Paging any Barclays experts...

So_Sad_Angel · 29 November 2008 at 3:37AM

moneysavingallday wrote: »

Can we have all this in normal English please? We don't all work at Barclays:rotfl:

LOL Sorry , Really just saying that its all done by computer these days ( you all knew that anyway)...but not everything on a screen reflects the true situation as BM rightly points out. ( GCR is a team that looks after the basic risk cases ) .

moneysavingallday · 29 November 2008 at 3:38AM

So because my income is quite high and I only spend around 1/2 of it each month (the rest sits in current acccount or is sweeped to savings account), Barclays' computers are gonna me offering me all sorts of goodies no doubt. LOL. Their computer might start really liking me.

So_Sad_Angel · 29 November 2008 at 3:44AM

moneysavingallday wrote: »

So because my income is quite high and I only spend around 1/2 of it each month (the rest sits in current acccount or is sweeped to savings account), Barclays' computers are gonna me offering me all sorts of goodies no doubt. LOL. Their computer might start really liking me.

Thats very possible indeed ! Remember though there are better interest rates out there!!:rotfl:

Extant · 29 November 2008 at 4:23AM

So_Sad_Angel wrote: »

You are correct in many assumptions there BM..

Where I agree the computer generated `answer` is based on ERA (electronic limits)& a range of computer based info, ...I must admit that the `old school` of properly assessing a case , knowing your client & using more than just the computer to come to a lending decision would offer the Bank a stronger `safety net` to avoid bad debt rather than lending where it is just the computer generated output. I guess its the `cut costs & leave it up to the computer` brigade rule in the real world these days..

Still I`m out of it now thankfully but having worked at higher level I can appreciate what the sellers are going through right now .

Great to meet you on here anyway!!

Take care, Angiexx

Thankfully I'm out of the branch now, as well. Sat on level 9 now. Nice, but windows need a bit of a clean.

The real issue with the lending officers was the inconsistency on it, which is presumably why all discretion disappeared from retail. You could go into one branch and get a no, then go down the road and get a yes! And of course, things being what they were, it helped a bit if you showed some leg.

Although yes, there is the issue of cost cutting. One thing that my team is working on now is the eventual "service enhancement" for Payment Services London, and cutting down the manual processing to a minimum, allowing as many to be automatic as possible. Naturally, the KYC is a nightmare and trying to foist all the different fraud checks etc. off onto the branch or onto a computer is just as bad.

Extant · 29 November 2008 at 5:02AM

moneysavingallday wrote:

Can we have all this in normal English please? We don't all work at Barclays :rotfl:

ERA limits - these are the "pre-approved" limits that you can see in branch. If you have one of these showing, you should be able to have the product there and then, no questions asked. ERA is the name of the system that calculates them.

GCR - Generalist Credit Retail. This is the department that reviews appealed applications if the customer or branch challenges the computer generated limit (or lack there of). They also look at CIFAS refers and various other things. There is another team, Detect, which picks up on suspected fraudulent activity.

FHR - Financial History Report. This shows your credit and debit turn overs, average/worst/best balances, interest owed/paid, any charges, etc.

AOR3/4 - Account Opening Release 3 or 4. The new "does everything" system for branch staff, who will know it as Customer Gateway. This is probably what was used to open your account. Gives all the information in tabs, so the seller can quickly see your limits and details.

CM - Customer Management, the old software that may or may not be turned off by now, not sure. This is what we always used to use in branch.

Area Lending Teams and lending officers - you can now see a Personal Banker for just about anything, but back in the day, you had to go see a different person for your loans and overdrafts. They would look at your application and then say yes or no. If you didn't agree with a no, the branch manager would have a look. Now, the branch manager has no say at all.

RP bal - stupid system of looking at monthly credits to assess affordability or something. It was confusing and just generally rubbish.

A-COMs - Barclays splits the country into 9 regions, with 79 areas divided out among those regions. Each area has an Area Change and Operations Manager, who looks after loss investigations, compliance, service delivery and some other stuff.

DEC - Details, Employment, Commitments. Making sure we have the right information recorded for the customer. Used as a verb. You can't sell a loan if you haven't DECed the customer.

B3 grade - Barclays pay grades for most of retail. A cashier is a B1, for example. Personal Bankers are B3s. Most managers are B4/B5/B6.

Also relates to the size of retail sites. A B5 manager will manage a B5 size, which will typically have 3 branches. A B4 will have two sites, a B6 four, etc.

jonathan50_2 · 29 November 2008 at 12:05PM

My friend says he's still getting letters about the additions plus account he cancelled last November (£14 per month), then again last March and again a few weeks ago. He was charged all the time. Now they've sent him a letter to say the stupid a ccount is going to cost him £16 frolm January (even though its been cancelled). When he rings and complains they tell him its a systems failure, but not how many people have been affected, or how many have been refunded for erroneous deductions.