Credit card limit reduced

exemplary

I tried to pay with my card. No authorisation. Ringing the credit card bank I find that the limit has been suddenly reduced. The letter was waiting for me at home. It contained two amazing paragraphs, one that the bank was reducing my credit limit substantially from end October, two, that immediately they were reducing my credit card limit to only £** more to spend (which came to less than the intended limit as in para 1 above. In calling the bank I was told it was due to Callcredit record. Their site doesn't work very well, but almost certainly it is due to a CCJ which was in fact set aside on the 24th august. The bank was told that this judgement was set aside on the telephone this morning, but as everything is run by a computer algorithm there the customer service person said they could do nothing until the Callcredit record was changed. Experian accepted a Note of Correction (I emailed it to them today) but the Call credit site malfunctions after you've input the personal data and they don't get back to you after a request was made. What can I do about the bank's intransigence and contradictory paragraphs? I have drafted a letter saying now you know effectively. Can I take them to Data Protection, and how can I reverse their decision quicker?

BoGoF

The Credit Reference Agencies records dont update in real time. You do realise that even once they have updated the Credit Card company is under no obligation to put your limit back up and going in all heavy handed isn't going to help.

exemplary

so what do you suggest? I am aware of the time a CCJ takes to be taken off, as the court needs to get the order from the judge, then pass it to the Registry Trust, which passes it to the credit agencies. however, if the bank is informed of the error then surely they are duty bound to amend their records? obviously the aim is to get them to reinstate the limit or at least the deadline of end October.

[Deleted User]

Banks/CC's can and do reduce credit limits for many reasons, I'm not sure where the data protection act would help you?

[Deleted User]

Read your terms and conditions.

They can reduce your limit as they please and without warning in some cases

Nothing you can do about it

A4445

exemplary wrote: »

so what do you suggest? I am aware of the time a CCJ takes to be taken off, as the court needs to get the order from the judge, then pass it to the Registry Trust, which passes it to the credit agencies. however, if the bank is informed of the error then surely they are duty bound to amend their records? obviously the aim is to get them to reinstate the limit or at least the deadline of end October.

The bank won’t take your word for it they will want to see it removed from your credit report. There is still no guarantee they will put your limit back up. Once the CCJ is gone there is nothing stopping you applying else where. At this point there is nothing you can do.

T-G-C

You do not know if the CCJ was a main contribution to their decision, perhaps it was something bound to happen with or without it. To prevent circumvention of their internal lending criteria, companies will not reveal which specific factor(s) led to the credit limit amendment. You will be asked to review data from the three credit reference agencies, as standard advice.

Your best option at the moment is to ensure all inaccuracies are removed from all three files, inform them after the changes are visible that a previous inaccuracy has now been removed and then perhaps in a future manual review, the credit limit could be restored either to the same or different amount.

Note however; there is no legal obligation for them to restore the credit limit. As stated in the signed credit agreement, lenders reserve the right to amend the line of funds extended to you. The Data Protection Act 2018 is nothing to do with the credit side of it, only the data held on their system. You cannot use this to enforce reversal of their decision.

You should not have placed a Notice of Correction on there, as it will not persuade the lender to restore the limit or other lenders that you make an application with. Despite the fact that they are obliged to acknowledge it when making decisions, most of the time, except where the borrower is clearly put at an unfair disadvantage, the Notice of Correction will have little, if any influence on the final outcome. You have now also forced lenders who would otherwise make automatic decisions to place your application for manual review, which could significantly delay your ability to obtain credit elsewhere.

normanna

Having a CCJ at all would worry the cc company and if you've been sailing close to spending limits they may feel a reduction of the limit is warranted. You can't force them to raise it.

chattychappy

Whilst banks are supposedly free to set limits, refuse to lend etc., at the same time their use of personal data must be be fair and lawful.

IF the change in limit was due to the CCJ and this has now been set aside, then I think you have grounds to complain if they refuse to take account of this. No doubt you will have a copy of the order from the court setting aside the judgment.

Since Call Credit (or whoever) don't update their records in real time, the banks are aware that they might be using wrong or out-of-date information. Therefore they must be open to people like the OP who have up-to-date corrected information.

Saying "we can't do anything until Call Credit update their records" is unacceptable in my view and grounds for complaint. Also, it is baloney that "everything is run by computer algorithms" - you have a right to have the decision taken manually.

The problem is establishing for sure that the CCJ is the reason for the limit change. Still, I think it's worth going through the complaints process and as part of this request a manual review of the decision.

exemplary

Thanks for the advice and comments and I shall follow this up. The letter does say it was the ccj. I spent at least two hours on the phone this morning being bounced from credit department to personal banking to trying to increase overdraft limit but it all came back to this ccj. the last person gave me a number for call credit. They also gave where to appeal within their banking hierarchy (needless to say they have a bigger boss) by writing. As the ccj would not have been awarded if the court had not made a significant admin error, I have gone down the complaints road there and this -where I have sought political help (it works, sometimes!) - appears to have had an impact and I have been advised Registry Trust will get the judge's order by Monday. but the next difficulty, as you have written is getting some better credit limit reinstated. I have always worked towards a low use of the card and got offered a higher limit as a result, but life events meant initial capital sums needed to be spent (not on consumer items but services) and I used the card for this. Yes, operating near the limits isn't good and counts against you, which I didn't realise - why have a card if you can pay back the interest & capital?- but I have never gone over any limit (so far!). the credit card lady was particularly disappointing. she cast doubts on using the dp option also in a very aggressive way. all I can say is I feel disappointed, as must many others, when you are always, current account wise, in credit due to own imposed austerity and things go wrong they are not interested in the vagaries of life and treat you like a strict dickensian schoolteacher. qv. Lionel Bart, "oliver, oliver, never before has a boy wanted more..".

chattychappy

exemplary wrote: »

I spent at least two hours on the phone this morning being bounced from credit department to personal banking to trying to increase overdraft limit but it all came back to this ccj.

I would always give the call centre a go in the first place, but then do everything in writing.