barclaycard - misleading balance transfer

stanley38

a few weeks back i had a letter from barclaycard saying i could transfer upto 5000 for 6.9%. i had a zero balance but asked on the phone if i extended my limit to 8400and how much i could borrow and they replied upto 90% around 7500pounds. So i put my cheque in my barclays current account and what happens they do the 6.9% for 5 grand and the other 2400
was charged a 2% fee and a rate of 24%. I told them i would close the account immediately as they said originally i could do upto 90%?
anyone with a similar issue? do they lie on purpose ? anyway i sent a letter but have had no reply yet? maybe i will transfer now to another card
but at a slightly worse rate!

tom188

It is your mistake I am afraid. You did not make a balance transfer so cannot expect balance transfer rates.

A credit card cheque is not the same as a balance transfer. These are considered as cash advances and the fees charged are cash advance fees and interest as you quote.

A balance transfer involves moving a balance off another credit card. This is done by telephone or internet.

Did barclays suggest that you could make a balance transfer by cheque into your current account or did you just mistakedly assume this?

stanley38

please note that i have done the same thing on an MBNA balance
transfer cheque and it was fine putting the cash into my current account?

[Deleted User]

stanley38 wrote:

a few weeks back i had a letter from barclaycard saying i could transfer upto 5000 for 6.9%. i had a zero balance but asked on the phone if i extended my limit to 8400and how much i could borrow and they replied upto 90% around 7500pounds. So i put my cheque in my barclays current account and what happens they do the 6.9% for 5 grand and the other 2400
was charged a 2% fee and a rate of 24%. I told them i would close the account immediately as they said originally i could do upto 90%?
anyone with a similar issue? do they lie on purpose ? anyway i sent a letter but have had no reply yet? maybe i will transfer now to another card
but at a slightly worse rate!

I think there is a 5k limit on the 6.9% special rate hence the treatment of the extra chunk. I had a similar occurrence a couple of years' back when none of the call operators knew what the terms were. Eventually I complained to the financial ombudsman and got £150 compensation I think.

tom188

stanley38 wrote:

please note that i have done the same thing on an MBNA balance
transfer cheque and it was fine putting the cash into my current account?

As you said, a balance transfer cheque. This is not what barclays were offering.
MBNA class their credit card cheques as balance transfers.
Barclays (and most other providers for that matter) class credit card cheques as cash advances.

tom188

See here for Barclaycard policy.

Barclaycard_website wrote:

Credit card cheques

From time to time, Barclaycard may send you credit card cheques. These can be used to pay off other credit cards and loans or can be paid into your bank account as a convenient way of borrowing money.

The rates of interest charged on these cheques will vary and they may be subject to a handling charge of 2.5%. We will make these interest and handling charges clear to you on the letter accompanying the cheque - please read this information carefully before using the cheque.

Standard rate credit card cheques will be charged as cash withdrawals (details shown below).

Cash withdrawals

Your Barclaycard can be used to withdraw cash from cash machines in the UK and around the world.

* Cash withdrawals incur a handling charge of 2.5% (the minimum charge is £2.50)
* Interest rates on cash are higher than for standard purchases. Our typical interest rate for cash withdrawals is 27.9%. Cash APRs are clearly marked on statements.
* While you can benefit from up to 56 interest free days on purchases, there is no interest free period on cash withdrawals. Interest is charged on cash even when you pay your bill in full.

stanley38

tom - you are obviously in defence of the financial institution....

how can one decifer such small differences which i think are generally

made to mislead the public...the cheque has no clear rules onto which

accounts it can and cannot be made. Banks are constantly being pulled over
by the FSA and advertising standards poeple for misleading people into parting with hard earned cash. i can vouch for this as mbna have sent me a new balance transfer cheque with no expiry date on it although i know it expires in less than 2 months...a con or what..so if comes down to a discrepancy in word terminology i think they are purposly misleading us...the public

tom188

Caveat emptor.

Bloke_with_a_simple_life

stanley38 wrote:

tom - you are obviously in defence of the financial institution....

how can one decifer such small differences which i think are generally

made to mislead the public...the cheque has no clear rules onto which

accounts it can and cannot be made. Banks are constantly being pulled over
by the FSA and advertising standards poeple for misleading people into parting with hard earned cash. i can vouch for this as mbna have sent me a new balance transfer cheque with no expiry date on it although i know it expires in less than 2 months...a con or what..so if comes down to a discrepancy in word terminology i think they are purposly misleading us...the public

I don't think there is an expiry date on MBNA cheques - I thought so long as you have an account open, the cheque is valid. What makes you think it is only valid for the next two months? May be you have a special low rate which expires in two months - but this does not mean the cheque expires after this time.

Additionally I don't think you should assume that the same Terms and Conditions for one provider is the same as another - ie. the different treatment of credit card cheques by MBNA and Barclaycard. What you have is a normal competitive market - different companies having slightly different products, and allowing the consumer to choose which product suits them best. If all products were the same with the same rate, that would be ab unhealthy market place which would not be to the consumers' advantage and potentially lead to a cartel situation where the consumer was being ripped off.

The_Boss

Sounds like Barclaycard are cheating a bit.

You can only transfer 5.5k at promo rates, however they have sneakily hid that when the OP asked how much he can transfer and not told him about the standard rate that would be applied for over that.

stanley38

well it's getting really anal in here especially with tom supporting 'being mislead'...i think my words are supported by the fact half the british public are in debt simply because the banks love to mislead and pour money into peoples hands whatever the circumstances...