Barclays Ring CLD

[SteelCityPA]

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.

[coldfusion]

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.

[jj10939]

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. 

[SteelCityPA]

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!

[jj10939]

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

[SteelCityPA]

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!

[firefox100]

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.

[Anonymous]

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@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.

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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!

[firefox100]

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.

[KatzNDawgs]

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.