Credit card limit reduced

GDB2222

My credit card company keep reducing my spending limit. It started as £10k and it's gradually reduced over the years to £3.5k. My normal spending on the card is a few hundred a month, and I pay it off every month in full. However, the new limit could be a problem if I want to make a few big purchases in one month.

Does anyone know why they reduced the limit? As far as I know, I have a good credit rating.

Also, can I get them to raise it a bit?

gt94sss2

They will have reduced it as you are not using the credit - and it costs them money to have 'unused' limits.

You can always ask them to raise the limit - it's their choice if they are willing to do so.

GDB2222

Thanks. I hadn't realised it cost them money just to increase my credit limit!

Shakin_Steve

gt94sss2 wrote: »

They will have reduced it as you are not using the credit - and it costs them money to have 'unused' limits.

You can always ask them to raise the limit - it's their choice if they are willing to do so.

And yet my MBNA card has been at £13,000 for about four years and I've never used more than £2000.

Doctor_Duke

They wouldn't just reduce your limit without reason. The credit card companies get monthly feeds from credit reference agencies and it could be that they have decided to limit their risk exposure to you. I would just check your credit files to make sure there isn't any adverse information on them. Plenty of advice on here to get a free report but for clarity they are ClearScore (Equifax), Noddle (CallCredit) and MSE Credit Club (for Experian).

Ben8282

It is difficult to understand why this is happening. The conduct of your account is not such that it should have resulted in repeated credit limit decreases over the years.

20aday

I once opened a Halifax credit card with a limit of £1,000. The account had been open three-four months (from memory) when I opened a Very account.

Then Halifax slashed my credit limit by the same amount Very offered me.

So as suggested above have a look at your credit files to see if there's anything untoward on there; how long have you had the credit card for and who's the card issuer?

GDB2222

20aday wrote: »

I once opened a Halifax credit card with a limit of £1,000. The account had been open three-four months (from memory) when I opened a Very account.

Then Halifax slashed my credit limit by the same amount Very offered me.

So as suggested above have a look at your credit files to see if there's anything untoward on there; how long have you had the credit card for and who's the card issuer?

Around twenty five years. The Coop Bank.

20aday

Given the recent news I could've understood any reductions in limits as they tried to their exposure ahead of any potential sale-I wonder if it's because you've held your card for so long and they might be hoping you'd eventually get fed up and apply for a newer product elsewhere.

Given the age of your credit card do they report to the agencies?

System

Doctor_Duke wrote: »

They wouldn't just reduce your limit without reason.

The limit is variable and can be reduced for no reason.

Doctor_Duke

Heng_Leng wrote: »

The limit is variable and can be reduced for no reason.

. The computer risk profiling algorithm determines a reason to reduce limits or increase them so there is a reason it's called risk profiling. Thought you would know that... My post was trying to be helpful to the OP.