Pointless Barclaycard Balance Transfer Card (Lower credit limit that will take balance transfer)

googyflip

Wondering if anyone had similar experience and where I stand with my credit history hard check

Applied for Barclaycard Platinum (from the MSE website list of cards) last night.

Filling in the forms I stated I would require a £3800 balance transfer and after going through entering my info it automatically showed a £12000 credit limit.

Today I receive an email saying my application had been approved, but it only has a £3000 credit limit (not £12k). Called their helpline (eventually got through after 5 mins of menus) and advised until I receive the card they can't do anything.

Clearly this new card isn't fit for purpose for me as doesn't have enough credit balance for my balance transfer. Plus I would have had the hard credit check, so will now to start to impact me if I apply for another credit card that might be fit for purpose.

Anyone had same/similar experience? Can you get a pointless credit check removed from your credit history?

Thanks

CliveOfIndia

I suspect that the indicative limit of £12,000 was based upon initial data retrieved via a soft search.  Once you submitted the application and they ran a hard search (which gives access to a lot more data), their algorithms decided that £3000 was the limit they were prepared to give you.

googyflip said:

Clearly this new card isn't fit for purpose for me as doesn't have enough credit balance for my balance transfer.

You can still transfer the majority of your balance, thereby saving yourself a fair bit of interest.

googyflip said:

Can you get a pointless credit check removed from your credit history?

No.  The hard check is simply a factual record of the event that took place, it can't be removed.

One hard check in itself shouldn't make much of a difference to your ability to apply for another card - it's when you've got several hard checks in quick succession that it can start to become an issue.  Though of course, the credit that's now available to you on the new BC will be factored into any other lender's calculations.

MattMattMattUK

googyflip said:

Wondering if anyone had similar experience and where I stand with my credit history hard check

Applied for Barclaycard Platinum (from the MSE website list of cards) last night.

Filling in the forms I stated I would require a £3800 balance transfer and after going through entering my info it automatically showed a £12000 credit limit.

Today I receive an email saying my application had been approved, but it only has a £3000 credit limit (not £12k). Called their helpline (eventually got through after 5 mins of menus) and advised until I receive the card they can't do anything.

Clearly this new card isn't fit for purpose for me as doesn't have enough credit balance for my balance transfer. Plus I would have had the hard credit check, so will now to start to impact me if I apply for another credit card that might be fit for purpose.

Anyone had same/similar experience? Can you get a pointless credit check removed from your credit history?

Thanks

It is not pointless and at no point are they obliged to provide you with a certain credit limit, they will grant the amount they see fit based on your credit report and affordability. 

You can still transfer up to their agreed limit for balance transfers which will be listed in your account, so you can transfer up to that amount, saving you interest on the majority of your debt.

grumpy_codger

googyflip said:

...
Clearly this new card isn't fit for purpose for me as doesn't have enough credit balance for my balance transfer. 

Clearly? Just transfer as much as you can. Every little helps.

 Can you get a pointless credit check removed from your credit history?

This would make any credit checks listed in a history pointless, wouldn't it? Not that I'm saying that they do make much sense. IMHO, they don't - that's why more and more lenders offer 'soft' checks instead.

Brie

Get the card, wait a month and then contact them to increase the credit limit.  Sometimes it helps if you have a specific reason for the higher limit like you're buying a car.

Hoenir

googyflip said:

Clearly this new card isn't fit for purpose for me as doesn't have enough credit balance for my balance transfer. 

Lenders are now being regulated to lend responsibly.  Granting a £12k limit to allow a £12k balance transfer could well be construed as irresponsible on the lender's part. Particularly if there's also previous history that suggests that balances are simply being continually shuffled and never materially decreasing. 

Grumpy_chap

By observation of threads on this forum and my (plus Mrs G_C's) experience,£3k opening credit limit with Barclaycard is among the higher range.  The OP seems to have done well.

BrotherUuurgh

Hoenir said:

Lenders are now being regulated to lend responsibly.  Granting a £12k limit to allow a £12k balance transfer could well be construed as irresponsible on the lender's part. Particularly if there's also previous history that suggests that balances are simply being continually shuffled and never materially decreasing. 

OP, I have a recent experience on both sides of the fence. A while ago now I asked Post Office for a £3,000 limit, applied, accepted but with only £500. A few months later I applied for the BC Platinum, asked for a £3,400 limit and the application came back accepted with a £5,600 limit and 30 month 0% period. This was with a further £10k worth of debt over several other accounts - almost exactly the same circumstances as when I applied with PO, perhaps even a touch more debt.

The BC is doing me wonders, so maybe their algorithms are actually pretty good at gauging a risk profile of an individual? Who knows. There's been a lot of discussion about BC reducing their exposure to risk, closing accounts but there must still be a side to the business that's happy for a good portion of risk? Offering a significantly higher percentage limit could equally be seen as irresponsible and I wonder how those same algorithms offer such a different conclusion. It just shows that from one person to the next, the individual's circumstances VS the lender's ideals vary hugely, far too widely to predict, hence the surprises when things don't (and even do) go our way.

As far as I know, once a hard search is on your report, it can't be removed, even if you withdraw from whatever agreement you have within the 14 day period. If you withdraw, the account will be removed from your credit file, but the search remains. It'd make sense to crack on with the transfer. It's not the whole £3,800 but it's close, though I do appreciate this would add to monthly outgoings which made life difficult for me with the PO balance transfer. I'm waffling now, hope this helps.