Consumer complaint received 2026-03-03 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Other problem
Company: BARCLAYS BANK DELAWARE
State: TX

Complaint narrative:
I am filing this complaint against Barclays Bank Delaware regarding a systematic pattern of punitive credit line reductions on my XXXX XXXX XXXX ( account ending in XXXX ) that I believe constitute unfair practices under UDAAP and raise concerns under both the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. My original credit line on this card exceeded {$4000.00}. Since XX/XX/XXXX, Barclays has reduced my credit line three separate times each time immediately after I paid the balance down or in full. The first reduction was on XX/XX/XXXX, when Barclays reduced my limit to {$3000.00}. My XXXX score at the time was XXXX, pulled on XX/XX/XXXX. The reasons cited were proportion of balances to credit limits too high on revolving accounts and number of accounts with delinquency. The second reduction was on XX/XX/XXXX, when Barclays reduced my limit to {$1000.00}. My XXXX score was XXXX, pulled on XX/XX/XXXX. The reasons cited were serious delinquency and proportion of balances to credit limits too high. The third reduction was on XX/XX/XXXX, when Barclays reduced my limit to {$250.00}. My XXXX score was XXXX, pulled on XX/XX/XXXX. The reasons cited were serious delinquency and proportion of balances to credit limits too high. The core problem is that Barclays is creating a self-reinforcing cycle of harm. Each time they reduce my credit line, my credit utilization ratio on this account and across my entire profile increases, which damages my credit score. They then pull my credit again, cite the worsened utilization and lower score as justification, and reduce my limit further. My score has dropped from XXXX to XXXX during this period, and Barclays own actions have been a significant contributing factor to that decline. Throughout this entire period, I have maintained consistent payments on this account. My payment activity includes payments of {$210.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, {$2100.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, {$850.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, {$1000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, {$530.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, {$250.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, {$500.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, and {$120.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. I have paid thousands of dollars to Barclays on this account. Despite this, Barclays has rewarded my responsible payment behavior by systematically eliminating my available credit. I want to highlight that at the time of the first reduction, my XXXX score was XXXX. This score is above the approval threshold for many credit products, including the one Barclays originally approved me for. The fact that Barclays reduced my line at a score higher than my original approval score, and has continued reducing it as their own actions contributed to the score declining, strongly suggests this pattern is not based on legitimate risk assessment but on a systematic practice that harms consumers. This pattern has caused me real financial harm beyond the credit score impact. The available credit on this card, had it been maintained, could have been strategically used to pay down other creditors creditors who would have rewarded a large payment by maintaining or increasing my credit line. Instead, Barclays consumed my payments and then punished me for making them by stripping my credit line to a level that is essentially unusable and only serves to further damage my utilization ratio. I have all three adverse action letters, my complete payment history, and screenshots of my Barclays payment activity as supporting documentation.

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