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SkyCard's the limit for taking my liberties
With no notice, our SkyCard credit limit was reduced from £7,000 to £1,330. It is now unusable until we pay off the current month's statement. We use the card for much of our monthly expenditure but then pay off the balance every month. We have never missed a payment. When we queried why the limit had been reduced and why no notice was given, we were told that no notice is given in case the cardholder is tempted to go on a spending binge. Or we could have been applying for several cards elsewhere, which is not the case, or it was "how we manage the card". Our suspicion is that we are not deemed profitable customers.
AW, Norwich
Margaret: The SkyCard is run by Barclaycard which makes the lending decisions. I expected Barclaycard to come back with some statement about reducing your credit limit for your own good, an indication that lenders are clawing back whatever they can.
That's what HSBC said to WT of Liverpool, a customer for 40 years, when he complained that his Mastercard limit was cut from £7,600 to £4,000. He rarely spent more than £1,000 and says: "Unlike the banking community, I have not been profligate with other people's money." He believed that a high credit ceiling was a sign that the bank regarded him as responsible and that he is being punished for his prudence.
HSBC confirmed his fears. The bank told me that unused credit card balances pose a debt risk to customers and last November it reduced the limits of 5,500 cardholders. They didn't use it so they had to lose it. These customers do not spend up to the ceiling, so I don't understand why the bank should think they would suddenly go on a spending binge while other customers, who do borrow as much as they possibly can, would not. That's bank logic, I guess.
WT could ask the bank to restore his limit but his only argument would be that he wanted to spend a lot of money, which would confirm the bank's fears that he has become reckless.
Your situation is different. Although Barclaycard gave you a similar story, that was not the real reason your limit was slashed. The bank told you that "many different factors were taken into account" when deciding to reduce your limit. They weren't - because no one had actually taken a decision to cut your credit. An investigation revealed that in fact a faulty computer was responsible for the damage. Your credit limit has now been restored.
My husband was hit for ex's excesses in joint account
My husband opened a joint Abbey cheque account with his previous partner some time ago. He has not used this account for the past four years but he still gets statements from the bank. Then he started getting letters to say that the account was overdrawn and now the bank says he has exceeded the overdraft limit and demands the debt be repaid immediately. He visited Abbey, then wrote saying he does not use the account and asked the bank to remove his name. Abbey suggested he meets his ex-partner at the branch to sort it out but we know she won't agree to this. The bank will do nothing and my husband is worried that she will run up even more debt and he will be responsible for it.
AG, London
Margaret: Either partner in a joint bank account can be asked to pay up if one of them defaults, so your husband is right to want his name taken off the account if his ex-partner has debt problems. From a bank's point of view, though, it is preferable to have two people to chase for a debt rather than one.
Abbey says it can use its discretion in individual cases and can remove a joint account holder's name if it believes that person has not been using the account for some time and did not contribute to the overdraft.
The bank wrote to your husband's ex-partner, giving her 21 days to reply if she disagreed that he had had nothing to do with the account for the past few years. If she did object, she would have to prove that he had contributed to the debt. After 21 days she had not responded so Abbey has now removed your husband's name from the account and he is clear of all responsibility for the overdraft.
No copy of my personal data
In summer 2006, Lloyds TBS paid two direct debits without my authority. In October that year, I phoned and the bank agreed to waive the charges. The call was recorded. The following January, I spoke to a man who agreed to waive one charge and send me a bunch of flowers with a copy of the tape. I did not receive the flowers or the tape.
JW, Cardiff
Margaret: You can make a subject access request under the Data Protection Act although banks are required to hold personal information only "for as long as necessary". You can hear recorded conversations either played over the telephone or ask to be sent a hard copy. Lloyds TSB would not have kept this recording for over two years but it had promised to send you a copy long before.
The bank says it could not provide the recording when you first asked because of technical problems. It has now conducted an exhaustive search for the tape and finally admitted that it is lost. So it has to accept that you are correct and has waived all the charges.
Anyone who is unhappy about recorded personal information can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.gov.uk or call 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45.
My executor's account is not as intelligent as I'd like
I opened a savings account within my Intelligent Finance (IF) plan to administer my late father's estate. He died in March. By summer, I had dealt with most of the estate and received a tax rebate for £1,126 from HM Revenue & Customs which I paid into the account. IF returned the cheque, saying it does not accept executor cheques to personal accounts.
When I opened the account, I explained what it was for, called the account "father's estate", and have already paid in several cheques made out to me as executor. My wife had no problems when she did the same for her father with the same IF account.
VS, Cheltenham
Margaret: You could pay in cheques made out in your name alone, even if they related to your father's estate. It's the word "executor" that causes problems because that shows you are holding the money for the estate and not on your own account. On the phone, someone at IF advised you to return the cheque to the Revenue and ask for the money to be sent electronically, which it cannot do. So for this one last cheque, you will have to find a bank offering executor trust accounts because IF doesn't.
IF admits it should not have accepted the previous cheque for your father's estate and has sent you £50 to apologise and to compensate for lost interest on the tax refund.
• Email Margaret Dibben at money.writes@observer.co.uk or write to Margaret Dibben, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU and include a telephone number. Do not enclose SAEs or original documents. Letters are selected for publication and we cannot give personal replies. The newspaper accepts no legal responsibility for advice.
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