Barclays overdrafts overhaul. Is it better or worse for you?

BexTech

Finance101 wrote: »

The personal reserve won't affect me because I keep my overdraft low and hardly use it. I opted out as soon as I noticed that I had been given the personal reserve. It would have made more sense for the Personal Reserve to be an opt-in, not opt-out, facility.

So if someone uses £100 from their personal reserve and they have to pay £22 for each 5 days, that's 22% interest for each 5 consecutive days. Would it not be better to increase one's overdraft limit instead?

If you can get the overdraft limit extended, then yes that would be a better solution, however most customers can't get the overdraft limit extended further, in this case it works out cheaper for most people to then be hit with the personal reserve than the old charging structure if they go past the overdraft.

The best solution however is to simply cut back on all expenses to make sure you are no where near your overdraft and if that means cancelling the broadband, cancelling the phone, cancelling the subscription TV, cancelling the mobile etc etc then so be it.

caroline1988

Natan358 wrote: »

I work in a barclays call centre and we were told about this new reserve a while back in preparation, when i received the letter about the reserve on my account i thought it made perfect sense, i dont have a degree in english or maths but it clearly outlined how the reserve works, yet people are on here saying things like £22 per day, seriously it makes my head hurt when i realise that simple english cannot be understood, and common sense should play a part here, anyway, the old method of £30 per day up to 3 charges per month meant up to £90 per month, and on top of that £35 charges for unpaid ddr (direct debits) and that was unlimited, so could be hundreds of pounds depending on the amount of ddrs you have on different days. The new method: £22 per 5 days so effectively up to £88 per month and then on top of that £8 per unpaid ddr, but thats a lot cheaper than £35. Now even though it will now be £8 per every transaction/ddr that means you would have to bounce 4 ddrs each day for it to be nearer the equivalent to the old system, so somebody please tell me how the new system is worse, just for the record i hate banks i only bank partially with barclays because i have to, staff policy, but this new method is better than the old. In a lot of instances this will save people money, and although its not great its an improvement and definetly better than some banks which charge up to £39 for going overdrawn.

Just so that people understand it wont be 6 lots of £22 because its working days, so if the 5 days start on the tuesday you have up to monday, and the saturday and sunday will be able to use the reserve, or you should be able to anyway thats what i have been told. So its most likely 4 lots of £22 which is where i got the £88 from

P.S. Barclays cannot give refunds anymore on the phone on demand unless it is a bank error, so unfortunately watch out people because the adviser is not being mean, we just dont have the authority to anymore, its been wiped out of our system.

We cannot refund in the branches now either unless it is a bank error. This system does work out cheaper than the old one and gives customers alternative options. Also if people decide to opt out Barclays have increased their buffer to £15 rather than the £5 previously so customers will not get charged for going up to this amount overdrawn. Again this is all in the letters which have been sent out which nobody seems to read!!!

esmerellda

caroline1988 wrote: »

We cannot refund in the branches now either unless it is a bank error. This system does work out cheaper than the old one and gives customers alternative options. Also if people decide to opt out Barclays have increased their buffer to £15 rather than the £5 previously so customers will not get charged for going up to this amount overdrawn. Again this is all in the letters which have been sent out which nobody seems to read!!!

Just wanted to clear that up.

If you OPT out and have a balance of £10 credit /available in authorised overdraft and a £20 DD goes out - Barclays will pay it....which costs £8 for going to unauthorised overdraft. If it was a DD for £30 they would return it and charge £8.

If you OPT in and have a balance of £10 credit/available in authorised overdraft and a £100 personal reserve, and a £20 DD goes out, they pay it and charges you £22 for going into your personal reserve. If it was a DD for £30 they would pay it and charge you £22 for going into your personal reserve.

Is that right?

maz1964

Well guys , i shall now def be putting my barclays charges claim in with interest and let it sit in the system at the court, so what happens from now on, will barclays be able to say you cant claim for these charges from the 18 August 2008 because now we have made it cheaper . clearer, more friendlier, ect ect ,

so im asking guys, will this mean after the 18 august 2008, we really are not going to be able to claim for any charges that we go into the reserve account?

so like some other posters, its time to wake up people - let us take control back for our lives and not get into any overdrawn position. Even if it means cancelleing direct debits and then having to reinstate them

ive had to do this, i asked barclays to increase my overdraft just to cover my dd for today, they faffed about and so cancelled 3 direct debits so i dont pay them the charges and now i will call the companies again to reset up again for next month but will ensure i dont get into this position again, albeit i was on course to be okay but the dss will not pay in incapacity benefit until wed so instead they should have paid 2 weeks ago, and now paying me 4 weeks in one go, so my budget went a bit awry this week.

I now REFUSE to be caught out, even if i have to do what ive done this week, well let it be its going to be cheaper calling the companies again to reset up and pay with my debit card the due amounts then allow the bank to charge me what they would have done.

anyway rant over sorry guys but from this weekend i realised like martin says loyalty is a lost cause with anyone who you owe money to, and always get the best you can from anyone who you have to pay money to, how very true,

as a customer of nearly 15 years , i only asked them to cover my dd' s for tomorrow and they just let me down, so yeah also i dont appear to have a reserve anyway , so couldnt use it even after the branch told me to use my reserve instead, they were gobsmacked i didnt have a reserve! well i dont appear to have had my letter so guess im not having one, and i dont want one cos i will be clearing my overdraft as soon as possible anyway as im taking back control of my financial dealings.

thats we all must try and do, look after yourselves

ciao have a fun bank holiday MAZ

Finance101_2

Barclays has been going on about the Personal Reserve being beneficial for the customer. I think Barclays is trying to hoodwink its customers. The APR on authorised overdrafts has increased by about 2% and standard current account holders will no longer receive that 0.1% monthly interest if they are in credit. If you want any interest on your credit balances, you'll have to get one of the fee-paying current accounts they've been trying to flog to their customers for ages. Or take your business elsewhere.

TheEffect

Finance101 wrote: »

Barclays has been going on about the Personal Reserve being beneficial for the customer. I think Barclays is trying to hoodwink its customers. The APR on authorised overdrafts has increased by about 2% and standard current account holders will no longer receive that 0.1% monthly interest if they are in credit. If you want any interest on your credit balances, you'll have to get one of the fee-paying current accounts they've been trying to flog to their customers for ages. Or take your business elsewhere.

I, and I'm sure many others, will be going with the latter.

Chrysalis

what about bounced payments do they still levy a fixed fee? thats not explained.

maz1964

Hiya guys, have i misread the ad and all the hype for the Barclays reserve???

i thought that this was the new way of helping its customers thats if you actually are given the new reserve account amount, i havent neither has my husband, as we have not had any letters,

so after my query with them, they told me no i havent been offered it and i will have to apply if i wish and the amount would only be for 150.00 if i get it,

i declined it as i think its going to be okay for some customers but i think i will be better off to be in the black without any overdraft to rely on. So im making my next quest to rid us of our overdraft just keep it on for emergencies. Guess thats what it was intended for but as life keeps kicking , it was like forever being used.

So fellow people, i urge you to relook at your own finances and if you can do all you can to pay any overdraft back, because i really think this reserve may not be the wonderful thing its being broadcast to be.

Barclays after 15 years being a customer, declined my temporary ov/draft for 2 weeks overdraft of an increase of 400.00 today, so now ive reassed my finances, if you cant help a customer like me on a temporary position, you wont help me if i ever got into really dire problems.

Im going to move our bills account which has no overdraft position to the co op get ourselves a 100.00 bonus, claim our bank charges on 2 accounts let them sit in the queue at the court and then move my 2nd account out in the future.

Another customer unhappy and will be moving my accounts pronto.

They declare to be helpful towards their customers but i didnt get that help today so am taking my business elsewhere.

Good luck to all, have a good day ciao for now

MAZ

ps am aiming to have self reliance from now on, today has proved more than ever what Martin always tells us - Loyalty does NOT PAY.!

bagpuss606

Oh dear. I thought they'd increased my overdraft limit. So I took my girlfriend out for a meal. And I bought some shopping for my mate. Saw a film too... but I think she paid. And now I'm £160 over my limit (having racked up a massive £200 agreed overdraft these two crazy years at Uni) which is a good bit more than the cash I've got on me.

The £22s I've seen before - but didn't they used to be monthly? The counter staff couldn't explain the £8s but I've figured those out now... they must be "Guaranteed" charges. They said I should extend my overdraft.

The student adviser didn't want to know. No chance of a temporary overdraft extension till term starts and the loan comes in. I haven't been working, so it's a "dormant account". Fair enough. (She was bloody rude but that was kind of refreshing).

But if they're not going to give me credit when I ask for it, when I need it, why did they give me credit when I didn't need it, or ask for it?

Should have read the small print, of course - of course, every time - but it's going to cost me at least 3 weeks' rent and more if the loan's late. Fair trading, my !!!!. I'm ditching Barclays asap and then I'm going to ask for my money back. Wish I had a job though.

withabix

In conjunction with the introduction of Personal Reserve, Barclays seem to be reducing overdraft limits - presumably to make it more likely that they can harvest those profit-making account charges.

I've had an overdraft limit of £3700 for years. For the last three years, I've rarely gone overdrawn, although I have to say I use the overdraft in preference to my credit cards for major purchases (ie ones I'm not going to pay off straight away) as my overdraft APR is only 9.9%, my lowest credit card being 16.9%.

Suddenly I get a letter from Barclays this week saying my overdraft limit is being reduced by 50% to £1850 I'm guessing the next letter will give me a personal reserve of £150 to top up to £2000....

They seem to be doing the same with Barclaycard as well...At the same time as my main credit provider (John Lewis) increases my limit, Barclaycard have reduced them. My Mastercard limit hasn't been touched YET, but my Visa card has now been reduced to a 'really useful' £300 I don't even plant to use my Barclaycards except in emergency due to them having high APRs.

My finances are in a better state thean they have been EVER in my life - the only money I owe is my mortgage (incuding car loan as further borrowing at mortgage APR over four years - cheapest way to do it and funded by my employer anyway) yet my creditworthiness seems to be dropping!!

Maybe I'm not borrowing ENOUGH to keep them happy? :rolleyes: