Credit score gone down for no known reason

kajay

I have had a credit card with Barclays for years and years, have never been late with payments or missed any. I had a credit limit of £10,000 but probably only ever used up to £3,000, and always paid it off quickly by paying lump sums and never minimum payments. Used for mainly holidays once or twice a year. Just a few months ago they wrote to me to say due to Covid they were bringing my credit limit down to a three figure sum, which was basically what I owed them with no explanation. I rang them to ask why they had done this, and they said it was because of the economic climate.  I have always had a credit score of 999 and its now gone down to 967, I can't find out why this has happened, Barclays said they don't know why. How do I find out why my credit score has gone down so much, and is it something I should be concerned about. I have closed my credit card account with barclays as they were not very helpful and refused to up my limit up to a four figure sum. They said they wanted copies of my up to date verified accounts, I sent them to them, but they said I was too late in sending them in so could not up my limit. Is it them that credit score me or experian that do it?

Ebe_Scrooge

It'll be because you closed your account - credit scores go down in response to any change whatsoever in your credit circumstances.  Thankfully, the score is utterly meaningless and is not used - nor even seen - by any lender.

Your score will also likely drop further in the next few weeks as the weather get colder.  OK, being slightly facetious there, but honestly - that's how much notice you should take of your score.  A lender is interested in the factual data contained within your file, not some arbitrary score made up by an agency who cannot possibly have any idea about what a particular lender's (confidential) lending criteria are.

kajay

Thanks for your response. One less thing to wonder about