How do I force Barclaycard to give a reason for not increasing credit

BareTrusts

Barclaycard are refusing to increase my credit on my Rewards card. They will not give a reason even to the Ombudsman. I have a 100% credit rating and worry they may have some information on me that needs correcting. How can I force them to give a true reason?

Penguin_

Do they have to give a reason?

mr_stripey

I don't think they have to give a reason. You can't force them to.

They will have their own risk profile as to how much to lend to an individual and it's probably commercially sensitive.

You can check your own credit files for information which may need correcting.

CliveOfIndia

You can't.  They look at the data contained within your credit file (as well as information they already hold on you as a customer), run it through their internal algorithms and decide whether or not you meet their criteria.  Since their lending criteria are confidential and commercially-sensitive, no-one outside of their credit risk department will ever know what those criteria are.

Each lender has different lending criteria and a different target customer base.

Just check all three of your credit files to make sure that there are no adverse markers and that all the data are factually accurate.  But ignore the meaningless "credit rating" dished out by the CRAs.

Ayr_Rage

You cannot force them to reveal the reason for refusing to increase your credit limit, that is commercially confidential information.

There is no such thing as a 100% credit rating in the UK.

You'll just have to check your credit file at all of the credit reference agencies.

callum9999

To add to the correct replies from above stating that they do not have to tell you (and it's surprising that the Ombudsman didn't tell you that - or did you just ignore them?), there's no such thing as a "100% credit rating".

It's a subjective measure that each individual lender will judge for themselves, and if you're basing this upon a credit reference agency telling you that you score "999/999" etc. then that's a largely useless number.

eskbanker

BareTrusts said:

I have a 100% credit rating and worry they may have some information on me that needs correcting.

If you have genuine concerns about inaccurate information that any company holds about you then you could submit a subject access request to review what they have, with a view to correcting if necessary, but I agree with the above responses and doubt that anything would come of this - remember that you're borrowing money from them, so there's no unilateral right to get them to lend you even more, it's always going to be their choice....

DullGreyGuy

BareTrusts said:

Barclaycard are refusing to increase my credit on my Rewards card. They will not give a reason even to the Ombudsman. I have a 100% credit rating and worry they may have some information on me that needs correcting. How can I force them to give a true reason?

They arent obliged to tell you why. 

They would normally tell the ombudsman but a company is entitled to tell the ombudsman information in confidence which means the ombudsman can consider it but cannot share it with the other party. 

If you want to know what information they hold on you to see if its right or wrong you do a SAR by filling in the form at https://forms-int.barclays.co.uk/forms/gdpr?execution=e1s1 

teaselMay

Are they not just being responsible lenders? No matter how good your credit record if their figures suggest that you can't afford a higher limit then they won't give you a higher limit. How much you can afford and how good your credit record is are not the same thing.

Hoenir

BareTrusts said:

 I have a 100% credit rating 

This zero bearing on how any financial institution will conduct business with you. Lending money is done on a commercial basis nothing like a supermarket selling as many tins of beans as it can. 

MEM62

BareTrusts said:

Barclaycard are refusing to increase my credit on my Rewards card. 

That's a shame.

BareTrusts said:

They will not give a reason even to the Ombudsman.  How can I force them to give a true reason?

You cannot as you are not entitled to one.  And the Ombudsman will not be interested.

BareTrusts said:

I have a 100% credit rating.

By who's criterion? The assessment of Barclays is the only 'rating' that matters in this case.

BareTrusts said:

and worry they may have some information on me that needs correcting. 

Unlikely.  This is just a commercial decision by Barclays.