Barclaycard low limit to below balance

[mgfboy]

Re: Barclaycard low limit to below balance

I curious what happened in the end with this??

[ckplay]

Re: Barclaycard low limit to below balance

It was not my battle and would be unfair to recommend any action that would put his record at risk

So i transferred him the money to bring the account into line luckily it as instant so there was no issues so far.

He will have to wait until next month to see if the way Barclay's reports to the CRA's creates any issues like it has for others. But rest assured if they do still do the crazy way of reporting to the CRA's I will send them a demand for damages ( not a complaint ) for deformation if ignored followed it up with letter before action which will be followed by court action which has never failed to get some one to actually look at an issue and sort it out before it gets to court

[ckplay]

Re: Barclaycard low limit to below balance

I know by skipping the complaint and FOS it weakens our position in court but once some one looks at the case Barclays end ( some one with the authority to do something) they will see its a clear mistake and fix it and if they don't and insist on going to court it can be argued that they would not have fixed the issue via a complaint as it would have been handled by much lower grade staff who would not have the power to fix the issue.

And as i would have followed the preaction protocol and damages is not really what we would be after court action would still get the result we wanted.

And costs would not be an issue as i would handle it for my friend o our cost are very low £50 to a £100.

But the out come is likely to be Barclays will fold before court and fix the issue and offer 100 or 200 as goodwill.

THt said let be optimistic that non of the above is needed as hopefully they have sorted out there reporting system.

We did not try to get his limit increased as they ha reason to lower it he i over exposed and a little nudge to focus on earning insted of spending is probably a good thing it was just annoying how they lowered it be low is balance

[mgfboy]

Re: Barclaycard low limit to below balance

I know by skipping the complaint and FOS it weakens our position in court but once some one looks at the case Barclays end ( some one with the authority to do something) they will see its a clear mistake and fix it and if they don't and insist on going to court it can be argued that they would not have fixed the issue via a complaint as it would have been handled by much lower grade staff who would not have the power to fix the issue.

And as i would have followed the preaction protocol and damages is not really what we would be after court action would still get the result we wanted.

And costs would not be an issue as i would handle it for my friend o our cost are very low £50 to a £100.

But the out come is likely to be Barclays will fold before court and fix the issue and offer 100 or 200 as goodwill.

THt said let be optimistic that non of the above is needed as hopefully they have sorted out there reporting system.

We did not try to get his limit increased as they ha reason to lower it he i over exposed and a little nudge to focus on earning insted of spending is probably a good thing it was just annoying how they lowered it be low is balance

I hope your right, but I hate to say your assuming that there is someone with sense in Barclaycard and I hate to say they really dont care what you threaten them with!!!!

[5corpio]

Re: Barclaycard low limit to below balance

saw this article relating to this:

Taking your credit card to the limit?

How much notice should your credit card provider give you if it decides to lower your credit limit?....Read more here

[SXGuy]

Re: Barclaycard low limit to below balance

I admire your stance and will to fight but i cant help but wonder if you are getting your back up and not listening to reason.

Issuing a letter of claim under Pre Action Protocol is one thing, but you are assuming they will fold, which i think is unlikely if they a)believe their right or b) have no knowledge of what you are claiming since you have never filed a complant about it!

And lets assume for a moment it does go to court, who do you think has more money behind them, and the money and time to spend on a top barrister?

You say it will only cost you £50 to £100, im afraid you also need to consider the possibility that barclays could drag it out adding costs which if found in their favour, means you now owe.

Dont forget, barclays have enough time and money to keep dragging it out until you give up.

Have you ever heard of people say, its a waste of time because the ones with the most money always win?

Now lets consider for a moment, you wrote to barclays (or emailed their CEO) and explained that they dropped the limit below the balance, thus causing your friend to be in default, explain they cant do it and give the reasons why.
Then threaten to seek FOS adjudication should they not fix it.

I am 99% sure, they will apologise for the error and fix it, maybe even give your friend compo.

You just saved yourself all that time and effort with 1 email.

I dont even wanna get in to the issues regarding costs at court and accidental mistakes with compliance, its really not worth it.

[mgfboy]

Re: Barclaycard low limit to below balance

It has to be said that it is this sort of thing that makes people do UE, lets face it all the crap they put out about responsible lending is just a way of increasing interest rates.

I think the increasing interest rates for someone in money troubles is the most counter intuitive thing ever and by making people go over their limit is just the excuses they need.

I wonder how many would have gone for UE if the credit card lenders had said OK we will reduce the rate to say 10% and you can pay it off over 10 years????

[SXGuy]

Re: Barclaycard low limit to below balance

It has to be said that it is this sort of thing that makes people do UE, lets face it all the crap they put out about responsible lending is just a way of increasing interest rates.

I think the increasing interest rates for someone in money troubles is the most counter intuitive thing ever and by making people go over their limit is just the excuses they need.

I wonder how many would have gone for UE if the credit card lenders had said OK we will reduce the rate to say 10% and you can pay it off over 10 years????

I would hazzard a guess and say the reason why they shove the interest up when you are in trouble, is because they know they will soon not be getting a penny from you, and want to rape you of any money you have left as quickly as possible.

[ckplay]

Re: Barclaycard low limit to below balance

I consider doing the same thing and hoping for a different out come as an utter waste of time.

Am not sure if its 100% accurate but it seems from a number of posts in other forums that Barclays report to the CRAs in an odd way.

if you have balance of £4500 and a limit of 5000 on the 10th of jan and then say they email you and tell you that on the 14th of jan your limit will be lowered to 4000 so you bring your balance down to say 3500 by the 12th of jan. when Barclays report to the CRAs at the end of jan they report your limit as 4000 from the 1st of jan but your balance as 4500 until the end of jan which means you credit file takes a hit as it looks to others that you have been over your limit for the month of jan.

Now again this is only hear say but when this has been raised Barclays admit its not the most accurate way to report but that there is nothing they can do about it.

Am not going to list all the things that are wrong with them saying there is nothing they can do or there breach of the DPA and even the CRAs own rules of reporting true and accurate data.

And am not saying taking court action is always the right way but if this issue did come up then taking it to there complaints department does not work as you get sympathy but no action so taking it to there legal department with a well written letter before claim explaining the situation and the details. It is fair to say that if the problem was not resolved at this point then it would not be resolved by Barclays at all unless forced to by the court.

Now yes banks have lots of money and we don't but if you actually look at most of the problems ppl have with banks and DCAs its not that there is some massive problem that can not be solved its not that the 2 sides are so far apart that a dialog can not be opened and a workable solution found.

Its money its cheap for them to do nothing then it is to do something.

Its cheaper to not train there staff because they have high staff turn over and whats the point in spending £10k training some one when there likely only going to be with the company 4 month or its cheaper to lower credit limits with out the proper notice to prevent ppl emptying there accounts before it takes affect or lowering it below there limit because most ppl will bring it in line the once that don't 95% of them wont complain and the few that do will get £50 each.

The same goes for court action they don't want to go to court its expensive they know they will never collect on costs ( not that they would be awarded in small claims any ways ) but even if they did get costs there never going to collect 99% of the time.

So it all comes down to money to avoid court and the costs that go with it they would look at your issues and i have only had to issue court papers 3 times.

1st one was set aside due to filing it incorrectly ( i did not ask for money ) but they did fix the issues which is all i wanted

2nd one was O2 who ignored every letter i sent them then when they got the court papers called me and threatened me with £15,000 worth of costs. Then called back the next day and settled for £500 ( i asked for 1k) and they corrected the issues.

3rd is CAPQUEST who have until Tuesday to file a response.

So it does all come down to money yes if you push it to far you will loss there big we are small but if its cheaper for them to do what you want than it is to fight you in court you will generally get what you want. Remember its personal to us to them it is all about the numbers there targeted on numbers its there job

[ckplay]

Re: Barclaycard low limit to below balance

I must add that a well worded polite letter to the ceo is a good way to go it is not something i would have considered in the past but after getting Ian (bt director email address from here ) and sending an email they fixed the problem with in a week i only emailed him as bt is so big and so dysfunctional i knew there was little chance of success trying to sort it out any other way.

But after such a positive response i will be adding it to the list of things i do before escalating the situation to legal threats

[mgfboy]

Re: Barclaycard low limit to below balance

I would hazzard a guess and say the reason why they shove the interest up when you are in trouble, is because they know they will soon not be getting a penny from you, and want to rape you of any money you have left as quickly as possible.

I have no doubt your correct, but really is a silly way of going forwards for the banks and it's not constructive in the least.

[SXGuy]

Re: Barclaycard low limit to below balance

Try the CEO first before anything, we do have a lot of sucess stories here where people have gotten no where in writing or telephone calls to the monkies managing the desks, but a well written complaint to the CEO does seem to work in most cases.

[ckplay]

Re: Barclaycard low limit to below balance

yes i totally agree bt added a default to my credit file wrong name every thing

complaints department informed me BT are a phone company and are not a CRA and i would need to contact equifix as bt are nothing to do with them and just because BT provided a phone line for a company does not mean BT own hat company.

As you can tell where do you go from there i don't even think a shot gun would get a much better response.

But i seen the ceo email on this forum and as you said sent a detailed polite email detailing the problems got a reply the same day then got an email monday this week saying it was being looked at and i would be updated Friday i got an email apologizing and confirming it had been sorted and my file will have the account removed.

Then she offered £30 to be credited to my bt account. Which i don't have lol.

What i did find interesting and can only assume other company's may do something similar is the fact bt have a

Director complaints department

so if other company's have the same there is a department or team that can actually act in most company reserved for ppl who get there directors email address

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Barclaycard low limit to below balance

Read this --> BBC News - Taking your credit card to the limit?

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Barclaycard low limit to below balance

An older story but same old nonsense --> Credit card limits slashed