Credit Card Companies Looking At Limit Freeze
The recent Egg debacle seems to have been the start of a series of moves in the credit card industry aimed at freezing increases in credit card limits, even for those that have impeccable records and pay off their balance at the end of each month.
A recent report highlighted the plight of a businessman with a salary of more than £100,000 who has a Morgan Stanley Credit Card. It seems as though high flying business executive Colin Batabyal, who has a perfect credit record, is suffering from the added cost of finance in the credit card industry. After applying for a small increase in his £7,600 limit he was turned down suggesting that he did not match the criteria of the company.
Further investigations found that the company appear to have instigated a blanket ban on credit card limit increases with even the more wealthy clients suffering the backlash. The Morgan Stanley credit card operations are now part of the Barclays Group of businesses and while Barclays has denied a blanket ban on limit increases, there are those who beg to differ. More and more we are seeing credit card companies consolidating their positions and happy to manage the clients they have at the moment, without increasing limits or taking on new business.
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