Changes to Barclays Drawing on Uncleared Cheques

berylonline

Hi

I have a Barclays Premier account which I opened back in May. When I opened the account I was given an automatic overdraft facility of £400 and a Personal Reserve of £250, and I was also told that I had the facility to withdraw up to £1,000 in uncleared cheques. The account has had in excess of £3,000 per month paid into it, I've never exceeded my overdraft facility and have used the Personal Reserve only once. I've drawn against uncleared cheques occasionally without any problem. On one occasion I did draw against a cheque which was later unpaid (due to no fault of my own), but it didn't present a problem as by the time I discovered the cheque hand't been paid there were sufficient funds in my account to cover it and my account was still in credit.

I paid a cheque for £1,000 into the account yesterday and have just tried to make a payment from my account to pay a bill (which would have drawn on uncleared funds), but it was declined. After ringing Barclays I was told that the payment could not be made because of changes to their uncleared cheque policy. They said that these changes happened back in November and that they wrote to all their customers. I did not receive this letter. The reason they say they've changed their policy is to prevent fraud, where people have drawn against cheques which have later been unpaid.

In my case they are saying that I now have the facility to withdraw against uncleared cheques of up to £100. I asked whether other customers are allowed more and was told that high wealth customers may be able to withdraw a higher amount, but that for the majority of customers the amount has been reduced to zero. The implication was that it was a good reflection on my credit worthiness that I am still allowed to withdraw against uncleared cheques at all.

My question is has anyone else encountered this change and did you receive notification from Barclays that their policy with regard to uncleared cheques was changing? When I opened the account this facility was a big attraction for me and I find it odd that I have received no notification from them whatsoever. I can't help wondering whether this is a reflection of my credit status in some way - aside from not being a member of the super wealth club obviously! I'm also concerned that the previous experience I had with the returned cheque may have some bearing on their decision.

Assuming what they're telling me is true and that this change isn't just specific to my account, from Barclays' point of view it seems like a big change considering all the marketing that surrounded this facility when it was first introduced, yet I haven't been able to find any information about the recent changes on the internet.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks.

Horseunderwater

Am not aware that there has been any change myself, but then I have a normal barclays joint account with the double overdraft facility of £250/£250. Only ever gone into the reserve once and that was last year - cost was just over £23.00 with interest. They have not written to me to tell that they have changed things, but then I stopped getting paper statements a while back so that could be why? Tends to be leaflets that come with those that tell people of changes.
Mind you of the last 3 cheques I paid in they have all been from the gov't so perhaps that is why I had no problem drawing down against those cheques!

UsetheFORCE

You don't have to wait for the cheque to clear before you use the money. If you are sure a cheque won't be returned unpaid, you can start drawing against it from the day it's paid into your account using our Instant Access service. This service is subject to limit and status.

From : http://apps.barclays.mobi/mobile/day2day_banking/chequeclearing

Still advertising it....

YorkshireBoy

UsetheFORCE wrote: »

Still advertising it....

That isn't the issue though. The issue is the reduction (from £1K to £100 in the OP's case)...which is covered in the "This service is subject to limit and status" you quoted above.

Would have been nice to have been told...that's if the account T&Cs state they will inform customers personally?

Chino

berylonline wrote: »

My question is has anyone else encountered this change and did you receive notification from Barclays that their policy with regard to uncleared cheques was changing?

I haven't received any correspondence from Barclays regarding such a change. I'll ask next time I visit a branch. Although I've never used this facility, I don't want to get caught out if I ever do want to use it!

Savvy_Money

With barclays premier you get a £1000 interest free overdraft. I would perhaps increase your overdraft and hopefully you won't need to then use the reserve. You also don't need to worry about cheque clearing cycles

Icey370

Hi,

I can confirm (as a premier customer) that a letter was sent in November as I am re-reading it this very moment! However, it mainly talks about changes which take effect on the 1st of February 2013 such as the withdrawal of ID support and changes in card insurance, gadget cover,travel insurance, etc.

I have not come across any information regarding an uncleared cheque policy!

HTH

mrchiggles

They give you a personal limit in drawing against cheques, when I rang I was given £250 or something like that.

Go to your online banking and you might find an automatic overdraft increase has been pre approved which is probably the easiest thing to do.