Barclaycard "We may have set your previous limit higher than we should have"

Scarpsy

Hi All,

So I got a letter titled as above.  I'm a bit confused as to the point of it, I'd love to phone them but I cant currrently during office hours.  The rest says:

"We've recently reviewed the way we set some of our customers' credit limits and can see that the previous limit we gave you may have been higher than it should have been.
We're sorry this has happened and recognise that this may have had an impact on your circumstances, or you may have incurred losses."

Are they indictating they have made a mistake as a responsible lender here? Until I can speak to them I'd love to know if anyone else has had this before and what if anything happened after talking to them.  Likewise, once I am able to I shall update this with what happened.  Aside from exceeding credit limit a couple of times maybe in hte last 2 years I have never missed payments and my balance is currently 1500 under the limit.

jonesMUFCforever

What is the limit? Has it been increased at all or have you always had the same high limit?
When you went overlimit - did they charge you?

coachman12

Just as they can increase credit limits, credit card companies can lower limits without justifying their reason.  Decreases often happen because a cardholder is  suddenly seen to be at a higher risk of default. Has anything in your credit file or habits changed significantly , or has someone linked to your credit history had any changes ? Card Companies can sometimes choose a whole group of their customers and decrease their limits , usually because of a change in the economy generally.
Or, they can just discover they made a mistake when checking your credit files. You will need to ask Barclaycard about its reason before you know how to proceed----not that you have many options open to you. Good luck, Scarpsy.

Thrugelmir

What does the rest of the letter say? 

Scarpsy

The limit is 11.5k and has been for at least 4 years.  I got charged £12 I think when I went over and I can't see that on my credit report so must have been longer ago than I thought. 
The rest of the letter said that after reviewing my limit they have decided that my current limit is still suitable for myself which is why I wondered what the point of the letter was at all. 

jimbo26

I had the same letter a few months ago. Made no sense as they didn't reduce the limit!

born_again

It will be a exercise to show the FCA that they are doing something given all the new Persistent debt issues. 
It will mean if the FCA come knocking, that they have been looking and taking action on high credit limits. Even though, they have not done anything other than send a letter out... That has just confused the masses.👀

coachman12

And the masses are so ecstatic  

Shakin_Steve

I received an email from Tesco telling me that, since I never got anywhere near my credit limit (£10100), they would reduce it to £5500 on March 26th. If that was ok with me, and I didn't want them to leave it alone. 😂
I think the most I've ever spent is £250, so I'll let them. I'm nice like that.

DaveTeal99

i've had plenty over the years going the other way, as they try and get you spending more. Not seen this before, but guess it's just them managing their risk. As OP says, this seems slightly unnecessary given the net result of no action, but then ticks the box for the regulators!