barclayscard just lowered my available credit!

[JackBondLove]

I just applied for the card about a month ago (approved for $1900 available credit), and now it appears that the available credit has been reduced to $1000! The reasons given seem to be are too many open accounts (since I had applied I had 3 new ones and closed out my only existing one - which was closed out because the barclayscard had no fee, whereas the other, a CapitalOne, had a fee), and TOO MANY INQUIRIES. Oh well, I guess Discover now gets my regular CC business (unless they decide to screw me over like this!) I'm kind of glad a defaulted on them before!

I guess I will just no longer use the card, and suck on the 0% interest rate for the full 15 months, at which time I'll pay it off and wait to see if they want to keep me as a customer at all (if this is the way that CC's are going to treat me, I'd just as soon not even have them.) I was planning on floating the balance until November or so, at which time I was going to clear off a chunk of the balance to allow me to buy an airline ticket (transatlantic, which usually runs about $1200), but with only a $1K available balance, I couldn't use this CC even if I were to pay it off in full at that time!

Geez, with these CC's, it's like walking on eggshells!

[justbroke]

The credit card companies have been using "Periodic Reviews" for some time. I know that American Express is one of the top companies that pull monthly reports across all credit bureaus to "check" up on cardholders! So much so that AMEX, out of the blue one day, reduced my combined $60K in credit lines down to the current balance. Card was rejected.

AMEX wanted proof of income but only from the IRS! The ONLY credit card company to EVER validate my income or to get an IRS Transcript to prove it! My mortgage companies never even asked for an IRS Transcript (4506-T). (I must say that once they saw my reported taxable income, they released all the holds and restored me.)

So, the lesson here is that there are companies that actually monitor creditor reports on a MONTHLY basis!

[mountanddo]

Well you have to admit that you took a risk doing that app-a-rama. It's interesting that they would lower your available credit but it sounds like you already are nearing your 1k limit? The only reason why I say that is because you state you planned on clearing a chunk of it. How come you have a balance 1 month after you got the card. I thought that to rebuild credit you should use it for small things, like a tank of gas, and pay it off in full each month.

[JackBondLove]

Well you have to admit that you took a risk doing that app-a-rama. It's interesting that they would lower your available credit but it sounds like you already are nearing your 1k limit? The only reason why I say that is because you state you planned on clearing a chunk of it. How come you have a balance 1 month after you got the card. I thought that to rebuild credit you should use it for small things, like a tank of gas, and pay it off in full each month.

Yes, I've been using it on gas & groceries, Wal-Mart stuff, clothes etc. I should say most stuff I buy is concentrated in the winter as I am abroad for the rest of the year. I also had a car accident, so I had to buy a few hundred $$ in parts.

Because I have the 0%, I see no reason to pay off any of the balance until I need the available credit. And it looks like I will have no reason at all to pay it off until the 0% is over. I wonder if they will just completely cancel my account at that time. Sheesh!

[LadyInTheRed]

Because I have the 0%, I see no reason to pay off any of the balance until I need the available credit. And it looks like I will have no reason at all to pay it off until the 0% is over.

Exactly how the credit card company wants you to think. I hope you have cash sitting in an account ready to pay the balance when the 0% rate ends.

[JackBondLove]

Exactly how the credit card company wants you to think. I hope you have cash sitting in an account ready to pay the balance when the 0% rate ends.

I can always take a distribution from my IRA to pay for that. It's a case of taking the money from the IRA now or then (with the ability for me to have earned income instead to pay it off then w/o having to go into the IRA.)

[mountanddo]

The point of building up credit is to show that you can use it responsibily. Charging up to your max and then letting it sit there is doing nothing for you. A better idea would of been to use the card, pay it off, use the card, pay it off. All you are doing with a balance sitting out there is reducing your utilization.

[JackBondLove]

The point of building up credit is to show that you can use it responsibily. Charging up to your max and then letting it sit there is doing nothing for you. A better idea would of been to use the card, pay it off, use the card, pay it off. All you are doing with a balance sitting out there is reducing your utilization.

Well, if I could be assured that I wouldn't have the available credit lowered even further by paying down the card, it may be worth it, but it seems that I can't even count on that! No sir! They gave me a 0% offer, and I intend to squeeze every bit of utility from that.

What I need to do is to just treat all CCs as basically the *chance* of being able to get a loan - with absolutely no guarantee that the ability will be there when I need it. Ironically, it was this bit of games that a few CCs did to me that caused me to consider BK in the first place! (Of course the way the economy was going, BK was an inevitability.)

[Flamingo]

I just applied for the card about a month ago (approved for $1900 available credit), and now it appears that the available credit has been reduced to $1000! The reasons given seem to be are too many open accounts (since I had applied I had 3 new ones and closed out my only existing one - which was closed out because the barclayscard had no fee, whereas the other, a CapitalOne, had a fee), and TOO MANY INQUIRIES. Oh well, I guess Discover now gets my regular CC business (unless they decide to screw me over like this!) I'm kind of glad a defaulted on them before!

I guess I will just no longer use the card, and suck on the 0% interest rate for the full 15 months, at which time I'll pay it off and wait to see if they want to keep me as a customer at all (if this is the way that CC's are going to treat me, I'd just as soon not even have them.) I was planning on floating the balance until November or so, at which time I was going to clear off a chunk of the balance to allow me to buy an airline ticket (transatlantic, which usually runs about $1200), but with only a $1K available balance, I couldn't use this CC even if I were to pay it off in full at that time!

Geez, with these CC's, it's like walking on eggshells!

I get the feeling that you think the credit card companies that you just applied to and got cards are out to screw you over after rereading your first paragraph....You are the one making the problem by getting all this credit at once, using the cards and with the companies now checking as they do and with your credit reports having numerous recent inquiries and bad credit/BK showing, they are the ones that feel you may be the one who will be doing the screwing over and are just protecting themselves in case you go overboard and default again. I think you should feel happy that you were able to get this credit and treat it prudently over the coming years instead of grandstanding about it and then having account limits cut because you are just going about this the wrong way. I just have a feeling after reading all this and other postings on this situation that all this is going to backfire on you in some way as you are back to running up cards and trying to make plans to charge even more. I am just trying to put you on alert that in your excitement to get all this done and accomplished, you just may be digging yourself back into a worse situation. I think others on here may feel/see the same and don't know exactly what to say because you appear to be in a bit of denial about the whole thing and will just indicate that you are not doing anything wrong. I hope it all works out for you....

[JackBondLove]

I just have a feeling after reading all this and other postings on this situation that all this is going to backfire on you in some way as you are back to running up cards and trying to make plans to charge even more.

I'm going to spend to what I am going to spend. Since there is no way (it seems) that a CC will give me an extended sweetheart deal on credit, anything I spend must be paid for now, or in the near future. I have an IRA from which to distribute funds to cover that, if I don't have the income at the time. If I am given a temporary 0% interest, it behooves me to leave the money invested rather than pay it off.

The main reason I am ticked off - besides just the whole reneging thing (which could have caused a problem if I had counted on that available credit to buy something)\ and not known about the reduction) - is that I need an account with about $1500 available credit (to be safe) to buy my annual airline ticket. It is impossible to use more than one account to buy such a ticket, as well as impossible to overpay a CC to have a negative balance to have a higher net available balance (i.e., I can't pay $500 on a 0$ balance account to get to -$500, and then charge $1400, leaving a balance of $900.) Buying the ticket on credit (and paying it off with an IRA distribution in the next year) is much preferable to taking an IRA distribution for that year - to say nothing of knowing exactly how much to take out after the fact as opposed to before the fact.

I just don't like the idea that a bank's word is not honorably kept.

[mountanddo]

I'm going to spend to what I am going to spend.

You are going to do what you want to do despite any advice to the contrary. Now that I think about it how did you even get credit card companies to accept you without any income? If a credit card reducing your credit limit due to obvious warning signs to them is going to cause you problems because you are counting on that credit to buy things you are already in trouble. You are demonstrating behavior that is dangerous to someone that has filed bankrupt previously. You've already started to dig your grave, lets hope the undertaker doesn't start throwing dirt over you. But as been pointed out, you don't really want advice, just to post what you are doing. I am hoping that people reading this don't follow in your footsteps. It's a dangerous game to play no matter how calculating you think you are being.

[JackBondLove]

Now that I think about it how did you even get credit card companies to accept you without any income? If a credit card reducing your credit limit due to obvious warning signs to them is going to cause you problems because you are counting on that credit to buy things you are already in trouble. You are demonstrating behavior that is dangerous to someone that has filed bankrupt previously. You've already started to dig your grave, lets hope the undertaker doesn't start throwing dirt over you. But as been pointed out, you don't really want advice, just to post what you are doing. I am hoping that people reading this don't follow in your footsteps. It's a dangerous game to play no matter how calculating you think you are being.

My income for 2010 was $38K.

I just don't like the idea of a CC saying that I can't have any other - or even apply for any other - CCs. Remember (from my app-o-rama post) that the only reason that I applied for all these CCs is to get the 4-6 credit accounts that CapitalOne says I need to get a HELOC down the road. How am I supposed to get those 4-6 accounts if one of the accounts takes the attitude of "we will extend you credit, but will take it away just as fast if you dare try to get another CC!"

[ValleYum]

Barclay's is very well known for watching your credit related activities for the first 6 months to a year after you receive their card. They are just protecting their interests, IMHO.

Did CapitalOne say you needed 4-6 lines of credit all opened at the same time to get your HELOC? Perhaps it would be a good idea to just let your credit 'marinate' for a while. Let time do some healing.

[JackBondLove]

Did CapitalOne say you needed 4-6 lines of credit all opened at the same time to get your HELOC? Perhaps it would be a good idea to just let your credit 'marinate' for a while. Let time do some healing.

Yes, when I was rejected for my HELOC application, I called up and asked if I would ever be eligible because of my BK, and was told that 4 years post-BK, if I had 4-6 open lines of credit, I would be able to get the HELOC.

I agree that my credit should marinate, but at some time, I have to put the meat in the pot to start the cooking!

[Flamingo]

The problem here is that anyone who has filed and been discharged from BK cannot force a creditor to give them credit again even though that credit may be needed to plan for something as in your situation. Since you are desperate to obtain those lines of credit, you tried to do it all at once which may have just ultimately blew the boat out of the water for you. Time is one's friend after a BK and the more credit one tries to obtain at once after a BK discharge the worse it looks to creditors. You are considered high risk to begin with and now you already have a new creditor lowering your credit limit. I just believe you went about this the wrong way to meet your goals and have just made things worse for yourself by doing so and are now trying to figure out how to get out of it when the only thing now that will help you is time. While filing BK may not be the end of the world, it does take time to rebuild and not everyone can get credit again following a BK and those that do need to be very prudent and careful with the credit they do receive. You are finding this all out...