They requested payslips or bank statements??? What a nerve.
Yes, if you wish to “review the account”, in other words appeal the credit limit change, they ask for copies or originals of the last 2 months payslips or bank statements, which they do not return.
Am I right in thinking this could impact peoples credit score?
I always believed that you get scored on the percent of credit you use to available is this right?
Correct. Cancelling cards can also make a temporary dent on them as well.
One of the biggest mistakes I ever made was paying off a credit card (Barclaycard, funnily enough) and cancelling it - massively reduced my credit rating and took about three years to recover. Anyone thinking of cancelling their credit card due to this ridiculous reduction in credit limits be careful. *”one of the biggest mistakes I ever made” is a bit dramatic, it’s not even top 100!
There's plenty of decent cards out there, if you haven't got an Amex cash back you really should have one, everyone likes free money right? see below for referral link:
For the first few months you get 5% cash back up to £100, also £20 for signing up and spending £1. You need to earn over £23k I believe to get one. They do an eligibility checker on their site if you were worried.
There's plenty of decent cards out there, if you haven't got an Amex cash back you really should have one, everyone likes free money right? see below for referral link:
For the first few months you get 5% cash back up to £100, also £20 for signing up and spending £1. You need to earn over £23k I believe to get one. They do an eligibility checker on their site if you were worried.
But make sure you always have a back up as the majority of retailers over here don’t take them
There's plenty of decent cards out there, if you haven't got an Amex cash back you really should have one, everyone likes free money right? see below for referral link:
For the first few months you get 5% cash back up to £100, also £20 for signing up and spending £1. You need to earn over £23k I believe to get one. They do an eligibility checker on their site if you were worried.
But make sure you always have a back up as the majority of retailers over here don’t take them
Agree,
Usually I only have an issue in some smaller shops and B&Q. A few online places don't take it but do PayPal so add your Amex to PayPal!
There's plenty of decent cards out there, if you haven't got an Amex cash back you really should have one, everyone likes free money right? see below for referral link:
For the first few months you get 5% cash back up to £100, also £20 for signing up and spending £1. You need to earn over £23k I believe to get one. They do an eligibility checker on their site if you were worried.
But make sure you always have a back up as the majority of retailers over here don’t take them
Agree,
Usually I only have an issue in some smaller shops and B&Q. A few online places don't take it but do PayPal so add your Amex to PayPal!
I do not understand why you cannot use Amex on any UK Gov sites ie road tax, passport. I was told it has something to do with the 4 digit security number, instead of the normal 3. CAFC to not take Amex card for payment, I pay the VP via paypal, hopefully CAFC will include paypal as a method of payment for season tickets.
Mine got cut by 50%. They didn't tell me. In the middle of a pandemic when I was short on work and money, I lost access to a chunk of credit I thought I could rely in an emergency. Once I am fully debt free I won't be going near that bank ever again.
There's plenty of decent cards out there, if you haven't got an Amex cash back you really should have one, everyone likes free money right? see below for referral link:
For the first few months you get 5% cash back up to £100, also £20 for signing up and spending £1. You need to earn over £23k I believe to get one. They do an eligibility checker on their site if you were worried.
But make sure you always have a back up as the majority of retailers over here don’t take them
Agree,
Usually I only have an issue in some smaller shops and B&Q. A few online places don't take it but do PayPal so add your Amex to PayPal!
Also I hear.... That if you are short of cash one month you could send your partner cash through paypal on your Amex, which does not have a cash advance fee on paypal, whilst still earning cashback...
Love that Amex by the way. I get over £300 cashback a year and have never paid a penny interest... And I got something like £75 through Quidco for opening it in the first place!!
I automatically pay it off in full every month, and it carries with it a minuscule amount of cash back due to it originally being an egg card taken over by Barclays. I use the card for all purchases, and my bank/debit card hardly at all.
Mine got cut by 50%. They didn't tell me. In the middle of a pandemic when I was short on work and money, I lost access to a chunk of credit I thought I could rely in an emergency. Once I am fully debt free I won't be going near that bank ever again.
This level of incompetence really gets me cross and depressed in equal measure.
The FCA have overarching Principles which businesses are required to comply with.
The important ones here are:
Customers' interests: A firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly.
Communications with clients: A firm must pay due due regard to the information needs of its clients and communicate information to them in a way which is clear, fair and not misleading.
Indeed, the FCA require all firms to show consistently that fair treatment of customers is at the heart of their business model.
So, where does that leave you? Well, there's no point in talking with the monkey, you need the organ grinder. In light of their recent and unfortunate exposure to FCA investigations, the last thing Barclays will want is another fiasco.
Call Barclays on 020 7116 1000 and ask to speak with Laura Padovani. She is Group Chief Compliance Officer. You won't get her but you might get someone from her office. Get their name and direct line number. Says you wish to make a formal complaint. (That is important as they have to log it and respond to you in a timely fashion.) Read them the principles stated above, explain what has happened to you and ask how that behaviour complies with the FCA Principles, (let alone the explicit rules), what they intend to do to put the matter right and how much compensation they will be paying you because you had to make additional costly emergency financial arrangements. Chances are you will get your credit limit back, an apology, some money and most importantly, the satisfaction of knowing you have taken just a small amount of deserved revenge against an inadequate behemoth such as Barclays.
*If you can't get Laura Padovani ask to be put through to Simon Thorn who is Chief Compliance Officer for the bank.
There's plenty of decent cards out there, if you haven't got an Amex cash back you really should have one, everyone likes free money right? see below for referral link:
For the first few months you get 5% cash back up to £100, also £20 for signing up and spending £1. You need to earn over £23k I believe to get one. They do an eligibility checker on their site if you were worried.
But make sure you always have a back up as the majority of retailers over here don’t take them
Agree,
Usually I only have an issue in some smaller shops and B&Q. A few online places don't take it but do PayPal so add your Amex to PayPal!
Amex credit cards have Section 75 protection, but their charge cards do not - they do however voluntarily follow the section 75 protocol on their charge cards.
Word of warning, though - the condition is that they have to be used to pay directly rather than through a third party (e.g. Paypal) where they are not covered. Paypal's own system equivalent to S75 is pretty good though.
I use an Amex charge card for pretty much all purchases (convert Membership Reward Points to AVIOS points) - unless they don't take Amex of course! Mastercard Debit when they don't and VISA credit when I want S75 protection.
I do have a B'card but can't remember when I last used it. No doubt I will be getting a letter!!
There's plenty of decent cards out there, if you haven't got an Amex cash back you really should have one, everyone likes free money right? see below for referral link:
For the first few months you get 5% cash back up to £100, also £20 for signing up and spending £1. You need to earn over £23k I believe to get one. They do an eligibility checker on their site if you were worried.
But make sure you always have a back up as the majority of retailers over here don’t take them
Agree,
Usually I only have an issue in some smaller shops and B&Q. A few online places don't take it but do PayPal so add your Amex to PayPal!
Also I hear.... That if you are short of cash one month you could send your partner cash through paypal on your Amex, which does not have a cash advance fee on paypal, whilst still earning cashback...
Love that Amex by the way. I get over £300 cashback a year and have never paid a penny interest... And I got something like £75 through Quidco for opening it in the first place!!
Snap, best I ever managed was about £650 in the first year when for 3 months you got 5% cash back up to £200, but normally get £3-400 although the last year was less as no holidays :-(.
Am I right in thinking this could impact peoples credit score?
I always believed that you get scored on the percent of credit you use to available is this right?
25% or less credit card debt is good, as is regularly paying it off. What banks want you to do... ie have a huge chuck of your monthly payments being interest, is massivelly bad for your score.
Has anyone had their credit limit reduced below their current usage?
Eg, your statement is £3k, and you get a letter saying credit limit reduced to £250...
Not yet. I am waiting though. The thing is my big spends on credit cards are on hotels and flights. And, of course, I haven't been doing either because of lockdown. I only use them really for the reward points and the S75 CCA protection. I have no idea what my credit score is like.
Has anyone had their credit limit reduced below their current usage?
Eg, your statement is £3k, and you get a letter saying credit limit reduced to £250...
Not yet. I am waiting though. The thing is my big spends on credit cards are on hotels and flights. And, of course, I haven't been doing either because of lockdown. I only use them really for the reward points and the S75 CCA protection. I have no idea what my credit score is like.
It's worth getting a free report. I get mine for free and it updates regularly using credit karma.
Gives really good tips on how to improve your credit score as well, and you already have an idea of what things you can apply for.
Reading this thread my credit score probably isn’t that good. Got rid of my credit card about 10 years ago and haven’t had any loans or borrowing since well before then. The only debt we have is the mortgage and we pay extra on that each month to get rid of it.
It's strange they're doing this now, by coincidence there's a notice on my bank's web-site today that my rate of interest will be cut from 12.95 percent to 4.99 percent on any purchases that I make in the next sixty days. I have a high limit and zero balance right now, so they want me spending, exactly opposite what you guys are experiencing.
Reading this thread my credit score probably isn’t that good. Got rid of my credit card about 10 years ago and haven’t had any loans or borrowing since well before then. The only debt we have is the mortgage and we pay extra on that each month to get rid of it.
It’s doesn’t need to be with the money you’ve got squirrelled away.
Has anyone had their credit limit reduced below their current usage?
Eg, your statement is £3k, and you get a letter saying credit limit reduced to £250...
Not yet. I am waiting though. The thing is my big spends on credit cards are on hotels and flights. And, of course, I haven't been doing either because of lockdown. I only use them really for the reward points and the S75 CCA protection. I have no idea what my credit score is like.
It's worth getting a free report. I get mine for free and it updates regularly using credit karma.
Gives really good tips on how to improve your credit score as well, and you already have an idea of what things you can apply for.
Thank you. I'm not sure I need a credit score but I suppose someone somewhere will know about me as a result of buying an interest-free sofa from DFS some years ago. I'll give it a whirl.
I do however have my own rating system for banks (and other financial institutions) which helps me decide whether or not to give them my custom. Simply, it involves looking at their previous on the FCA register. So for example, in the last 12 years Barclays have been fined 8 times by the FCA. These fines totalled £516mn.
To paraphrase the Judge during the opening to Porridge Barclays is an habitual offender, which accepts fines as an occupational hazard....
And they have the nerve to credit test their customers? I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole frankly.
Comments
I think Barclays will lose a lot of customers.
Cancelled the card as there's no point having a £250 limit
I always believed that you get scored on the percent of credit you use to available is this right?
https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/barclaycard-cuts-spending-limits-thousands-23912257
*”one of the biggest mistakes I ever made” is a bit dramatic, it’s not even top 100!
http://amex.co.uk/refer/aNDREBw6dS?XLINK=MYCP
For the first few months you get 5% cash back up to £100, also £20 for signing up and spending £1. You need to earn over £23k I believe to get one. They do an eligibility checker on their site if you were worried.
Usually I only have an issue in some smaller shops and B&Q. A few online places don't take it but do PayPal so add your Amex to PayPal!
Love that Amex by the way. I get over £300 cashback a year and have never paid a penny interest... And I got something like £75 through Quidco for opening it in the first place!!
I use the card for all purchases, and my bank/debit card hardly at all.
This level of incompetence really gets me cross and depressed in equal measure.
The FCA have overarching Principles which businesses are required to comply with.
The important ones here are:
Customers' interests: A firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly.
Communications with clients: A firm must pay due due regard to the information needs of its clients and communicate information to them in a way which is clear, fair and not misleading.
Indeed, the FCA require all firms to show consistently that fair treatment of customers is at the heart of their business model.
So, where does that leave you? Well, there's no point in talking with the monkey, you need the organ grinder. In light of their recent and unfortunate exposure to FCA investigations, the last thing Barclays will want is another fiasco.
Call Barclays on 020 7116 1000 and ask to speak with Laura Padovani. She is Group Chief Compliance Officer. You won't get her but you might get someone from her office. Get their name and direct line number. Says you wish to make a formal complaint. (That is important as they have to log it and respond to you in a timely fashion.) Read them the principles stated above, explain what has happened to you and ask how that behaviour complies with the FCA Principles, (let alone the explicit rules), what they intend to do to put the matter right and how much compensation they will be paying you because you had to make additional costly emergency financial arrangements. Chances are you will get your credit limit back, an apology, some money and most importantly, the satisfaction of knowing you have taken just a small amount of deserved revenge against an inadequate behemoth such as Barclays.
*If you can't get Laura Padovani ask to be put through to Simon Thorn who is Chief Compliance Officer for the bank.
Word of warning, though - the condition is that they have to be used to pay directly rather than through a third party (e.g. Paypal) where they are not covered. Paypal's own system equivalent to S75 is pretty good though.
I use an Amex charge card for pretty much all purchases (convert Membership Reward Points to AVIOS points) - unless they don't take Amex of course! Mastercard Debit when they don't and VISA credit when I want S75 protection.
I do have a B'card but can't remember when I last used it. No doubt I will be getting a letter!!
Eg, your statement is £3k, and you get a letter saying credit limit reduced to £250...
Gives really good tips on how to improve your credit score as well, and you already have an idea of what things you can apply for.
I do however have my own rating system for banks (and other financial institutions) which helps me decide whether or not to give them my custom. Simply, it involves looking at their previous on the FCA register. So for example, in the last 12 years Barclays have been fined 8 times by the FCA. These fines totalled £516mn.
To paraphrase the Judge during the opening to Porridge Barclays is an habitual offender, which accepts fines as an occupational hazard....
And they have the nerve to credit test their customers? I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole frankly.