Barclaycard closed my NFL card due to "too many accounts opened for OTHER banks."
Dec 4, 2012, 9:21 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 19
Barclaycard closed my NFL card due to "too many accounts opened for OTHER banks."
I have an NFL Extra Points Visa Platinum opened a few months ago when the 20,000 points promotion was offered. After using up the points to pay my credit card spend back, I just placed it in my credit card storage for a while.
Then, I received an email about a new promotion stating I'll get 20,000 extra points if I spend $500 each in Dec, Jan, and Feb. So I started using this card again to meet the spend and suddenly this morning, I found out that this card is closed by the creditors. I called them to ask why my card was closed, and their answer is that I have too many new cards opened since I had this card.
I do have ~$40K credit line with Citi, ~$30K with Amex, and ~$39K with Chase, but I only have a total of $3K credit line with Barclaycard (only this NFL card). If Citi, Amex, or Chase is concerned about my credit lines being too high, I can understand that but Barclay? Come on... I'll probably never open a Barclaycard again
Then, I received an email about a new promotion stating I'll get 20,000 extra points if I spend $500 each in Dec, Jan, and Feb. So I started using this card again to meet the spend and suddenly this morning, I found out that this card is closed by the creditors. I called them to ask why my card was closed, and their answer is that I have too many new cards opened since I had this card.
I do have ~$40K credit line with Citi, ~$30K with Amex, and ~$39K with Chase, but I only have a total of $3K credit line with Barclaycard (only this NFL card). If Citi, Amex, or Chase is concerned about my credit lines being too high, I can understand that but Barclay? Come on... I'll probably never open a Barclaycard again
Dec 4, 2012, 10:04 am
#4
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: DFW
Programs: AA PLT, HH Gold, SPG/Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,091
There are some people that advise you to wait 4-6 months after opening a Barclays card to apply for any more credit. They are extremely conservative compared to Amex, Citi, or Chase. Just chalk it up as a loss and move on, they're still good for USAir.
Dec 4, 2012, 10:06 am
#5
Join Date: Jun 2011
Programs: DL, Amex MR
Posts: 287
+1 Barclays is very conservative and doesn't like seeing a churning pattern on credit reports. I wouldn't rule them out because of the USAir card.
Dec 4, 2012, 10:17 am
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 19
Yeah, I learned my lesson. Thought I was being conservative with the credit card signups myself, but apparently not in the eyes of Barclay.
Dec 4, 2012, 6:17 pm
#9
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: LAX
Posts: 2,851
Dec 4, 2012, 6:37 pm
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,933
I've had cards closed by Barclays for inactivity (during the height of the credit crisis a few years ago), but they kept the one that I was using actively (even though not every month) open. I'd had that one for several years before.
I think Barclays treats you better if you have a continuous history with them, but even then they are a bit tougher. (By comparison, during that downturn, Chase cut down the credit on a couple of my cards to the bonus, noting that I was using very little credit on them, which was true, but didn't cancel any. But then I never had any cards as inactive with Chase as with Barclays.)
So I can imagine how much tougher they would be for someone with no continuous history with them.
So perhaps it's not your schedule, but what you go after. I mean, what's special about an NFL card, it's just another points card, right?
How do you know they would still have cancelled it if you hadn't kept it in a drawer between promos? There has been talk out there that credit card companies in genearl (without getitng into specific ones) are trying to fiugre out ways of finding people who get cards only for the bonus and never use them for anything else. To the points that those of us who've heard about it recommend at least lightly using such cards for no-bonus-at-all stuff. (If Barclays is watching for that, the promo they targeted you for about the extra 20k may have been in a sense a "trap". I'm not saying it was designed as one, but someone at the bank may been following your participation in promos vs your use of the card outside promos, and seeing another example of you following only promos verified, that may have put a black mark on your account.
Credit card companies rarely make a decision on one factor alone. They don't have to list every factor though. So it could have been "too many accounts opened for other banks" while not using their card much besides for promos.
(My further opinion on the "only for bonuses" issue: A bank whith which you have a card you use at least semi-regularly is likely to not care as much if you occasionally apply for a card which gives you a bonus but you end up not using it after that and then cancelling. But a bank which only experiences the latter and frequenly is not as likely to take it as kindly. Now, the unkindness could take vairous forms: Milder forms might be giving you smaller credit lines, perhaps so small as to make doing spend thresholds difficult! But that's sitll milder than denying you or issuing a card but then revoking it later.)
Dec 7, 2012, 12:43 pm
#14
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: Andover, MA, 01810
Posts: 1,972
If Barclays induces someone to start spending on their card with promises of a bonus, and then yanks the card away before you've spent enough to get the bonus, are they not liable for at least some portion of the bonus? Barclay's behavior in this case seems borderline fraudulent.