for me - nice.

I have my own theory - 0% balance transfers must occur within 60 days. The only way to raise your limit is by writing a letter of complaint, therefore you miss the 60 day window and then I'm sure they will raise the limit.

:mad:

:S put it this way - last year i was still at college - part time saturday/sunday job at WHS they sent me a barclays platinum card with around about £500 limit - was my first credit card - dont think id had anything on credit before that no mobile contracts or anything
^responsible lending my _ i definatly dont see anything there as to why i would get a higher limit than you

donsguy

I applied for a standard Barclaycard and a Marbles card on the same day and was approved by both. Both had exactly the same details so I figured the credit limits would be pretty much the same.

Barclaycard -£440
Marbles - £3000

Dont understand it myself. Doubt I will be using the BArclaycard very much.

Carrera74

I have 2 credit cards and 2 loans and I applied for 2 credit cards (for balance transfer purposes). I applied to Amazon and Barclays Platinum and got approved for both. Amazon - £1400 limit and Barclays £4,000!