topic Re: Barclays Ring CLD in Credit Cards

Barclays Ring CLD

SteelCityPA — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:48:25 GMT

Hello. I used to be very active on here but haven't been for a long time. I finally have a question that I'd like to get some opinions on. I have a FICO 8 score of 837 and over all cards I have much more than I'll ever really need and 5% credit debt (less than $10K total). Most of that is my car loan from over 5 years ago..reminds me, I need to update my "farming" as I haven't had a credit hit for new card or loan since the car loan.

The question I have is I've had the Barclays Ring for about 8 years with a $10K limit. I've always used and paid it each month in that time and never carried a balance over. I got an email from a credit watchdog place I use telling me of a credit line reduction, so I looked into it and it was the Ring card. Then in the mail yesterday I got a letter from Barclays and it said "it shows that a significant portion of my available credit limit is not being used. To align with your credit usage over the last 12 months, we've reduced your credit limit to $3,019."

From when I was active on the forum I immediately remembered that once there is a CLD because of cards in the sock drawer, that other card companies I have could do the same thing as a domino effect. So far it hasn't happened, but I'm very close to calling and canceling them altogether. Even without the reduced credit limit, my 5% would not change. Would there really be much of a hit on my FICO score by closing the card down, or should I just put it in the sock drawer again? I don't mind if a credit hit for like 3 months happens by closing it, because I'm pretty honked off at them, but long term it also won't affect the length of my average credit. I'm 64 years old and have had cards half my life.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this before I call Barclays.

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

coldfusion — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 02:58:41 GMT

You weren't balance-chased or have recent changes in your credit profile to suggest you might be coming under some kind of financial distress, your only crime in Barclay's eyes is that you didn't use the card enough in the recent past to justify the old CL on the card which in current times isn't an unusual thing from multiple issuers. I wouldn't worry about this triggering a domino effect.

Go ahead and close the card if you want, given that a closed card will still contribute to your AAoA until it falls off your credit report, probably in 10 years, and the limit of the card vs. your aggregate credit limit across all of your other cards a closure should have minimal if any impact on your credit scores.

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

jj10939 — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 05:15:15 GMT

The same thing happened to me.

I had the Cash Forward card which was somewhat of a unicorn for me as I am one of the few that burned Barclays in a BK and got back "in". IIRC, they inexplicably sent me a preapproval via snail mail about 2 years post BK7 (2017) and I was auto-approved for $2500. I was granted an auto CLI sometime shortly thereafter where it sat for years.

I've read many horror stories on this site

over the years about Barclays (I've been a near-daily visitor of this site since 2008, although I don't post often) but never had a reason to gripe as they left me alone.

Fast forward to about 11 months ago...I decided the time had come to close my Banana Republic store card as I didn't shop there often enough to justify the card). I called Barclays and easily moved my credit line to my Cash Forward and closed the BR PLCC. New limit was $11,500.

Four months ago, I logged into my account and noticed my CL had been reduced to $5,019. I called and asked why and the rep stated it was due to non-use of credit line. I decided to keep it despite my mild annoyance about the CLD.

I ran a total of about $3,000 through the card and PIF each statement period. This month, they reduced my limit to $3,019. I called and was told the same thing (non-use of existing credit line). I immediately cancelled the card and haven't looked back. In my opinion, Barclay's is a bank with risk algorithms too sensitive for my tastes. Too many stories of CLD or account closures to count. I have a 780-800 FICO (depending on score model), 1% aggregate UTIL, no lates, no derogs with the exception of my 9.5 year old BK so nothing changed in my credit profile to warrant the AA.

My advice is to just close it. Your positive account history will report for 10 years and shouldn't affect your overall credit picture too much unless your UTIL will be thrown out of whack with the loss of your $3,019 CL. IMHO, there are better lenders out there who deserve your business.

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

SteelCityPA — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:08:43 GMT

Thank you both for the replies. That is just crazy what Barclay did. I was also very active here until a few years ago when they changed things around and I no longer had my history of my posts and show that I only have 3. Not sure how all that happened, but I agree, I used to see posts about Barclays as well, but never had an issue. It seems crazy that they did a CLD for the same credit of $3,019. After reading both replies, I'm going to close out the card today and let them know that I was very disappointed in the CLD. I wasn't thinking reasonably yesterday when I sent my original post that it stays on for 10 years.

Thanks again!

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

jj10939 — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 04:49:36 GMT

Absolutely! Celebrate the closure by opening up a new card with a nice SUB. Haha JK..sort of 😉

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

SteelCityPA — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 20:22:08 GMT

Thanks for the reply. No I do not want any credit hits, I have 5 years free of them now and striving for the elusive 850 score. I did achieve it a couple of years ago and hoping it happens again sometime.

I did call Barclays on Thursday evening and canceled the card. As was pointed out it stays on my credit history for 10 years. After the lady read the required statement, I said thank you and took my scissors to the card and that was the end of that!

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

firefox100 — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 23:23:30 GMT

I would not close the ring mastercard, the same thing happen to me with barclay's. I had the Ring mastercard since 2017 with 8K limit they cut it to 3019 dollars called Barclays and spoke to the credit department they conconnected me customer service which ask me what my income and said we do soft pull and after couple minutes told me that they raise credit limit to 10K This happen twice and each time Barclay's bank raise credit limit back. Check my other post about this subject the forums.

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 01:10:21 GMT

@firefox100 wrote:
I would not close the ring mastercard, the same thing happen to me with barclay's. I had the Ring mastercard since 2017 with 8K limit they cut it to 3019 dollars called Barclays and spoke to the credit department they conconnected me customer service which ask me what my income and said we do soft pull and after couple minutes told me that they raise credit limit to 10K This happen twice and each time Barclay's bank raise credit limit back. Check my other post about this subject the forums.

The question is whether keeping the line open is worth hassle to each individual. If the card has little value, closing it may be the best thing, whether or not you can get the limit restored/increased, especially if it happens more than once!

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

firefox100 — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:55:47 GMT

As far as it being a hassle I only spent about 5 minutes on the phone and for some of us it is about padding our total credit limit. In my case my total credit limit on all my accounts is 332K with ess then 1.2K owing. The worst thing that could happen is Barclay's could say no then you just close the account.

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

KatzNDawgs — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 17:06:38 GMT

That sounds very frustrating, and understanable to close the card if you don't want to do business with them anymore. However, what annoys me the most is the wierd limit they like to drop to! Why 5019 or 3019? Do they hate nice rounded numbers? I would close them just for doing that, lol.

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

SouthJamaica — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 17:36:34 GMT

@SteelCityPA wrote:
Hello. I used to be very active on here but haven't been for a long time. I finally have a question that I'd like to get some opinions on. I have a FICO 8 score of 837 and over all cards I have much more than I'll ever really need and 5% credit debt (less than $10K total). Most of that is my car loan from over 5 years ago..reminds me, I need to update my "farming" as I haven't had a credit hit for new card or loan since the car loan.

The question I have is I've had the Barclays Ring for about 8 years with a $10K limit. I've always used and paid it each month in that time and never carried a balance over. I got an email from a credit watchdog place I use telling me of a credit line reduction, so I looked into it and it was the Ring card. Then in the mail yesterday I got a letter from Barclays and it said "it shows that a significant portion of my available credit limit is not being used. To align with your credit usage over the last 12 months, we've reduced your credit limit to $3,019."

From when I was active on the forum I immediately remembered that once there is a CLD because of cards in the sock drawer, that other card companies I have could do the same thing as a domino effect. So far it hasn't happened, but I'm very close to calling and canceling them altogether. Even without the reduced credit limit, my 5% would not change. Would there really be much of a hit on my FICO score by closing the card down, or should I just put it in the sock drawer again? I don't mind if a credit hit for like 3 months happens by closing it, because I'm pretty honked off at them, but long term it also won't affect the length of my average credit. I'm 64 years old and have had cards half my life.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this before I call Barclays.

Your options are
1. Calling and asking them to reinstate it.

2. Closing it.

3. Just keeping it.

Your credit scores won't be affected by anything you do. If you close it, it will still continue being reported and factored into your aging factors for, most likely, many years to come. Since your revolving utilization is less than 5% (you don't specify exactly what it is), your utilization won't be significantly changed, either.

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 18:16:21 GMT

@firefox100 wrote:
As far as it being a hassle I only spent about 5 minutes on the phone and for some of us it is about padding our total credit limit. In my case my total credit limit on all my accounts is 332K with ess then 1.2K owing. The worst thing that could happen is Barclay's could say no then you just close the account.

IMO a good habit to get out of! Suppose your total CL dropped to $300K? Would that make any real difference? Keeping it as high as possible can make you waste time/effort/mental cycles trying to fix things that have no actual impact. Just my opinion, but since it's mine, it's right.

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 18:17:24 GMT

@KatzNDawgs wrote:
That sounds very frustrating, and understanable to close the card if you don't want to do business with them anymore. However, what annoys me the most is the wierd limit they like to drop to! Why 5019 or 3019? Do they hate nice rounded numbers? I would close them just for doing that, lol.

A few issuers seem to do this presumably as a marker that this is the result of a CLD. Because obviously their computer systems couldn't tell them otherwise....

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

SteelCityPA — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 23:55:44 GMT

Thank you everyone for your comments and insights, especially about Barclay Ring CLDs. Since I had it for 10 years, and I'm almost 65, I have more than enough available to me if I would ever need it. So, I did call and canceled the card. The lady did offer to re-run my credit, and I said I did not want a credit hit (I wanted to tell her I was gardening) and she didn't say "well it's a soft hit", so I continued with the cancelation of the card. I have no regrets at all. It will fall off my credit reports when I'm 75 years old

Appreciate all the comments. I really need to get back to actively using the forum again. I was a long time user until one day something happened and all of my old posts were gone and had to re-establish myself with a new username/acct. information.

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

sjt — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 15:08:42 GMT

What is it with this $3, 019 number?

My card was decreased twice to $3,019. The first time I got the decrease, I called and got my card increased, then a few months later, it was decreased back to $3,019. I then decided just to close my account.

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

firefox100 — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 23:20:43 GMT

I had the Ring mastercard from Barclay's bank and twice they cut the credit limit from 18Ksnd 10K and both times it was to 3019 dollars and both of times they raise it back to the 10K limit. The 3019 dollar limit is programming system issue at barclay's bank. It looks like this only happens to the Ring mastercard they don't care about this product they don't run any promopions and the interest rate real high , also you can not apply for a new Ring mastercard.

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

sjt — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 20:21:51 GMT

@firefox100 wrote:
I had the Ring mastercard from Barclay's bank and twice they cut the credit limit from 18Ksnd 10K and both times it was to 3019 dollars and both of times they raise it back to the 10K limit. The 3019 dollar limit is programming system issue at barclay's bank. It looks like this only happens to the Ring mastercard they don't care about this product they don't run any promopions and the interest rate real high , also you can not apply for a new Ring mastercard.

My card was the Arrival Premier, and I think this happens across all card products.

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

firefox100 — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 22:14:58 GMT

In my case I have both the Ring Mastercard and View mastercard which a uber visa, they have never reduce the 12k limit for years with less then couple dollars charge on it for months at a time with no spend. The only thing I am trying to say for less then 5 minutes on phone have been able to get full credit limit and more. Going to keep Barclay's cards until it stops working as long as they raise credit limit back I will keep the barclay's creditcards.

Re: Barclays Ring CLD

PepsterinBklyn — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 12:59:34 GMT

It's been done to me as well. It's NOT just the Ring Card that this is happeneing with. I'm an 18 years card holder & I was cut from $8,000 to that same number, $3019. They cut me & told me that I could call in to get the limit raised back up. I di & they raised me back up. The 2 or 3 months later, they've lowered it again. In terms of my overall metrics, the decrease really hurting me at all. I've been running 850's across the board for close to a year now. I do use the card at least once a month (no sock drawer). I'm more annoyed that my faithful 18 years doesn't outweigh thier internal algorithm that makes this decision. No I won't close the card. I can check my ego at the door on this.