Halifax Credit Card - Lowered my limit in error?

iv-tecman

iv-tecman

iv-tecman

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Anyone else who has a Halifax Credit Card get a letter from them regarding missing their payment last month?

I got a rather nasty letter telling I’d not paid the minimum payment, and they’d reduced my credit limit from 17K - £500.

I called them to inquire, as my direct debit linked from my Halifax account to my Halifax Credit Card clearly showed I’d made the payment and they explained they had a technical glitch and Id not been charged a late fee and that this was a mistake?

Seems kind of weird, operator told me it has affected a lot of Direct Debit customers. Not too sure what to make of it all, national problem or were they trying to reduce my limit, as now they say they are looking into my limits anyhow and they’ll be in touch with me to discuss my requirements.

Barclays pulled something similar with my Barclaycard. Reduce my limit to £500 from £9000. Basically told them to keep their card. Seems lately, as now I’ve paid all my debts up and been debt free for nearly a year most of my credit is being pulled or investigated…

How good is that? No longer a threat of defaulting and my good credit line is more or less being wiped out as I’m no longer using it.. Great, thanks.. Doesn’t pay to be debt free.
 
You had a limit of £17K? :eek:

I'm not surprised they've reduced it, I read about this ages ago. A lot of the credit card companies are using any excuse to reduce credit limits because money is expensive. They have to borrow on the wholesale market to ensure those funds are available for you to spend. They have to pay interest on that which costs them money which they won't recoup if you're not using your card.

You're not the first, you won't be the last.
 
I bet they have a lot of people who are trying to hang on in this recession and just maxing everything. Chop all limits back to reduce the exposure.
 
iv-tecman said:
How good is that? No longer a threat of defaulting and my good credit line is more or less being wiped out as I’m no longer using it.. Great, thanks.. Doesn’t pay to be debt free.
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Hasn't credit cards always worked this way?

I've had 2 cards for the past 5 years or so and the one I use keeps getting it's credit limit put up whenever I get close to the limit.

The other one which I only used in emergencies, the limit was cut because it wasn't being used much.
 
Smit said:
Hasn't credit cards always worked this way?

I've had 2 cards for the past 5 years or so and the one I use keeps getting it's credit limit put up whenever I get close to the limit.

The other one which I only used in emergencies, the limit was cut because it wasn't being used much.
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This. My dad who was the main bread winner and never used his card had a £500 limit. My mother who was just a housewife who bought everything on her card but paid it off every month in full had a £17,000 limit.
 
I'm with Barclaycard and I always pay full amount on time and my limit has been the same for the past 6-7 years, 3,5k. I don't think I have ever spent more than £400-500 on it though.
 
I had the same thing last week with Halifax - although before I got the letter they told me the credit limit had been dropped as I was a 'credit risk'. I even wasted £14 checking my credit score - was most ****** off with them.

Have balance transferred elsewhere and sent a letter complaining and requesting reimbursement for costs.

Amateurs.
 
n111ck said:
I had the same thing last week with Halifax - although before I got the letter they told me the credit limit had been dropped as I was a 'credit risk'. I even wasted £14 checking my credit score - was most ****** off with them.

Have balance transferred elsewhere and sent a letter complaining and requesting reimbursement for costs.

Amateurs.
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No chance of reimbursement. They can assess you under their terms as a risk and can alter your limit accordingly.

MBNA have been reducing my card every month for months now. Started at £12,000 and now down to £4,500.
 
Greebo said:
No chance of reimbursement. They can assess you under their terms as a risk and can alter your limit accordingly.

MBNA have been reducing my card every month for months now. Started at £12,000 and now down to £4,500.
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No, they have done it in error the same as the OP - the letter says I missed a payment when I havent.
 
It is good to see card companies finally reducing limits, shows they are finally realising that upping limits and sticking people on massive APR might work short to medium term, but longterm folks will lose out and the company will eventually lose out when folks have massive debts, and can't pay it back.
 
Yeah ironically banks, etc. like people - and tend to give preferential treatment to those who don't have a perfect credit record, if you pay up promptly every month on the dot your only actually 1 rung above those who default every time.
 
Edward78 said:
17k to 500, wow went a little far. One bill late, take him down 16,500!!!
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To be fair, I’ve not actually missed any payments. Halifax made a mistake and thought I’d not made the payment, to which I had.

To reduce from 17K to £500 is harsh, not too sure what my limit will be soon but to be honest if I needed to spend 17K then I’d be a complete tool and I don’t really care if they drop the card to £3000. That’ll be enough for me.

Ironically I got these stupidly high limits from being nearly 40K in debt, 10 years of hard work, careful spending and lots of transferring to 0% cards and loan management without using a debt management plan, but only my own plan of paying higher interest rate loans and cards quicker and shifting to lower APR when I could without increasing net debt or getting charged, means I’m now down to owing just what I spend on my cards each month.. Which isn’t a lot..

Debt is dreadful. I had some real sleepless nights because of all that…. I refused to not pay it, and paid every penny…

Now, I’m treated as a bad customer, and I can’t get nothing. Honestly, I was told I was a credit risk by MBNA and Barclays and because of this I stopped my accounts with them, Halifax is the only credit card I have left.

MBNA was a 16K limit
Barclaycard was 9K
Halifax was 17K

Now, I have possibly 17K with Halifax but I bet they don’t put it back to what it was, more like a grand if I’m lucky…

Don’t need it anyhow. Removed temptation to spend silly money. Just don’t like to made out to be a credit risk, in fact I’m a 100% payer, and then some. I paid my debts, I know what I’ve done…. Banks can go and do one for all I care. I’m debt free just don’t like being accused of not making payments, although it was in error..

*rant over*
 
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