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AIBU?

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Original poster

Credit Card Help, Can anyone advise?

120 replies

CreditCardHelp · 18/09/2019 13:37

I paid my credit card off in full 2 days ago, and I've just had a text to say they have decreased my limit. I now 2grand vanished into thin air, which is my money to survive on for the next 3 months. I have always paid more than my monthly minimum payments and an advisor I spoke to 4 weeks ago said that my account was looking good and it was being managed really well. As I'm a student, I pay off my balance in full every 3 months when my loan comes through the live on that, always paying my minimum payments off.
My credit score hasn't changed, there is no reason why they would do this. I now have been left 100 pounds to last me 3 months. They have passed it into complaints and say it can take up to 8 weeks to get back to me. Can they do this? The guy on the phone said they may be able to compensate me if it's left me in financial hadrship, which it has. I'm really worried about this now, and worrying that I will have to drop out of uni. They have me no warning that they had any concerns with my account, they just did it today.
Has this happened to anyone and what happened when they reviewed it?

OP posts:
adaline · 18/09/2019 17:12

Unfortunately living off a credit card is a huge risk as you're not always going to be guaranteed access to your credit - as you've just realised.

I'm surprised you don't qualify for a student account - I got one at 18 as my first proper bank account and didn't have any kind of credit history. Have you really tried every single bank? I went with NatWest and they were excellent - I'm still with them now.

dementedpixie · 18/09/2019 17:12

That's the first time you've told us the current credit limit. The issue is that they haven't done anything wrong as you owed them that money. I'd try an alternative bank for a student account. What year of uni are you in?

pjmask · 18/09/2019 17:14

I paid off my balance with half of my student loan. I didn't realise that paying off my credit balance was a stupid thing to do

It isn't. All your intentions were spot on but your mistake was probably putting large amounts on it if it's a credit builder card. Don't waste any more energy trying to get their decision reversed - it won't work. Apply for another credit builder card and work up slowly. Go and see student support in November and leave the credit card out of it. Just explain that with your UC has been cut drastically and you can't meet your living expenses.

It's easy for outsiders to criticise and judge but I take my hat off to a single mum studying full-time and living on the breadline due to a UC fuck up. And trying to build up your credit score is a sensible thing to do, especially if you need a loan for a MA

Lockheart · 18/09/2019 17:33

If you can't work because the course is full time, is there any option to move to part time so you can work to support yourself? It will take longer, but at the moment it sounds like maybe you can't afford to be a full time student.

Original poster
CreditCardHelp · 18/09/2019 17:41

No that's not an option for me. If worse comes to worse I'll just have to not go to lectures and work those days and try and catch up best I can in the evenings.

OP posts:
adaline · 18/09/2019 17:48

Do you have any other income other than your student loan? Can you not get a job somewhere on campus or somewhere in the evenings doing bar work?

Original poster
CreditCardHelp · 18/09/2019 17:55

No I can't. I'm going to have to skip lectures and work during the day.

OP posts:
IAmALazyArse · 18/09/2019 18:04

If you plan on skipping lectures to work it might seriously be better to change into part time so you don't have to

adaline · 18/09/2019 18:06

That's not really feasible, is it?

Why can you not work evenings or early mornings somewhere?

IAmALazyArse · 18/09/2019 18:07

Also. Are you 100% certain you can't get Masters student finance?

Original poster
CreditCardHelp · 18/09/2019 18:07

Because of my child, I've already said.

OP posts:
IAmALazyArse · 18/09/2019 18:09

And. Have you applied for childcare grant?

MissLadyM · 18/09/2019 18:09

Tbh they've done you a favour

adaline · 18/09/2019 18:12

Sorry OP, I missed where you said you had a child.

It sounds like you can't afford to be a full-time student at the moment - that's the case for a lot of single parents who don't have considerable support from family. I'm sorry if you don't feel that's an option but at the moment you can't afford to live.

Wurlysurly · 18/09/2019 18:12

Ask for the payment you made to be returned. Tell them the payment has put you into financial hardship and you'd like the full amount refunded. I work in the credit card servicing department for a large bank, we come across this often.

Shoxfordian · 18/09/2019 18:14

Living off credit is just living in debt op

Original poster
CreditCardHelp · 18/09/2019 18:16

@Wurlysurly that's what I'm hoping for. Then I can arrange to pay them monthly. The guy on the phone did say they cant put me in financial hardship.

OP posts:
IronicalCallSign · 18/09/2019 18:17

But asking for her payment to be returned isn't going to solve anything long term... It doesn't fix the root cause. Which is, op has been getting into debt to fund basic living costs.

Op, paying off the credit card is a good idea. You do know that unless it's a zero percent interest card (which will have special t&c anyway) you're paying to service the debt?

I honestly think your cc provider has done you a huge favour, you don't seem to understand credit cards are for emergencies, or buyer protection on larger purchases, or points if you are a savvy consumer. You're not in that financial position, you also don't have the credit score or experience to exploit them to work for YOU.

I think if you continue like this you're going to end up in massive debt without anything to show for it. Please listen to my warning.

adaline · 18/09/2019 18:22

The guy on the phone did say they cant put me in financial hardship.

You're already in financial hardship by living off credit every month.

Wurlysurly · 18/09/2019 18:22

Fingers crossed for you that they do the right thing. If not honestly the best advice I can give you is not to back down.

PookieDo · 18/09/2019 18:33

Some of the other posters have given good advice, sorry to add to this to say this is a lesson learned that the credit builders should not be used to live off, as they have horrific rates it can only take one slip up to find yourself spiralling into debt

Firstly why do you have bad credit? A credit card will only do so much for you if you have defaults on your account. Those 100 points are probably all you will get out of one. You will never get to excellent just on a credit card IME

I had a credit builder card some years ago I ended up having to take out a Ratesetter loan to clear because I couldn’t keep up with the repayments + interest. I ended up clearing it a lot faster that way. I then had to make a big purchase (carpets) so I put them onto a 0% card and have been paying it off that way.

I now have about £400 on a 0% card for 20 months but I don’t need it to live off and don’t put living expenses on it - if I had to, I would only do the minimum and only on a long term 0% rate for purchase too. This is how CC’s work best, otherwise they are dangerous

Options I can see is asking for it all back but only if you can move the balance to a 0% card to give you longer to pay off

Working more hours

Talking to uni

Don’t get a loan either

BanginChoons · 18/09/2019 18:35

I'm a single parent student too so sympathise, it's hard going. I agree with trying to get a student overdraft, the university hardship fund is definitely worth a go, they make special consideration for students who will have to leave their course due to financial hardship. If the credit card company doesn't reconsider is it possible to intermit as opposed to leave? What money are you getting in the meantime? Are you receiving child benefit/universal credit?
Good luck op. There will be a way to resolve this.

margotsdevil · 18/09/2019 18:43

I don't understand how you were intending to make your monthly payments if you now have only £100 to last 3 months? If you say you repay c £200 per month surely you have that money available to spend too?

Original poster
CreditCardHelp · 18/09/2019 18:46

I have really bad credit history because I ended up homeless as a teen and took out a load of credit cards to get by. I didn't pay them for years. I paid them all off 2 years ago and I have no defaults on my account according to my clear score app. No late payments, No CCJ's etc. I'm hoping this is all down to just some weird error as literally notching has changed for the past year. The increased my limit 5 months ago and all of the minimum payments have been maid with extra ontop. I know I've probably gone about it all ass about tit, but I'm just trying to make my life better for my daughter. I refuse to quit my degree and get stuck in a minimum wage job. I'll figure something out. My lectures are recorded, so it is possible to just stay up and watch them at night if I have to.

OP posts:
Original poster
CreditCardHelp · 18/09/2019 18:47

I have 100 pounds on my credit card. My current account has just over a grand but that will last a month at most.

OP posts:
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