NatWest Credit card warning
Discussion
My NatWest mastercard has been declined the past two times I've used it. I've been into the bank, got a print out of my last transactions to check I have funds available and they had no idea why it was declined.
I phoned NatWest and was told that NatWest reassessed all credit cards and canceled a load which they say don't meet their new lending criteria with no warning! A letter has been sent out but this was after the card was canceled!
The irritating thing is my account was actually in credit by a few pounds! I was told that they could arrange a cheque, but in effect my money has been taken away from me. I travel a lot and often load several hundread pounds on the account as the Mastercard can be used all over where as my debit card isn't so widely accepted. This could have just as easily got me then.
Now it's not the end of the world for me but I can imagin there are a lot of people going to get a big surprise when they try to use their cards over the weekend.
Seems a cruel way to do things especially as it's bank holiday weekend and the end of the month when people need it the most.
I phoned NatWest and was told that NatWest reassessed all credit cards and canceled a load which they say don't meet their new lending criteria with no warning! A letter has been sent out but this was after the card was canceled!
The irritating thing is my account was actually in credit by a few pounds! I was told that they could arrange a cheque, but in effect my money has been taken away from me. I travel a lot and often load several hundread pounds on the account as the Mastercard can be used all over where as my debit card isn't so widely accepted. This could have just as easily got me then.
Now it's not the end of the world for me but I can imagin there are a lot of people going to get a big surprise when they try to use their cards over the weekend.
Seems a cruel way to do things especially as it's bank holiday weekend and the end of the month when people need it the most.
Parrot of Doom said:
Do you pay your CC off in full every month? Not much money for them in that.
But equally costs them almost nothing to service the account, and someone who pays off monthly is always likely to be someone who will use the credit at some point in their lives.
Sound very bizarre.
-DeaDLocK- said:
Parrot of Doom said:
Do you pay your CC off in full every month? Not much money for them in that.
But equally costs them almost nothing to service the account, and someone who pays off monthly is always likely to be someone who will use the credit at some point in their lives.
Sound very bizarre.
Indeed, and it's hardly as if someone who does pay their CC bill in full every month is likely to suddenly 'become' a bad risk. CC issuers should have no problems offering credit to such customers - customers who pose no risk but will potentially borrow large sums in time.
ehyouwhat said:
-DeaDLocK- said:
Parrot of Doom said:
Do you pay your CC off in full every month? Not much money for them in that.
But equally costs them almost nothing to service the account, and someone who pays off monthly is always likely to be someone who will use the credit at some point in their lives.
Sound very bizarre.
Indeed, and it's hardly as if someone who does pay their CC bill in full every month is likely to suddenly 'become' a bad risk. CC issuers should have no problems offering credit to such customers - customers who pose no risk but will potentially borrow large sums in time.
I have almost always paid of my Natwest C on time and they keep upping the limit each year or whenever I have asked so I doubt this is a reason.
ehyouwhat said:
-DeaDLocK- said:
Parrot of Doom said:
Do you pay your CC off in full every month? Not much money for them in that.
But equally costs them almost nothing to service the account, and someone who pays off monthly is always likely to be someone who will use the credit at some point in their lives.
Sound very bizarre.
Indeed, and it's hardly as if someone who does pay their CC bill in full every month is likely to suddenly 'become' a bad risk. CC issuers should have no problems offering credit to such customers - customers who pose no risk but will potentially borrow large sums in time.
it's not about being a bad risk, it's about whether tyhey are likely to make money out of you. if you've owned a credit card for say 3 years and never paid them any interest through your own good financial management then they will quite likely put you on a list to monitor. when a cost-cutting round comes in they'll look at your account and others like it and come to the conclusion that you're costing them money rather than earning them money so they are quite likely to withdraw the line of credit.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
I find the levels of credit limits that CC companies provide are quite disturbing.
I currently have around 1.6k outstanding across 2 cards.
A quick calculation of credit "available" to me means i could pop out this afternoon and spend another £30k.
Very scary really.
PetrolTed said:
Still seems short sighted. Someone who manages their money that well is likely to use other services from the same bank unless the bank annoys them... by doing things like this.
banks often outsource the management/administration of their credit cards to companies who don't tend to see it that way...
it's either upping the limit to tempt you in to that previously-unattainable purchase, or withdrawing the credit.
card companies make money on the card transactions but not enough to justify (generally) the cost of maintaining an account for someone's convenience.
meeja said:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
I find the levels of credit limits that CC companies provide are quite disturbing.
I currently have around 1.6k outstanding across 2 cards.
A quick calculation of credit "available" to me means i could pop out this afternoon and spend another £30k.
Very scary really.
it's very easy to play the system if you know how.
for instance, although my credit history is only 6 years long, I could transfer nearly 55k* in to my current account and then miss 4 or 5 payments and go through an IVA...and end up repaying approximately 18k interest free.
*I have high limits because I always rate-tart about and they increase my limits to try and tempt me back
meeja said:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
I find the levels of credit limits that CC companies provide are quite disturbing.
I currently have around 1.6k outstanding across 2 cards.
A quick calculation of credit "available" to me means i could pop out this afternoon and spend another £30k.
Very scary really.
I could nip into town today and spend 1.5 times my annual salary on cards I've had for years, bearly ever use and the limit just keeps increasing on each one. 
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