A tale of barclays... one honest man in a company full of lies

Extant

whitevanwoman wrote: »

And I was hoping that a Barclays employee might explain what this reserve thing is but sadly no-one has been helpful enough to do that.

I missed you asking, but I'll happily tell you.

You can have a Personal Reserve that operates in addition to, or separately, from your overdraft. Your Reserve is for a set amount, up to £2500, subject to status. If you need to use your Reserve, you can use that amount for five days for a fixed fee of £22. You can then go in and out of that Reserve as much as you like, and the fee remains the same regardless of the number of transactions.

natweststaffmember

BarclaysManager wrote: »

The militant stance is because we believe them to be correct, and we will never try to stop you reclaiming - hell, we even give you free statements if you send in DPA SARs.

We actively support "reclaiming" for those in financial hardship and trained our staff on it in 2008.

We have sufficient evidence to believe the RUFs can be successfully defended. It should be no surprise to you that the system was designed following lengthy legal discussions and meetings with the appropriate regulator.

Can I ask what does RUF and SID mean(apologies but it is jargon to me).

natweststaffmember

Inactive wrote: »

The old " opt out " trick, the OFT or/and the FSA should outlaw it, but of course we all know that they will not.

Dirty tricks brigade.:rolleyes:

To clarify something, this will be something that the FOS will monitor but with new terms and conditions that can take 12 to 18 months. We are getting near the 12 months but it does take time for things to filter down.

whitevanwoman

BarclaysManager wrote: »

I missed you asking, but I'll happily tell you.

You can have a Personal Reserve that operates in addition to, or separately, from your overdraft. Your Reserve is for a set amount, up to £2500, subject to status. If you need to use your Reserve, you can use that amount for five days for a fixed fee of £22. You can then go in and out of that Reserve as much as you like, and the fee remains the same regardless of the number of transactions.

Thank you for the reply, much appreciated. I was worried because someone had said that customers would have to opt out rather than opt in.

However, as I don't have or want an overdraft facility and have never been (and hopefully never will be) overdrawn, I presume this should not apply to my account. However, it is useful to know that it is an option in case of emergency.

I live in a rural area and it would have been a 26 mile round trip to my bank to find out more about this, and for health reasons, I find using the telephone difficult. Therefore much of what I do is done online and I rely on online information and services. I did try to find out more about the reserve online but because the Barclays site was down over the weekend, I wasn't able to. Having a very old very slow computer and less than 1mb broadband speed makes searching through the hundreds of entries for Barclays in the forum search is a time consuming and laborious task.

Thanks again.

natweststaffmember

will-in-estoril wrote: »

Correct, I suppose they could be right ONCE in a while. :eek:

On a more serious note, we are now being subjected to Barclays-sponsored propoganda on this forum from several quarters. One could understand if the aim was to provide genuine help for those who wish to save money, but this is clearly not the case. There was deadly silence from these apologists yesterday when the Barclays' ATM and internet channels failed.

Despite the fact that they are continually being screwed by their employer, the latest example being the abolition of the final salary pension scheme, which I regret and condemn, these servile individuals continue with their blatant distortions, half truths and partial advice which does nothing to help genuine money savers.

Those who have read Animal Farm will remember Squealer, with his lists of 'facts' and figures. The comparison is startling.

Apologies for the slight hijack of the thread but can I just say that I have found since BarclaysManager has come onto the forum that his knowledge(this is the point where he know tell me he is a woman ) has been fantastic to read. There are times when I refer to BarclaysManager when I spot things that seem odd on other forums so he can advise me as to what can be done to resolve things. Apologies for going off topic, but even at time when I might disagree with BarclaysManager I have a lot of respect for his posts and other bank workers posts on here who I do at times, ask their advice on certain issues and they are a friendly bunch(althought some need a slap sometimes )

Before you take off on me please read my signature cos I ain't a bankworker anymore.

Extant

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Can I ask what does RUF and SID mean(apologies but it is jargon to me).

RUF is Reserve Usage Fee, then you have GTF/RTFs for Guaranteed and Returned Transactions respectively.

Although I didn't say SID, it's Staff Information Directory, which replaced all of the old, massive Head Office Instructions books that branches used to have. It's just an intranet site that gives staff everything they could realistically need to know at branch level, although we have access to it in complaints, too.

will-in-estoril

BarclaysManager wrote: »

ATM's didn't fail, internet banking did. And yes, I was deadly silent - because I was at work.



Company car, company phone, 30 days holiday a year, flexible working hours, paternity leave, 35 hours a week, full medical scheme... yeah, I sure am getting screwed. There's no free cookies.



Yes, it sucks, but would you rather see the eventual collapse of the fund and government bail-out? Final salary schemes have had their days numbered for a long time.



Like what? The vast majority of my posts are on Barclays policy and procedures. You're free to ignore my posts, but I am evidently doing something right for other people.

I've hit a nerve. QED

Extant

whitevanwoman wrote: »

Thank you for the reply, much appreciated. I was worried because someone had said that customers would have to opt out rather than opt in.

However, as I don't have or want an overdraft facility and have never been (and hopefully never will be) overdrawn, I presume this should not apply to my account. However, it is useful to know that it is an option in case of emergency.

I live in a rural area and it would have been a 26 mile round trip to my bank to find out more about this, and for health reasons, I find using the telephone difficult. Therefore much of what I do is done online and I rely on online information and services. I did try to find out more about the reserve online but because the Barclays site was down over the weekend, I wasn't able to. Having a very old very slow computer and less than 1mb broadband speed makes searching through the hundreds of entries for Barclays in the forum search is a time consuming and laborious task.

Thanks again.

If you have a Reserve, it will show in your online banking below the details of your current balance etc. when you click on the account.

It was made an opt-out as opposed to an opt-in because it was a formalization of the previous "unauthorized overdraft" situation where there'd be a £30 Paid Referral Fee etc.

natweststaffmember

will-in-estoril wrote: »

I've hit a nerve. QED

You insinuated something and you were given the facts. There is a slight difference.

Extant

will-in-estoril wrote: »

I've hit a nerve. QED

Not really, I don't place nearly enough store in the words of an anonymous on an internet forum to be offended by them. Sorry.

But, if you make baseless assertions, then I will answer them - as would be expected in a forum, a place for debate and discussion. I assume that you have no further comment to make, based on your response.