HansGolden

I am FURIOUS at Barclays. Applied for another one of their cards and got denied for that card AND they shut down my $5k US Airways card as I was trying to persuade the reconsideration people to approve my new card (which was not a US card). I have a lot of spend with other banks. I always pay my CCs every month in full. 99%+ is real spend, not schemes. Only real debt is $9k on a car loan and that's only because I have it at 3% and can make way more than 3% annually with that capital. I am very, very, very unhappy. That closed card is a black mark. And I even offered to close the US card before they said anything about closing, so they're being dishonest in the credit report by saying that they closed the card. Of course, in the same app o rama, Chase approved me for two cards, BoA approved me for two cards, and Citi approved me for one card. I am going to raise a big stink through every avenue I can with this. If it was just Barclay's shooting themselves in the foot by chasing off a big spender, that would be one thing; I'd let them shoot themselves in the foot, no prob. But if they're dishonestly putting black marks on my CR, I'm fighting back.

(I was very, very polite up until the point they closed that card and refused to mark it as voluntary closure. At that point I told that credit analyst in a very calm, firm, annoyed voice that there's a reason Barclay's is a little backwater credit card bank issuer while Citi and Chase and Amex rake in the big bucks.)

If anyone has any tips on fighting back, I'm all for it. Here are my first couple of steps:

1. Sending a box (yes a box) to the office of the President calmly laying out all the reasons that denying me credit in the first place was wrong. The box would also include a copy of all my CC statements for last 5 years showing annual spend of $100k+ per bank and prompt payment on time every time for last five years.
2. Letter would name and shame the foolish analysts (Ryan was initial analyst, Christine was supervisor he consulted, and whom I later spoke with)
3. Will work with the bloggers to do a cautionary write-up, including all the empirical evidence that underpins the story
4. Will shop the story to both personal finance columnists (who review and comment upon credit cards) as well as stock analysts who analyze bank stocks (such as Barclays)
5. Will dispute the involuntary closure charge with all three credit bureas

Any other ideas?

In the meantime, be very cautious with Barclays. They are dangerous. I used to think the worst they could do was eat up a hard inquiry and deny me. Wrong. They will go out of their way to do damage to your credit report. If they don't feel like taking the "risk" on you, they want to make sure other banks don't reap the benefits of their mistake.

longhorn11

Sorry you are going through this. For what it's worth having the account shown as "closed by credit grantor" won't have any impact on your score. The only way it might have an impact would be if someone does a manual review of your credit report. I would fight anyways to get it reversed just for personal satisfaction.

Also I've heard Barclays is not a fan of multiple cc apps and people seeking credit. They give small CLs (at least from what I've seen) relative to Chase/Citi and the only "decent" product they have is the US Air card.

Good luck with the fight and report back on what happens. Also here's a number you might be able to use: 866-408-4064, it goes directly to a credit analyst.

HansGolden

Thanks a lot for the info! I'm surprised to hear that as I explicitly remember reading one of the main bloggers around here saying it did hurt your score. (Obviously they're not the last word, but I do regard them as semi-authoritative.) If you're right, then this isn't worth pursuing. Like I said, it's their privilege to shoot themselves in the foot and I respect any business' decision to not do business with me. However, if they go out and damage me when I have paid all my bills on time, then I will fight. Could you provide any further references on this issue? Thanks again for your time. I will do some Googling myself, as well.

longhorn11

Here is an article from credit.about.com:

http://credit.about.com/od/creditrep...ecardscore.htm

There are also quite a few threads on myfico.com and creditboards.com.

From what I've seen most of the bloggers are good with reporting deals but their credit knowledge seems to be lacking a bit. Since I've started reading the main ones, I've noticed quite a few inaccurate statements as far as credit scoring and reporting goes. The only one that I would trust would be Rick from FTG since he was in the field for so many years.

HansGolden

Wow. I owe you one. I will enjoy my trip to Peru (leaving in a few hours in UA J with the whole fam!) much more now that I'm no longer stewing at Barclays. Thank you so much! ^^

(I'll also drop a line to all the bloggers regarding this particular bit of CR knowledge, to ensure they don't repeat that again.)

longhorn11

No problem! Sounds like a fun trip, safe travels!

TravelMutt

I've gone through a ton of pages in this thread, and it seems people are churning this card while keeping their existing card.

I received my card in July 2011. I have 40K+ in my US Airways account.

I want to cancel the card now, and re-apply when Grand Slam comes later this year (6-7 months). This churn seems to be more likely to pull off than the 2nd card churn most people are doing, right?

I'm not risking the 40K in my USA account, am I?

beltway

Two opposing schools of thought on this. Personally, I treat Barclays like Chase: your existing CL is a bargaining chip, one you shouldn't give up for nothing. A year ago, I got my 2d Barclays card (and first Premier World MC) by agreeing to move CL from my older no-fee card.

That said, it's also apparent from the various reports here that Barclays is inconsistent (if not downright arbitrary and capricious) in denying people a 2d card. And I don't recall seeing anyone report that they were turned down when their app followed cancellation of the previous card by a few months.

Other than the T&C fine print requiring use of the card at least once every 6 months, there's no legal basis for any clawback. And I don't think we've seen any reports of this happening as a result of acct closure.

amolkold

Thanks for this reminder, I haven't used the card since November.

Mile-a-holic

Do you mind sharing how many new inquiries you had?

TheAJ

This is the first card that I've applied for ever that also gave my credit score. Although there was a 30 pt difference between the officail score and what Credit Karma says (760 vs 788).

Does any other issuer do this?

ma91pmh

on my last app-o-rama discover and amex also provided this. they are all all over the chart

glennaa11

My card just turned a year old. When I signed up one of the reasons was to get this 10K miles anniversary bonus each year. That is worth the $89 to me and there are some other features of the card that work since I fly US a couple of times a year. I just got the statement with the annual fee billed, but no indication of the 10K miles. It seems like that should be on the statement under the rewards section. When should I expect those miles to get credited?

beltway

Not until after the annual fee is paid & the next billing cycle closes.

TorontoSingh

Also I would like to add that it is possible to move your credit limit from one Barclay card to the other before closing the US Airways card. This may be better that just closing the account outright since you will have leverage when applying for your next US Airways or other Barclay cards if your application requires manual aproval.