Low Income High Savings problem

murphydavid

Barclaycard have suddenly reduced the credit limit on my card to below my normal monthly spend even though I have paid off my credit in full every month for 10 years with no defaults ever.

I rang Barclays but they said they could not give me a specific cause for their decision so I don’t know what issue to address.

When I do a credit card check I get high credit scores but a low chance of getting a decent credit limit because of my income.
I am retired and do have a low income, but I have high savings so no problems in the spending or loans departments.
If credit companies don’t even ask about savings and society is virtually dependent on using a touch and go credit card, as was I till now, there seems to be a hole in the system.

 

Any ideas to get round my problem?

tacpot12

Take out another credit card with a different provider. 

[Deleted User]

If you are retired, the income is unlikely to change unless you get a job. Lenders have to judge your limits based on income due to the (industry mandated) responsible lending rules

Credit card companies don't look at savings because you could simply spend them all the day after getting the card e.g. £10k limit card, run up a load of debt, use the savings to go on a world tour

diystarter7

Op
We suffered something similar but not a reduction but not getting what we wanted. After 6 months we applied to have the limit raised but it was declined. We are like you, the income is not what it was we left years ago but we have cash/etc

We have older cars with much higher limits and turn to them for one of big purchases

W

MovingForwards

They've done it to quite a few people, there's been flurries of posts about it. It's nothing personal, look for another card as it's always beneficial to have two different providers in case of a glitch with one.

Sensory

You can include investment income (e.g. savings interest) as part of any new credit applications. With high savings, you should generate at least an additional £2000 a year.

In my experience, American Express tend to offer higher credit limits.

Grumpy_chap

murphydavid said:

Barclaycard 

and Barclays have reigned in credit limits for a high number of people.  There have been several threads about it on these boards.
I can also reference experience of having my overdraft reduced to zero and my wife has her credit card limit at £200.

Credit companies (in general) also look at income rather than assets in determining limits.  It makes sense in so far as you could spend all your savings in a week but it also creates a challenge for situations where circumstances have changed, e.g. retirement.  Financial companies don't seem to have systems that are sufficiently intelligent to cope.

Farfetch1

Grumpy_chap said:

murphydavid said:

Barclaycard 

and Barclays have reigned in credit limits for a high number of people.  There have been several threads about it on these boards.
I can also reference experience of having my overdraft reduced to zero and my wife has her credit card limit at £200.

Credit companies (in general) also look at income rather than assets in determining limits.  It makes sense in so far as you could spend all your savings in a week but it also creates a challenge for situations where circumstances have changed, e.g. retirement.  Financial companies don't seem to have systems that are sufficiently intelligent to cope.

To be fair you can quite easily switch where your income goes to, and many people won't have credit from their current account provider anyway.

I do think that this is a somewhat disingenuous reason for banks to not lend money, as they know that they have no control over where the money goes at the end of the day.