Barclaycard Limit Slashed From 7500 - 2150

cryptowhale123

I received an online document on the 11th October stating that my credit limit is due to decrease from £7500 to £2150 on the 16th (today). I had absolutely no idea about this until I received an email this morning stating I am near my credit limit, which I thought was strange as I knew I was not anywhere near the 7500 limit. 

The problem is, they sent me this document with literally 5 days notice, at which point my credit card balance was over the new limited stated in the document, so I now have to pay off some of the balance earlier than I would have liked, just so that it is not above the new credit limit. 

I’m not particularly bothered about the decrease, as I pay the card off every month and don’t particularly need this limit, what I am miffed about is the incredibly short notice. 

Would I be within my rights to complain? Or is this just accepted practice?  

MattMattMattUK

cryptowhale123 said:

I received an online document on the 11th October stating that my credit limit is due to decrease from £7500 to £2150 on the 16th (today). I had absolutely no idea about this until I received an email this morning stating I am near my credit limit, which I thought was strange as I knew I was not anywhere near the 7500 limit. 

Barclaycard seem to have a habit of lowering credit limits that are not used for a period of time and/or regularly. If there were something adverse on your credit report they would likely have lowered it further, but still worth double checking. 

cryptowhale123 said:

The problem is, they sent me this document with literally 5 days notice, at which point my credit card balance was over the new limited stated in the document, so I now have to pay off some of the balance earlier than I would have liked, just so that it is not above the new credit limit. 

You could ask, they will probably agree to keep it above your current spending until you pay it down, but they may not.

cryptowhale123 said:

I’m not particularly bothered about the decrease, as I pay the card off every month and don’t particularly need this limit, what I am miffed about is the incredibly short notice. 

The short notice is unusual, they usually give thirty days notice, so that is slightly odd.

cryptowhale123 said:

Would I be within my rights to complain? Or is this just accepted practice?  

You can complain, but it is also accepted practice and personally I would not bother with the effort. It might be worth looking around and seeing what cards would suit your spending better, cashback, offers or rewards that benefit you more than spending via the Barclaycard. 

vacheron

I've found Barclays to be the only company who have ever attempted to reduce my credit limits "mid term" with no apparent logic, rhyme or reason. Every other company has kept my limits the same throughout my ownership of their product, or offered to increase it. 

1 year ago I closed down a Barclaycard I had with them which had a 19K credit limit. About 9 months later they launched a balance transfer card which I applied for (no changes to my finances or credit situation in the meantime) I was accepted, but they said they would only provide the credit limit when I recieved the card.

When the card arrived they had given me a £1,650 limit.... a complete waste of my time (and virtually useless considering this was a balance transfer card and I had indicated I would like to transfer £15K on my application form), plus I now had a hard search on my credit report to boot..... and all for the lowest credit limit I have ever been offered in my life by a colossal margin.

To add insult to injury I was a Barclays "Premier" customer at the time too. 

They have also randomly decided to write to me to reduce my £85K offset mortgage reserve (basically a big overdraft) by just £1,400, a mere 2 weeks after increasing it (without me asking) by £5,000. and have done this on 2 previous occasions in the 14 years I have had the mortgage.

Each time I call them to ask what they are playing at, they have just cancelled the reduction with no questions asked, so it may be worth you doing the same with Barclaycard? 

Brie

Barclays has been on a mission to lower their exposure to risk over the last several years.  Might be part of their bid to increase their share price.  

But the lack of notice is a concern and I would raise a complaint with them.  Won't help in the end but might get you a token £10.

Marchitiello

I would complain about the notice period as that is highly unusual and even not sure if in
line with their own T&C and/or regulation. 

Barclaycard have had an habit  of lowering limits, starting from around the first Lockdown, when many people were affected almost at the same time and it made it on the national news as well as being discussed here.

I have banked with them for close to 30 years, from young person, student, graduate, standard account and Premier. One of my Barclaycard accounts is the very first CC account I opened, often changing product types (standard, gold, platinum, cashback duo, cashback)  and had limits increases on it up to £20k even though it was years that had become my fall back card and used very little, but during Covid they slashed the limit by over 2/3. I then changed to an Avios card, start using it a bit more and  suddenly they started increasing back the limit on this and my other Barclaycard account (which I do not really use), but then another twist:  they recently decided that may overdraft limit- a large part is fee and interest free- which I had at level since the Graduate account many moons ago (virtually never used but useful when some DD come out  which 99% of time I cover before 3pm) was to high and also slashed it by 75%! I made a point to raise a dispute and as it was not overturned,  lodged a complaint as the assessment and communication around made no sense but I won’t loose sleep about it