topic Re: Barclays closed my account... in Credit Cards

Barclays closed my account...

Datx — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 22:45:42 GMT

I don't know what happened, but Barclays decided to close my Apple/Barclays visa financing card. This was the card I was approved for just a bit over a month ago. I logged onto my account Friday night and there was a note in red that my account is closed. Here are the only reasons I believe why they closed the card:

-Credit limit is $1500, I charged $1100 on it (3 diff seperate charges) and once my first statement was cut. I paid $600 and left a $500 balance.

-I didnt use the card for a Apple purchase?

Thats all I can think of. I put a $600 payment in, and was going to do $300 more in a few days, or even pay if off completely. Once I made my $600 payment towards the balance and it cleared, they closed my account. I called customer service today and they asked if I received a letter from their credit dept and I have not. The CSR rep said there is only a note saying that my acct is closed due to some sort of policy and told me that I have to call back on Monday to talk to a credit analyst since their credit dept is closed on the weekends. So awesome, I guess my NFCU nRewards card gets all the action from now on.

I'll update this once I talk to a credit analyst on Monday. Has this happened to anyone else with Barclays?

Re: Barclays closed my account...

Anonymous — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 22:52:59 GMT

OMG, I got approved a month ago also with a 2,300.00 limit. I've used it to make small purchases, but when I initially got it I bought an I-pad via the apple website.

I've made a payment and have a balance of 600.00 dollars.

Please keep us posted on your results.

Re: Barclays closed my account...

haulingthescoreup — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 22:55:10 GMT

OP, do you know if they've softed you? Has anything changed on your credit reports since you got the card? (more new accounts, balance increases on other cards, etc.)

Re: Barclays closed my account...

Datx — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 23:06:16 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
OP, do you know if they've softed you? Has anything changed on your credit reports since you got the card? (more new accounts, balance increases on other cards, etc.)

Does not appear that they did from looking at my full TU report dated on 12/12. The only way to find out is to look at my full CR from the CRAs correct? I don't believe there are any credit monitoring services that provides soft INQs. The Barclays was my last approval. My balance did increase on my NFCU card, but not by much. I don't know what I did to freak them out.

Re: Barclays closed my account...

JayRizzo — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 23:19:16 GMT

Hauling hit the nail on the head!!! Barclays have a department called, Portfolio Credit Unit. Their sole job is to monitor your credit report AFTER they've given you a Brand Spakin' New credit card. If ANYTHING, so much as an Inquiry appear after you've had Barclays in the first 6 months -- consider it CLOSED forever... no reopen, do not pass Go... you know the rest. Your score is about to take a nose-dive. Double-check your credit report for a sudden request for Fraud Alert. Barclay's security department is known for having a bad habit of emailing TransUnion and requesting a Fraud Alert on YOUR behalf. Contact edited in the Executive Office and ask if she can submit a statement to the credit burueas to say, 'Closed by Consumer' rather than 'Closed by Credit Grantor' at 866-750-6031 M-F 9-5 ET. My vehicle lease ended and they saw ONE inquiry for my next vehicle with the same company and my Barclay's went Bye-Bye.

Edited to remove someone else's name. - llecs, myFICO moderator

Re: Barclays closed my account...

llecs — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 23:16:52 GMT

Maybe some of you guys remember the rash of closures about three years ago (happened when I joined here). They approved anyone and everyone and then closed them off in the masses due to having more than one Juniper (now Barclays) account, having high util, having high CLs (set by them), etc. Sorry that happened, OP.

Re: Barclays closed my account...

Datx — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 23:21:28 GMT

@JayRizzo wrote:
Hauling hit the nail on the head!!! Barclays have a department called, Portfolio Credit Unit. Their sole job is to monitor your credit report AFTER they've given you a Brand Spakin' New credit card. If ANYTHING, so much as an Inquiry appear after you've had Barclays in the first 6 months -- consider it CLOSED forever... no reopen, do not pass Go... you know the rest. Your score is about to take a nose-dive. Double-check your credit report for a sudden request for Fraud Alert. Barclay's security department is known for having a bad habit of emailing TransUnion and requesting a Fraud Alert on YOUR behalf. Contact edited in the Executive Office and ask if she can submit a statement to the credit burueas to say, 'Closed by Consumer' rather than 'Closed by Credit Grantor' at 866-750-6031 M-F 9-5 ET. My vehicle lease ended and they saw ONE inquiry for my next vehicle with the same company and my Barclay's went Bye-Bye.

Wow...I didn't know Barclays was like this. Now I wish I never called for a recon when they initially denied me. Didnt know it would cause so much problems. I was hoping to build a good relationship with them but I guess that may never happen now.

Re: Barclays closed my account...

mross1080 — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 23:38:05 GMT

Sorry that they closed you account. I just got an account with them a little over a month ago and just checked mine, still open. I have only used it once about 2 weeks ago for dinner and paid it when it posted. I do have a couple things that have changed on my report since I opened them so I hope they dont close mine too.. Maybe theyll reverse there desicison when you speak to an analyst.

Re: Barclays closed my account...

Datx — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 23:40:15 GMT

Just got an updated TU report. Looks like they did do a soft on my TU report the last few days and I guess they didnt like something on it.

Re: Barclays closed my account...

mross1080 — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 23:52:13 GMT

Whats your current util? Seems crazy they would close you so soon with nothing new on your reports.

Re: Barclays closed my account...

Datx — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 00:11:20 GMT

@mross1080 wrote:
Whats your current util? Seems crazy they would close you so soon with nothing new on your reports.

Around 25% ish. My toy cards have very small limits reporting and my NFCU card has almost 1K reporting on a 5K card. Maybe that was it...my NFCU card had a zero balance reporting when they approved me. With $1100 on the barclays and almost $1000 on the NFCU card, maybe that was what they didnt like. If that is the reason, all I can say is wow and I maybe christmas shopping was a bad idea. The Barclays card is now paid off, I just went ahead and took care of it. Maybe they will see this on Monday when I call and re-open my account. I can only hope at this point.

Re: Barclays closed my account...

clocktick — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 00:34:19 GMT

Wow, I'm so sorry. I would not be happy at all. I know a lot of us are looking forward to your update to see exactly what happened.

I opened a Barclays card and I'm sure my new Amex will start reporting any day. Your thread makes me nervous. I really hope they reopen it for your sake. Maybe paying it off really did help. Let us know! I'm pulling for you.

Re: Barclays closed my account...

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 01:01:59 GMT

hopefully this will not happen to the rest of us considering I open 2 accounts since my barclays card. But judging by what I read I think you spooked them by running up the balance on the card and perhaps should have made smaller purchases on card to start with. I think some credit card companies look for red flags like making large purchases when you first get the card.

Re: Barclays closed my account...

Datx — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 01:09:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
But judging by what I read I think you spooked them by running up the balance on the card

That is true. Tough lesson learned. I wanted to run a high charge on it and then pay if off, to kind of show that I can handle the CL, but I guess that backfired on me. Who wouldve known they close my account after just one month. I never had any CC company do that to me ever.

Re: Barclays closed my account...

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 01:16:42 GMT

We live and we learn buddy. Th only credit card I have that I know would not get canceled like that is my usaa mc just because I have so many accounts with them but other credit card companies I only run small purchases through for the first 6 months and I always pay off before the statement cuts just to be safe I always fly underneath the radar. But I hope they turn your card back on just explain to them that you don't need the credit and you just wanted to get points back to use on iTunes they like hearing stuff like that and you should be good , oh and pay the rest of the balance today if you can so it looks better..

Re: Barclays closed my account...

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 01:23:10 GMT

Don't you lose the rewards points that you've accrued when the grantor closes your card? If they cannot be talked round, then that would pain me, too. Your debt doesn't seem extraordinary to me. I myself have three new accounts on my report (now each about 3 months old). I've been paying them mostly off before they reported so that they and other creditors wouldn't panic. I ran $3k through my new BoA card this month. I wonder what that would have looked like had it reported. I let that card only report $100. This thread reminds me that I should anally stick to that untli the accounts turn a year or so.

Sorry for your loss of the card so quickly. It doesn't sound fair. Perhaps, something will move for you on Monday.

Re: Barclays closed my account...

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 04:45:48 GMT

If I would have to take a guess, it was the $600 payment on a $1,100 balance. That looks as if you were strapped for cash.

Re: Barclays closed my account...

scottwagnon — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 06:13:09 GMT

i have opened 8 cards from 9/22 to 11/15. my score initally was excellent, so it went from exellent to good. but i have a really low balance across all of my cards. i don't have a mortgage or a loan (some creditors see this as better, some see as worse). barclays BNMC is one of those new cards. i have still not experienced any adverse action on any of my cards YET. so i don't necessarily agree with rizzo. had 4 active store cards, rcwilley (was inactive) and wells fargo visa before these cards on 9 22 10:

more discover 2500

walmart discover 800

blue cash amex 2000

paypal mc 3000

hooters mc 2800

barclays mc 2600

citi platinum mc 1600

rz gold mc 1500

Re: Barclays closed my account...

JayRizzo — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 06:10:19 GMT

ScottW, as I stated in my original post, Barclay's Portfolio Credit Unit reviews the credit reports of 'newly-opened' accounts during the first 6-months. Barclays reports pretty fast to the credit bureaus before you even receive the card, so If Barclays was LAST of the new cards, then you're probably safe. But, if any of those additional cards begin to post onto your credit report 'after' Barclays, then watch out! They will state that you're 'agressively seeking credit'. Even the moderator provided insight on Barclay's history of sudden closures earlier in this thread.

Re: Barclays closed my account...

scottwagnon — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 06:17:05 GMT

BNMC is barclays barnes and noble mc. i opened it on october 13 2010, in addition to several other cards afterwards. in fact of the 8 cards barclays was the FIRST to report. 8 new bank/merchant cards from september 22 2010 to november 15 2010.