0% Rate on Closed Credit Card?

Joker954235

Hi All
Sorry new to the forum. I recently switched to a Halifax 0% deal until 2020 with a £8000 limit and moved two of my other cards onto it. Sensible. I then had a letter though advising my limit was decreasing to £7,900 and that if i didn't agree i could close my card at the current rate of interest. I spoke to an advisor at Halifax and confirmed if i closed my account i would indeed get the 0% until 2020 but it would then refer to the normal APR. I have received a letter today saying my account is now closed at the current rate i was on and that no further increases would take place until the debt was cleared. Is this a small victory or will i refer to a higher rate later on?

[Deleted User]

Are you sure the letter said that your limit was being decreased?

The standard letter is increasing your APR, and offering you the chance to close your account at the current rate.

Joker954235

Basically it says we've reviewed you as a customer and to ensure we're offering credit to each customer thats right for them and level of risk right for us (Halifax) we have decreased your limit to. The there is a section that says; What Happens next; We will formally reduced it from £8K to £7.9 on the 25th August 2017 under section B8 of your agreement. To reject this change you can end your agreement by notifying us before the change takes effect, see section B9 of your agreement.....

This is the B9 Statement on the website
B9. Ending this agreement

We may end this agreement immediately if:

there is illegal or fraudulent activity on or connected to the account;
you are or may be behaving improperly – for example, in a threatening or abusive way;
by continuing the agreement any company in the Lloyds Banking Group may be exposed to action from any government, regulator or other authority or may break a regulatory requirement; or
you have seriously or repeatedly broken this agreement in any other way.
In any other case, we will give you two months' notice in writing. You can give us notice to end the agreement at any time.

If either of us gives notice to end this agreement:

you must stop making any transactions, destroy all cards, cancel any recurring transaction instructions and repay your full balance;
the agreement will continue until you have repaid all amounts you owe us including amounts added to your account after notice was given; and
if your standard interest rates are linked to the Bank of England Base Rate, they will no longer be linked to it from the last working day of the month in which your notice was given. But if you give us notice in the last 7 working days of the month, we may not be able to prevent any Base Rate changes in that month taking effect on your account.
If we say you can end the agreement in response to a change we make, this means you can tell us before the change takes effect that you want to end your agreement. The change will then not apply to you unless we have to make the change to comply with regulatory requirements. You will be able to repay your balance by making monthly payments at the existing rate and terms and conditions, and this agreement will not end until you have paid everything you owe.

We may require immediate repayment of everything you owe under this agreement if you die, are made bankrupt, act fraudulently or break this agreement repeatedly or seriously. But before demanding payment we will always follow legal requirements for your protection.

[Deleted User]

That means that your rates will remain unchanged, but not that the 0% will last beyond the promo terms.

Essentially your promo will end as planned and you'll then go to your normal rate, which won't be increased.

Joker954235

Thanks I thought that may be the case or that this was a nifty backdoor :-)

Superscrooge

I had a similar experience with Bank of Scotland (same banking group as Halifax).

I have a BOS 0% BT card which had a £6K credit limit. Making minimum payments the balance is gradually decreasing. As soon as the balance went below £5,600 they reduced my credit limit to £5,600, then when it dropped below £5,200 they reduced my credit limit to £5,200

I suspect this is because I had taken out several other 0% cards last year and they re-assessed my credit worthiness and decided I was now higher risk!