Jalexa

Yes you have a point, I did think about this as I was typing. Usually the minimum payment is a percentage of the outstanding. However, I was thinking that possibly as you commented, there may be a clause allowing them to vary the payment, within reason.

Huckster

huckster:

I would expect Barclaycard to increase the minimum payment required, so that the balance is reduced as quickly as possible to below the new limit

Not had time to study any small print so I could be wrong, but I'm not convinced that could happen unless the Terms and Conditions were varied in which case the cardholder might be best rejecting the change, discontinuing use of the card and maintaining the original minimum payment. Not an inconvenence since Barclaycard have effectively made the card unuseable.

Thanks guys, she'll be relieved to hear that. I can imagine she has checked with someone anyway, as she used to work at a finance firm - the kind that deal with creditors on behalf of debtors to work out payment deals or IVAs etc.

On a sidenote, actually, she once told me that in the company she worked at they were all sort of glad to hear when Northern Rock went intoi crisis mode because they were by far the worst people to deal with when it came to being resonable. I remember her saying that she would call them up to try to arrange an IVA and every time they would be, as she said, "F*** them, let them go bankrupt."

Off topic, sorry. But that just triggered the memory.

mennie :-)

Mennie

That are all at it. I have just had my limit reduced on a card, because I have not used it for awhile and have a nil balance. From memory this was the subject of discussion in the media a while ago. The banks want to reduce their potential exposure to further debt, so reducing credit card limits is a sensible thing to do.

In regard to your friends card, they will not instantly request £400 and she should not be charged for being over the limit. If they did this the FOS would not be very happy. I would expect Barclaycard to increase the minimum payment required, so that the balance is reduced as quickly as possible to below the new limit.

Huckster

About 18 months ago, my wife had this situation with her Next card - she wasn't charged for being over the new limit (as it wasn't due to her over-spending) nor was she requested to repay an "excess" amount i.e. £400 + a normal monthly amount in your friend's case.

However, as I said, this was 18 months ago so things may have changed - I'd recommend your friend speaking to her credit card company directly as they will be able to give her a definitive answer.

Hi,

I was speaking to a friend today and she said that Barclaycard (I think it was them anyway) reduced her credit limit from £2000 to £1000. But she currently has a balance of £1400 on her card. So does this mean that they can now demand the £400 in the next payment and that she may be charged for being over her limit also?

I thought I'd come on here and ask as this is definitely the place to be for financial advice - I am currently working through a problem of my own on here, and it's helping immensely. It's also really amazing reading through the threads to see what these companies get up to at times. Very eye-opening and interesting.

Thanks,

menvor