Barclays Ring CLD

[SouthJamaica]

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@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.

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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.

[Anonymous]

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@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.

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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.

[Anonymous]

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@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.

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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....

[SteelCityPA]

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. 

[sjt]

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. 

[firefox100]

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.

[sjt]

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@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.

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

[firefox100]

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.

[PepsterinBklyn]

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.