Consumer complaint received 2021-02-05
Company: BARCLAYS BANK DELAWARE
State: MA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account information incorrect

Complaint:
I have three credit cards with Barclays : An XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, and a XXXX XXXX. 

I Purchased an XXXX using my Barclay 's XXXX credit card in XX/XX/XXXX. They offered a 0 % financing option if it was paid off within a certain time frame ( 18 months, if I recall correctly ). 

Later, in XXXX, I purchased an XXXX  XXXX  using that same card. 

I made regular payments on the XXXX credit card. Since the promotional balance from XXXX is expiring soon ( XX/XX/XXXX ) I made a large lump sum payment in XXXX to satisfy that debt in its entirety. 

I phoned Barclays to ensure that it was paid in full. I was told by the Barclays representative that it was not. The rep informed me that payments are applied to more recent charges first before being applied to older charges. 

I asked her if she could apply my recent large lump sum payments to the next billing cycle. She told me that it was not possible, but she could reverse the large payments and suggested that I just pay that amount the following month. I asked if there were any fees or consequences from doing so, she assured me that there weren't. 

I would have paid these accounts down much sooner, but my business shut down due to Covid in XX/XX/XXXX. I was fortunate enough to find well paying work in XXXX of XXXX and have been doing my best to catch up -- I have made significant payments since XXXX to these cards. If I recall correctly, I think I paid about {$12000.00} on the XXXX XXXX XXXX in recent months. 

So, I'd assumed all was well. 

Yesterday, I received two letters, dated XX/XX/XXXX from Barclays indicating that the credit limit on my XXXX XXXX XXXX was being reduced from ~ {$30000.00} to {$4500.00} and my XXXX XXXX card was being reduced from ~ {$4000.00} to {$3600.00}. 

Barclays provided two reasons for this reduction : First : Recent returned check activity Second : Balances too high on revolving accounts Admittedly, I carry a balance on multiple cards, but my income is more than enough such that I'm able to make regular large payments exceeding my minimum balances on those cards. I have NO derogatory remarks on my credit reports and I have NO missed payments -- ever. 

However, there are also NO returned checks. 

I phoned Barclays, specifically inquiring about the " Recent returned check activity '' I was told by multiple people that it was a result of their reversal of my payments. I explained the situation and was told that there is nothing they can do. I explained that the rep I'd spoken with before had assured me that there would be no problems due to the payment reversals. 

Barclays has refused to budge on their decision. They repeatedly cited multiple reasons for the credit line reductions. I told them that I'm comfortable with the " Balances too high ... '' issue, but I wanted an explanation for their decision to punish me because of a suggestion that their own employee made and the suggestion that I'd sent them bad checks. 

If they want to reduce my credit because of balances on other cards, that's fine. Send me a letter stating that that is the sole reason for doing so. I want this 'Returned check activity ' removed from my Barclays account and from any credit reporting services. 

A successful resolution to this problem will be : *A written statement from Barclays that this 'Returned check activity ' is removed from my records at Barclays *Updated letters stating that the reason for any credit line reduction excluding 'Returned check activity ' *A written statement from Barclays explicitly statingthat this 'Returned check activity ' will be removed from my credit reports with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation