Credit Card Limit

Lebene

Does anyone know a credit card that gives you the option to have payments rejected if it'll go over the limit - or has a grace period?

This is the second time I've had more than enough money in my account and accidentally gone over the limit and because Natwest changed their processing rules, if you dare have it happen on a Friday, then they won't process any payments until Monday... The funny part is, they'll process the over limit on Friday or Saturday, but not process your payment that same day.

Both times they allowed a payment that would make me go over by just 5 pounds so they can charge me. It's quite disgraceful and it'll ruin my high credit score.

I use the credit card as my oyster, lunch and shopping because I am paid in arrears, it helps me have some money in my savings and current account.

I'm not interested in watching receipts, I just want to know if there's such a credit card available. If not, I'll just start using my CC as an oyster card only.

Thank you everyone.

[Deleted User]

No. You need to manage your spending.

Avoid going overlimit but ignore your fictional high credit score.

chattychappy

Lebene wrote: »

Both times they allowed a payment that would make me go over by just 5 pounds so they can charge me. It's quite disgraceful and it'll ruin my high credit score.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but it's not disgraceful at all. You agree to borrow on the basis of a credit limit which you then exceed. If you take more credit than has been agreed, then why shouldn't it be reported to a credit reference agency so that other lenders have the information to hand when making a decision?

You can, however, argue about the charge. A £12 charge for going £5 over the limit probably is disproportionate. If you ask nicely, then they'll likely refund - at least on the first occasion.

In general, you cannot rely on rely on a card being declined when you reach your limit. Many consumers wouldn't want this "imagine the humiliation when I was refused at the checkout for the sake of £5 overlimit" - I can imagine the threads... That's before we get into "it was late at night and I needed a taxi, but my card was declined - for all the banks care, I could have been murdered".

Bear in mind that some devices work offline. Eg when using contactless on London public transport (in lieu of oyster) the readers just collect card numbers, and are typically offline. The actual charge is worked out and applied at the end of the day based on tap-ins/tap-outs once collated on a database. You only get declined when travelling if the card has proved troublesome before and is on a blacklist.

If you need more limit, best plan is to ask for an increase.

Ben8282

For this to have happened twice, you must either have a very low credit limit or a lot of debt. You say you have a high credit score but I would question this in view of the apparent almost 100% utilisation of your available credit.
If you have 'more than enough money' in your account (a meaningless statement as this could be interpreted that you have slightly over £5), then why did you not either use your debit card knowing you were so close to your credit limit or otherwise make a payment to the credit card in advance of using it.
You say that you are not interested in watching receipts. Unfortunately, when a person is using their credit limit almost at 100% utilisation, they have to watch receipts and keep track of what they are spending otherwise things like this will keep happening. You failed to learn your lesson the first time. Perhaps this time you will pay more attention to your finances so that it doesn't happen a third time.
There is no such credit card available.

Lebene

chattychappy wrote: »

I don't mean to sound harsh, but it's not disgraceful at all. You agree to borrow on the basis of a credit limit which you then exceed. If you take more credit than has been agreed, then why shouldn't it be reported to a credit reference agency so that other lenders have the information to hand when making a decision?

You can, however, argue about the charge. A £12 charge for going £5 over the limit probably is disproportionate. If you ask nicely, then they'll likely refund - at least on the first occasion.

In general, you cannot rely on rely on a card being declined when you reach your limit. Many consumers wouldn't want this "imagine the humiliation when I was refused at the checkout for the sake of £5 overlimit" - I can imagine the threads... That's before we get into "it was late at night and I needed a taxi, but my card was declined - for all the banks care, I could have been murdered".

Bear in mind that some devices work offline. Eg when using contactless on London public transport (in lieu of oyster) the readers just collect card numbers, and are typically offline. The actual charge is worked out and applied at the end of the day based on tap-ins/tap-outs once collated on a database. You only get declined when travelling if the card has proved troublesome before and is on a blacklist.

If you need more limit, best plan is to ask for an increase.

It is disgraceful because they will let the card be charged on a Friday or Saturday (without showing a proper balance for a whole week) but then won't let you pay back the same day. So you can never avoid the chances of paying it back before you notice or it's processed (not just showing online) if it happens on a Thursday or Friday. In China, if your card has no money to complete the transaction, it will flat-out reject your card. That's that. No letting you fall into fine traps. Everyone gets on just fine with that rule and I loved it. I think I got too used to it and keep forgetting that here they want the money off the fines. I need to get out of that safe feeling.

That's why I mentioned it should be a choice for the card to be rejected. Everyone can go over the limit upon first getting the card, but if you call in or access your credit card services, you can opt-out. You have to sign a declaration or something so if you're "embarrassed", well you opted-out.

The first time my card went over the limit by less than £10, my contactless was indeed rejected. I called them and they refunded the charge because I paid back as soon as I saw less than 24 hours later and it was my first time since I got the card in 2010. So it has only happened twice in 8 years. I always pay my card on time (1-2 weeks before if I can help it) and have managed not to go over the limit in 8 years of owning a credit card. This year just seems to be the year of it because I still haven't gotten out of the China convenience of payment there. I don't want it to ruin my credit score as it's high and I need it to remain that way.

I suppose the other option is to just overpay my card so I go into debit. That way I can have the £10 extra I need because both times have literally been £5 over the limit. And they will update your balance only after it's gone over, and then charge you at the same time. Instead of updating your display balance every 2-3 days, they can conveniently update the oyster payments on time though.

A refunded shop I did on Sunday, was confirmed paid on Tuesday, but they didn't update it until Friday? Then what use is the online service? Should we all receipt horde in 2018? Meanwhile, in China, I can buy some corn on the cob for 50p on a street corner on my phone by scanning a QR code and it will update my bank balance almost instantaneously. I've been completely spoilt and need to detox it out of myself.

I'm looking to move anyway because I don't like that they stopped processing payments on Fridays.

Lebene

Ben8282 wrote: »

For this to have happened twice, you must either have a very low credit limit or a lot of debt. You say you have a high credit score but I would question this in view of the apparent almost 100% utilisation of your available credit.
If you have 'more than enough money' in your account (a meaningless statement as this could be interpreted that you have slightly over £5), then why did you not either use your debit card knowing you were so close to your credit limit or otherwise make a payment to the credit card in advance of using it.
You say that you are not interested in watching receipts. Unfortunately, when a person is using their credit limit almost at 100% utilisation, they have to watch receipts and keep track of what they are spending otherwise things like this will keep happening. You failed to learn your lesson the first time. Perhaps this time you will pay more attention to your finances so that it doesn't happen a third time.
There is no such credit card available.

I know I have a high credit score because it has been checked for me so I can access other financial services. Thank you for your wisdom.

I do not use an overdraft so I must be paying off my credit card on time every month somehow. Thank you for your wisdom.

I didn't know it was past the limit because the "useful" online banking which I check 2-3 times a week had not updated itself properly for the whole week. Thank you for your wisdom.

The first time it happened this year for the first time in 8 years since I got the card, I didn't know that British banks just let you go over a limit - as I had never gone over the limit before. Also, another country I lived in very recently and where I had reached a limit, does not have this nonsense. Thank you for your wisdom.

Four days ago I paid in money to offset going over the limit and was £10 off (I'd like to have an extra £5 under the limit) because my balance was not showing at all correctly after I had a refund from a shopping market. Thank you for your wisdom.

I will just move to a bank that can display balances more accurately after 3 days, rather than waiting a week. It is conveniently fast when I'm nowhere near my limit (that I know of since there's usually a 2 days display lag - not a week as it was this time). Thanks again for your unending wisdom.


Also - I've just looked it up and America has this service, so it's not even like I'm asking for anything grande. It's just a common sense option for people to have. https://www.thebalance.com/can-you-go-over-your-credit-limit-961095
https://lifehacker.com/dont-opt-in-to-over-limit-fees-on-your-credit-cards-510140881
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-cards/overlimit-fees-dinosaur/

But thanks for all the rude snark from the dinosaurs.

Ben8282

Lebene wrote: »

I know I have a high credit score because it has been checked for me so I can access other financial services. Thank you for your wisdom.

I do not use an overdraft so I must be paying off my credit card on time every month somehow. Thank you for your wisdom.

I didn't know it was past the limit because the "useful" online banking which I check 2-3 times a week had not updated itself properly for the whole week. Thank you for your wisdom.

The first time it happened this year for the first time in 8 years since I got the card, I didn't know that British banks just let you go over a limit - as I had never gone over the limit before. Also, another country I lived in very recently and where I had reached a limit, does not have this nonsense. Thank you for your wisdom.

Four days ago I paid in money to offset going over the limit and was £10 off (I'd like to have an extra £5 under the limit) because my balance was not showing at all correctly after I had a refund from a shopping market. Thank you for your wisdom.

I will just move to a bank that can display balances more accurately after 3 days, rather than waiting a week. It is conveniently fast when I'm nowhere near my limit (that I know of since there's usually a 2 days display lag - not a week as it was this time). Thanks again for your unending wisdom.


Also - I've just looked it up and America has this service, so it's not even like I'm asking for anything grande. It's just a common sense option for people to have. https://www.thebalance.com/can-you-go-over-your-credit-limit-961095
https://lifehacker.com/dont-opt-in-to-over-limit-fees-on-your-credit-cards-510140881
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-cards/overlimit-fees-dinosaur/

But thanks for all the rude snark from the dinosaurs.

We are not in the United States or China.
I would respectfully suggest that if you do decide to obtain a new credit card from a new bank that you reduce the balance of the current card first as with close on 100% utilisation of available credit you may find if difficult to get one.
And remember that the grass is not always greener ....

Lebene

Ben8282 wrote: »

We are not in the United States or China.
I would respectfully suggest that if you do decide to obtain a new credit card from a new bank that you reduce the balance of the current card first as with close on 100% utilisation of available credit you may find if difficult to get one.
And remember that the grass is not always greener ....

If two countries have it, and I go to a thread asking if this country has it - you know, trying to find out. Am I also wrong? For trying to find out? Alright matey.

£500 credit card limit is not high. I will ask for a higher limit and make sure that their online services are adequate, I will only need £510.

Thanks again for your unending wisdom.

Krisko

If you!!!8217;ve had your £500 limit card for eight years and there!!!8217;s nothing negative on your credit reports you should indeed apply for a new card.

You should be able to get a starting limit of at least a few thousand pounds from most mainstream lenders.

I!!!8217;d check my reports first though, and use eligibility checkers to see which cards you!!!8217;re likely to be approved for.

chattychappy

I doubt whether any card anywhere in the world can guarantee not to let you go over the limit - unless the same territories ban offline transactions.

No doubt different countries have different kinds of consumer protection and rules about charges. Here there is a "de-facto" maximum charge of £12 and, subject to provisos, S75 protection on purchases. I can well believe China/the US are different. Certainly different rules apply in Taiwan where I have lived, but no issue with offline transactions.

If you're in the UK spending on a UK card, then this is the system we have.

[Deleted User]

Lebene wrote: »

Thanks again for your unending wisdom.

And thank you for your valuable contributions to this forum. I'm not sure how we managed before you posted on here.