Consumer complaint received 2024-11-01 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Trouble using your card — Credit card company won't increase or decrease your credit limit
Company: BARCLAYS BANK DELAWARE
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
Barclays Bank does not care about its customers. Despite being an excellent customer with excellent credit for over 20 years, Barclays Bank cut my credit limit from {$15000.00} to {$3000.00} because " of low credit usage ''. The adverse result was my credit score went down 3 points since this made my credit use to credit limit ratio appear higher. Living in Florida, I purposely maintain a high credit limit as an emergency source of immediate funds in the event I need to pay my high home insurance deductible right away in the event of hurricane damage. The state of Florida was already under a state of emergency due to Hurricane Helene at the time. Two weeks later Hurricane Milton devastated millions of homes. I contacted their customer service and asked them to reverse the credit limit back to the higher limit. The response from three separate managers was that I would have to re-apply and they would pull my credit and process a new application. I have worked in the financial industry my whole life, so I know that would again cause a decrease in my credit score. Since they did not have the authority to do the right thing, I contacted the Office of the President. When I received a phone call it was not from the President, XXXX XXXX, but another customer service manager who also failed to recognize that their actions harmed a good customer, refused to reverse the action, and offered only the same solution. I informed her that that was not acceptable to me, nor is it acceptable to treat loyal customers this way. The only explanation she offered was that they perform internal data mining to determine in bulk what accounts aren't using enough credit for their liking and likely, profitability. I've worked for large banks, regional banks, community banks, federal credit unions and state-chartered credit unions. I know the same techniques are used when banks decide to cut the credit limits on customers who appear to be using their available credit too much. This they do to mitigate potential losses. It has a negative affect on customers ' credit ratings and causes other creditors to follow suit. On behalf of Florida homeowners, I provide this information to consider when choosing what bank deserves your business. My advice is to use small banks or credit unions that do not treat you like a piece of data. I already applied and obtained a new XXXX credit limit from XXXX XXXX Bank. I told Barclays, I will cut my usage on the XXXX accounts I have with them and give my businesses that understand the needs of the people whose business they seek treat loyalty properly. They responded again with a call from XXXX, XXXX in the " XXXX of the XXXX '' with the same offer. She lied & said they can't change the limit back. I know all it takes is XXXX operations or branch XXXX with authority to change the field in the system, as I have had that authority myself.

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