Barclaycard limit reduction post covid

shankadanka

I  today received notice from Barclaycard that my credit limit would be reduced automatically in May from over £15,000 to a parltry £750.
I have had my existing limit for over 10 years, experienced no issues, missed payments/defaults etc in that time. It is in regular use. In fact, this year alone it has received over 10k in repayments and is has been.cleared completely in each of the last few months. My income from self employment has not dropped,  if anything I will be filing a slight increase this year. We did take a mortgage payment last.year as my wife could not work but were told it would not affect our credit score. The mortgage has been paid as usual for the last 6 months. We bank with Barclays and enjoy the privilege of a very healthy balance, indeed do not need a  credit card but wish to use one for the purchase protection it affords. £750 is not a lot of use for big purchases.I can send off multiple documents to appeal.this, but it is not straightforward and many will find it simply too much hassle. 
I can only assume this a post pandemic crackdown on lending that will drive many less fortunate people into the arms of loan sharks, when they most need the support banks. Leopards don't change their spots. 

Swoosh84

Seen a couple of people say Barclays are reducing their limits and by significant amounts, you can appeal and see what they say. If it was me, I'd close the account and move my business elsewhere, that would include my current account!

Run MBNA's eligibility checker directly on their site, they will give you an idea of what sort of limit they will offer you without impacting your credit rating.

J

onlyfoolsandparking

shankadanka said:

I  today received notice from Barclaycard that my credit limit would be reduced automatically in May from over £15,000 to a parltry £750.
I have had my existing limit for over 10 years, experienced no issues, missed payments/defaults etc in that time. It is in regular use. In fact, this year alone it has received over 10k in repayments and is has been.cleared completely in each of the last few months. My income from self employment has not dropped,  if anything I will be filing a slight increase this year. We did take a mortgage payment last.year as my wife could not work but were told it would not affect our credit score. The mortgage has been paid as usual for the last 6 months. We bank with Barclays and enjoy the privilege of a very healthy balance, indeed do not need a  credit card but wish to use one for the purchase protection it affords. £750 is not a lot of use for big purchases.I can send off multiple documents to appeal.this, but it is not straightforward and many will find it simply too much hassle. 
I can only assume this a post pandemic crackdown on lending that will drive many less fortunate people into the arms of loan sharks, when they most need the support banks. Leopards don't change their spots. 

What a coincidence, I received exactly the same letters today from Barclaycard advising me BOTH my limits are being reduced. One from £16800 to £750 and the other £12200 to £750 also happening in May too. I too never missed any payments, always paid well over the minimums (mainly used them for cheap BT,s) and more often than not paid in full, what more do they want from customers lol.

Anyway after I quickly got over my 'how dare they' attitude I just paid them both off £500 on one and 350 on the other and well even though I know there will be no tears shed on their side they obviously don't want my business anymore and I don't need their facilities so they can stick their cards where the sun don't shine.

They do appear to be one of the worst at the moment and give me the impression they aren't willing to help any of their customers that might need help, entirely their choice of course but I wonder how many customers they have purged like this, they must be losing thousands, hopefully to better providers as any are better than Barclaycard currently. I've never liked Barclaycard OR Barclays, when I was in business years ago Barclays were always a nightmare to deal with and lots of my business colleagues were of the same opinion, ah well goodbye Barclaycard, it's not been a pleasure doing business with you.    

chrisdg4kvi

Get out quick. I assume it will effect your credit rating as it could show you have a problem. Mine reduced by £3200

onlyfoolsandparking

chrisdg4kvi said:

Get out quick. I assume it will effect your credit rating as it could show you have a problem. Mine reduced by £3200

And did it affect your credit rating?

I'm not too concerned about how I'm rated, as long as my file is accurate that's all that matters.

Grumpy_chap

There have been many threads reporting similar actions, so do not take anything personally.

There was one reply somewhere that suggested it was the lenders managing their risk and their total lending portfolio within the rules they need to follow for liquidity and reducing limits that they see are not used.  That makes some sense, but I have no idea whether the person who postulated the idea has any knowledge on the matter.  It could be entirely incorrect.

Rosco32

You can submit an account closure request via online banking. They’ll usually respond asking for your reason, which you can choose to give or not, but ultimately you’re right a credit card with a £750 limit is of no use for large purchases. I’d cancel and take your business elsewhere.

Officer_Dibble

I won't take it personally then. I've got a Barclaycard for the interest free offer - it was for over 2 years and runs out in August. Obviously I've only been paying the minimum amount. They sent a letter having a nag because I'm only paying the minimum amount and have reduced the credit limit to marginally above the current balance. Just a thought - if you don't like people paying so little each month, why not increase the minimum amount? Ah no, that would risk some of your profits from your exorbitant interest rates. My first thought was to pay it off and close the account today, but I'd rather have the full interest free period and tell them where to go when I've had the full benefit of the offer. It just makes me dislike Barclays even more than I did before today. I guess it could be worse, they could reduce the credit limit below the outstanding balance and seriously disrupt their customers' financial planning - I'm surprised they didn't try that.

GrumpyDil

I've had exactly the same. A relatively small balance at 0% for another 12 months and limit reduced to around 300 over the current balance. Shame really because I've had a barclaycard for about 20 years but it's going to be closed as soon as the 0% offer is complete. 

Platoon969

Same here. Really shocked at receiving a letter this morning. I paid off the remaining balance today and will be closing the account shortly. Had this card for many years

MrFrugalFever

Similar thing happened.....£16,700 limit for few years and then jan this year went down to £5,800.....