Barclaycard: unexplained Limit reduction

Kimmy84

Last week I received a letter from Barclaycard announcing that they had cut my credit card limit by £2550! The form letter just said that they may have reduced the limit due to missed or late payments or credit scores. This has confused me as I have not had missed/late payments, I’m paying over the minimum every month and my credit score was excellent (although their actions have brought my available balance within £150 of my new limit so that will probably have dented it a bit now). I’ve tried calling to get an explanation but can’t get through. 

It seems to fly in the face of their we are here for you during this difficult time messages I’m seeing in the TV. 

Has anyone else had this experience with Barclaycard? 

bsms1147

"Kimmy84 said:

... they may have reduced the limit due to missed or late payments or credit scores.

Sounds like a generic letter alongside a rate reduction. Are you making use of your available credit? Might you have had a high available credit (eg £10k), but you only use a small amount each month (eg £1k), so they're reevealuating the need for that high credit amount and reducing it (eg to £10k - £2550)?
https://www.which.co.uk/news/2017/09/ask-an-expert-can-the-bank-just-reduce-my-credit-limit/

[Deleted User]

As above, it's just a standard reduction to lower their risk and exposure.  Nothing to do the scores the CRAs give you. They're referring to real credit scoring that they carry out on you to assess risk.

If you need further credit, you can apply elsewhere.  But if your need is that great, you probably need to review your overall finances.

Thrugelmir

Kimmy84 said:

It seems to fly in the face of their we are here for you during this difficult time messages I’m seeing in the TV. 

If you are struggling financially take a payment holiday. Accruing further debt helps neither you or the bank. 

cymruchris

Have you held a high utilisation percentage for quite some time? Or have other cards that are closer to their limits? You may find that Barclays has decided to protect its interests if it thinks you’re at risk of getting close to becoming a persistent debt candidate. It’ll all have been worked out by some algorithm and computer program I’m sure - so if you think there’s been an error you can always get in touch with them - but if however your balances are always relatively high over long periods of time - you might need to address those first. Without extra detail it’s difficult to offer more advice.