Barclaycard credit limit changed?

Johntea

I have a Barclaycard Gold, initially my credit limit £2000.

Maxed out for the past few months (Or very close to being maxed out anyway) however looking to clear the balance off bit by bit now as I'm tackling my debt.

Anyway the last time I spent on it was 7th October 2011 for a small purchase at the supermarket, a minimum payment of around £50 was due this month but I paid £200.

Just got a text from them now informing me my credit limit has changed, so I logged in and they've reduced it to £1900?!

I don't care as I'll never be using it again but just seemed a bit strange!

Anyone shed any light on the matter?

Venusflytrap

What was your outstanding balance at the time?

I ask because when I was a student I had a Barclaycard Initial with a £1020 limit - maxed out - and once I had paid off £500, my credit limit was slashed to £520. Barclaycard was simply reducing their debt exposure and risk installmentally.

Wonder if this isn't the case here.

Johntea

£1989.93

Paid off £200.00

skintdad

have you missed payments or gone over limit on any other accounts recently?

Venusflytrap

Johntea wrote: »

£1989.93

Paid off £200.00

Did you then spend on the card again after paying this? If so then highly likely that Barclaycard will try to recoup funds by decreasing your limit when you make a payment and before you can spend again.

Johntea

Nope! Like I said last time it was used was the 07/10/11.

I had 12 payday loans and a Capital One £750 card, the only payday loan left is Wonga which has been on a repayment plan for the past several months and it wasn't as if the others ever went into 'default' - Certainly I've received no letters to notify me of a default being placed on my credit file other than a rather non official mailing from Tooth Fairy Finance which was totally bogus!

The Capital One was recently cleared in full.

Could it be because they can see I'm finally getting out of the 'debt hole' that they've decided I have too much available credit? There is no point in getting my credit files for a few months as they need time to settle down due to all the recent settlements etc.

Are they allowed to slash my credit limit to lower than what I owe them so they can whack on a load of extra charges? Guessing they only do this on statement date?

skintdad

they get a live feed from cra's about your account conduct elsewhere. it could be that the arrangement with wonga has only recently been put on your credit file and they have reduced your limit because of this. do you check your credit report regularly?
it would be unethical to reduce your credit limit to below your balance and then charge you. they could close the account and demand payment as terms state that they can do this at any time. however, so long as you are not in breach of the terms and conditions of the account they wouldnt do this

chexum

Johntea wrote: »

Are they allowed to slash my credit limit to lower than what I owe them so they can whack on a load of extra charges? Guessing they only do this on statement date?

They certainly seem to think your credit limit is higher than what they think you could afford. They *should* give you a notice - but in practice this doesn't work, if someone knew their credit limit would be slashed, most would used it up before the deadline, or not freed it up in the first place.

So this is an exception when they can argue their way out of giving a notice. However, they must not decrease the limit below your current borrowings in a way that you must be charged, that is certainly unfair. It should be just as unfair if they decrease it just below your current usage, then the monthly interest takes it over again when you can only learn this after the fact.

If any of the above happens, a simple call, or an official complaint should fix everything, or the FOS should help you with it - as it must not have been your fault, you can only be aware something that you have given notice.

Cash_Flow

Johntea wrote: »

Nope! Like I said last time it was used was the 07/10/11.

I had 12 payday loans and a Capital One £750 card, the only payday loan left is Wonga which has been on a repayment plan for the past several months and it wasn't as if the others ever went into 'default' - Certainly I've received no letters to notify me of a default being placed on my credit file other than a rather non official mailing from Tooth Fairy Finance which was totally bogus!

The Capital One was recently cleared in full.

Could it be because they can see I'm finally getting out of the 'debt hole' that they've decided I have too much available credit? There is no point in getting my credit files for a few months as they need time to settle down due to all the recent settlements etc.

Are they allowed to slash my credit limit to lower than what I owe them so they can whack on a load of extra charges? Guessing they only do this on statement date?

Live CRA feed

---

> :eek: Let's reduce our risk ASAP.

Johntea

Thank you. I was a gambling addict and therefore buried my head under the sand with regards to checking my credit reports etc - Did check them once a few months back and they didn't show anything too alarming (One late payment) but in recent months the amount of searches alone has probably exploded.

I will check them again in a few months time as I'll have literally settled all my debts apart from the Wonga since that is on interest frozen repayment plan. Right now trying to get credit isn't exactly top of my shopping list!

Hopefully making some more payments towards the Barclaycard soon so will let you know if they decide to reduce it further!

Nuclear_Themes

Having ANY payday loans suggests you can't handle your money very well. Now they are aware of this they are preventing you from racking up a large debt with them. It's possible that as you pay off more you'll see your limit decrease further.