Capital One cuts borrowing limits amid unemployment aid stalemate

Capital One is cutting borrowing limits on credit cards as stimulus talks remain at a stalemate with additional unemployment aid for Americans hanging in the balance.

"Capital One periodically reviews accounts based on a variety of factors and may make changes to existing credit lines," a spokesperson told FOX Business. "In this case, our decision was based on customers’ account activity over the last year. All credit limits were kept significantly above the highest balance of the past year to ensure that customers can continue to use the card as they have been, and provide flexibility for future spending." 

 It was not immediately clear how many customers would be affected by the change.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
COF	CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORP.	185.12	+2.12	+1.16%

The move comes as credit lenders have warned in recent weeks that they would have to take action to mitigate risk if cardholders are forced to borrow more to make ends meet due to the loss of unemployment aid. 

MORE THAN 30 STATES PREPARING TO OFFER TRUMP'S $300-A-WEEK UNEMPLOYMENT BOOST

Many Capital One customers took to social media upon learning about the new change to express their frustration. 

"They just cut down my limit by 3/4," one user tweeted. "They must be prepping for massive debt in 2021."

Some customers have already said they've seen the change negatively impact their credit score.

"Hey cool that Capital One just took it upon themselves to lower my credit limit by $5k for non-use, aka dropping my credit score by 30 puts b/c I don't want to carry debt," one user wrote. "Super helpful."

Another user replied saying they would be be "shopping for lenders with different approaches to customer appreciation."

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Despite millions of Americans losing the $600 enhanced unemployment benefit in July to help make ends meet, President Trump signed an executive order earlier this month to allocate $44 billion from the Disaster Relief Fund towards a $300-a-week boost in weekly unemployment benefits.

At least 34 states have been approved to offer the unemployment aid, which is expected to last until the money in the fund runs out, or through Dec. 6, 2020. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates the money will last for about five weeks.

According to the latest report from the Department of Labor, a little over 1 million people filed for unemployment benefits for the week ending Aug. 22, a decrease of 98,000 from the previous week. 

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Fox Business' Megan Henney contributed to this report.