Barclaycard - complete joke

The_Eye_Of_Sauron

Just had a reject to a credit card from Barclays. Have never missed a single payment on a credit card in 31 years, was looking for £3k card at 6.8% to replace a card I have which has shot up to 22% following several assignments of the debt amongst various companies (currently Marbles).

Reason given is 'due to the amount of money you are already borrowing from other lenders, and as a responsible lender we believe that providing you with additional credit might cause you difficulties etc etc contd P94'.

That amounts to £11k, all bar the said £3k of which is at rates from 3.9 LOB to 6.4 LOB. It's not as if I am increasing my total debt- just trying to rate-swap £3k of it.

Is it worth a letter just to point out that far from wanting to increase my credit exposure, I am looking to reduce it, at an attractive Barclaycard rate.

mandragora_2

I used to be like you - loyal B/Cd customer for years and years - too lazy to shop around, to be honest. They lost me when they chaged their rewards scheme for Nectar points (I think it was - or something similarly weedy). I rang and grumbled, and only at that point did it emerge that they'd actually offered a Cashback reward scheme for years and years - but ONLY to customers who specifically ASKED for it!! I was so peeved that they'd quite happily not reward decent customers who'd never grumbled, and never ran up arrears, but have a better deal on offer instead to offer when people moaned. At that point, I upped and left.

Check out the cashback deals on cards - and get a new one - now!! You might also have more luck securing the credit limit you want and need for now, too, off the back of what's going to look like a great credit rating. It may not be easy, though, in the current climate; we had a similar scenario with our current card providers, despite them being happy to push our max up by more than 10k a couple of years earlier to pay for a car purchase.

KiKi

Hi OP

To answer your question: loyalty gets you nothing, and they will play on your apathy.

For excellent customer service, I'd recommend a credit card with First Direct; they can't bend over backwards far enough to help their customers in my experience.

If you want to make something from your card, get a cashback credit card - I have one with Capital One at 1% cashback which I've never had any problem with, but I don't know if they have that offer anymore.

I also pay back my cards each month, but they haven't kicked me out yet...!

Hope that helps you.

KiKi

Love2Spend1986

You'll likely a get a bigger increase on your card limit than 5k from Barclaycard. I agree with other posters that Barclay's are odd with limit increases, I once tried to up my limit from £1000 to £1500, they refused, 2 weeks later got a letter saying after reviewing my account my limit was now £2000. Maybe they just don't like making instant decisions or don't want their customer dictating their own limits.