(1888PressRelease)
January 15, 2008 - Poll Reveals 73% of credit card companies increase credit without asking
In a recent poll it was revealed that 73% of credit card companies increased the borrower’s credit limit without asking.
The worse offenders were Barclaycard who polled 15% of the vote closely followed by Virgin on an equal 15% with joint 3rd shared between Egg, MasterCard, Morgan Stanley and MBNA.
Despite assurances by card companies that they are tightening their belts and not encouraging reckless spending and debt this appears to be far from the case.
Ian Broadmore of surviving-bankruptcy.co.uk said;
“By upping the limit on a card they are basically offering an enticement to spend more thereby locking you into more and more debt. It takes a strong will to avoid dipping into the credit when your short of cash and cant afford life’s basics like food rent and utility bills.
We have had many e mails from people who fell into the credit card trap who did not request a higher limit but were given it anyway.
My own experience years ago lead me to believe this is standard industry practice that continues to this day.
Credit card companies should be held to task by not increasing a limit unless requested by the cardholder and even then only after requesting a full financial statement of income, expenditure and other loans. There have even been cases of cards being issued with ridiculous high limits when the card holder was on benefits and clearly unable to pay back the minimum payments if the limit was reached.
One of the problems lies in that most people live beyond their means and want the latest gadget or gizmo. They see wealthy people on TV or the papers and think “I want some of that”, unfortunately due to easy credit it leads to a fast road to financial ruin.
www.surviving-bankruptcy.co.uk
www.ianbroadmore.com
