Barclaycard limit reduction

[sticky80]

Hi
Not sure if anyone can help or if i am in the right place....

Was my fault to start with, but I paid £1000 on to my Barclaycard by mistake, meant to pay it in to my joint account for Christmas shopping, but thought it would be ok, because i was just about within my limit so thought I'd have £1000 clear to spend.

I phoned up to check the balance and the automated thing said i had £400 to spend, i held to speak to an advisor and was told that my credit limit had been reduced to £1400, (it was £2000). The payment went in on 3rd Dec and they reduced it on 6th Dec.

They said a letter had been sent to me on 7th November saying my limit would be reviewed in 3 months, which would be February.

So my arguement is can they reduce my limit without telling me, or two months before they apparently told me, and would they have reduced it if I hadn't put this money in? And is there anything I can do to either get the transfer put back or the limit put back to £2000?


Thanks

Stacey

[TANZARELLI]

You Could Try Ringing Them Again And Trying To Negotiate A Tempory Increase For The Christmas Period.

[sticky80]

Hi
I tried ringing again today but was told they couldn't and that they reduced it because they are 'responsible lenders'.

They have passed it to the complaints department but it could take up to 21 days, i said thats not good enough but they just told me thats worst case scenario and it shouldnt take that long but they have to inform me.

Am stuck now and very frustrated!

As far as i am aware they have to give notice before they reduce and not after?

Thanks

Stacey

[slick132]

I can only suggest you call them again and ask to speak to a supervisor.

Explain that the money would NEVER had been paid into BC had you been adequately warned of the coming reduction in your credit limit. To reduce the limit just AFTER you paid in such a large amount is totally unfair and unreasonable.

Tell them they had a duty to warn you of the limit reduction and that you'd like the limit to be put back to the £2K.

The limit reduction MUST be in response to the amount paid in - otherwise you'd have been put over your limit by their action alone.

Try being pleasant first, then firm, and angry as last resort as it'll get you nowhere. INSIST on starting with a supervisor.

Slick

[tonycee]

Im not suggesting this applies to you, but its worth a read.

Sunday 09th of December 2007

Barclays to announce new strategies against credit card abuse


More stringent credit controls on Barclaycard are expected to be announced when its parent company, Barclays bank , releases its annual report next week. Since the beginning of 2005 Barclaycard has cut some cardholders’ credit limits and rescinded their ability to borrow cash against their credit card. As many as 330,000 of Barclaycard’s 11 million customers have been affected by these actions. In addition, the card has been rejecting up to 50 percent of new card applicants and has more closely monitored the credit card use of its existing cardholders.
These initiatives come as the credit card company had to write off £1.57 billion in bad debts in 2006, 44 percent more than in 2005. Barclays and Barclaycard are not the only lenders with this problem. In the first half of 2006, UK banks collectively lost £3.3 billion in bad debts. This rising tide of defaults has put banks in the position of having to do something as the bad debts have begun to affect profits, especially as they have been criticized for making it much too easy for customers to go into debt. Many credit card providers have, in the past few years, raised credit limits without customers requesting it and sent cardholders blank checks that make it easier to draw on their credit.
In its efforts to more closely monitor credit activity, Barclaycard has begun to pay more attention to patterns of behavior by their cardholders, noting it when they take large cash advances on their credit limit, only make the minimum payment each month on their bill, or when they miss payments completely. It has also begun to access credit reports on problematic cardholders to see if they are accumulating debt aside from that on their Barclaycard account. When they reduce a problem cardholder’s credit limit, they warn the customer that they are doing so, but cash withdrawal privileges are halted without warning to the cardholder.

[sticky80]

thanks....will try phoning again....fet a bit defeated on the last call, but will try again now i feel a bit more positive!

oh yeah, and they stopped me withjdrawng cash too, not that i ever did!

stacey