Barclays credit card

chili1496

Will keep this short, looking for reasons why barclays done this.
credit limit £6400 for the last 8yrs, card is used once in a blue moon to keep it active make a £200 - £400 purchase and pay it off monthly always paying more than the minimum, so last month I made a £380 purchase (1st purchase this year) 2 weeks later  i get a letter stating because of the info barclays have on file for me they are reducing my credit from £6400 to £400 as they feel this would be more manageable for me. So i was more irked that they assumed i am financially struggling and am wondering how they have come to assume this. i sent them a secure message asking why and they gave me the we cannot tell you its what we have on file??? i told them i would pay the bill in full and they can shove the card where the sun does not shine. i am in full time employment, the same employment when i got the card, i have two 0% finance agreements both for less than £1000, never missed a payment to date.
Anyone care to offer an opinion.......

thanks

Ergates

Banks have a limit on the maximum liabilities they can hold - i.e. the maximum amount of money they can lend people.  This will have to take into account the credit limits on credit cards because you *could* at any time, borrow that money.  If you have a limit with them, and are not using it, then they are holding a liability which is not bringing them any profit, therefore they have reduced the limit down to match your actual usage, which frees them up to give the limit to someone else (who they hope will borrow it all then pay megabucks interest).

onlyfoolsandparking

Yep, happy to give my opinion fwiw. It's looking like Barclaycard are reducing their 'risk' in the card market (maybe they know something we don't) definitely seeing on here them reducing credit limits, pulling BT/MT offers and giving an impression that they are really not bothered about people closing accounts. Of course that is their prerogative and thankfully you are in a position where the effect of them reducing your limit is minimal, others may not be as fortunate!

Just for context I have 2 Barclaycards, 1 with a 16k limit and the other 13k. Not really used them for a while but I have noticed the disappearance of offers, nothing for the last 6+ months, I am in the fortunate position of not needing anything from them at present but I wonder if they are 'waiting it out' for a while or cleaning up their portfolio?, surely they won't want to lose lots of customers?  

chili1496

thanks for the replies.

surreysaver

Just to add, having read these comments, I used to get a monthly BT/Money Transfer offer, but concur I have not had so for a few months now

whitesmith

Also to add I hope you didn't literally tell them to shove it where the sun does not shine or you are likely to be banned as a customer.

Dr_Crypto

Ditto. I have a Barlcaycard with a reasonable limit and used to get monthly BT offers (only used once) but haven't had any for a while. 

jay1804

I have a Barclaycard Rewards with with the following BT offers that expire 31 Oct 2020
0% interest on balance transfers until 1 April 2022 1.9% Fee
6.9% interest on balance transfers until paid in full 2.9% Fee

chili1496

whitesmith said:

Also to add I hope you didn't literally tell them to shove it where the sun does not shine or you are likely to be banned as a customer.

Oh but i did not been banned yet and if they do ban me i have lost nothing but a card that i used once in a blue moon.
The other point i just remembered is that the credit reduction does not take effect until 3rd december, so if they are that concerned about my finances why wait?

bradders1983

Probably because under the Terms and Conditions you both agreed to, they have to give you reasonable notice.

Bearingup

I had a letter from Barclaycard on Saturday. My credit limit was £11400 & will be reduced to just £250 on 3rd December. I've not had any BT offers for about 12 months & I very rarely use it, spent £100 on it last month & paid it off in full. My circumstances did change about 2 years ago when I took early retirement & my monthly incomings are about a 1/3rd ofwhat they were, so makes sense for them to do what they've done in my case.