MSE News: An anatomy of banks: When Martin Lewis met Barclays

pmduk

dalesrider wrote: »

So why are these managers still in a job then... As they are clearly failing to follow the lead of upper management.
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In 21st century banking, branch manager means sales team leader. And no sales means failure on their part, with who knows what repercussions?

Butterfly_Brain

So how is it that we have at least one letter a week wanting us to take out a loan, house insurance, move other cards (which we do not have) to Barclaycard or to move our mortgage to them, not to mention the sales calls that start we want to see if we can save you money......what a laugh, they just want to generate more profits. We only ever had a loan with them once and then they tried to tack another £1,000 on top at the end of the loan agreement because they said that the interest hadn't been worked out by the member of staff properly, when we challenged them they said that they had archived the paperwork, luckily we still had ours and made an official complaint and the matter was dropped.
I no longer trust banks and think that it is safer to have money under the mattress than in the hands of those lying, scheming thieves.

Deborah1

I worked for Barlays for 6 weeks then left. One of the reasons was the pressure to sell. They dress it up as 'customer service' but it is selling. All cashiers are targeted to get 'leads' to personal bankers. These 'pb's' then try to sell them loans, home or travel insurance, add ons to their current accounts and even mortgages. The cashiers are not incentivised as such but your leads are heavily monitored and there is a constant competition between cashiers. If you don't meet your target leads in a week, you are marked down at monthly appraisals which leads to no pay rise annually. The personal bankers are paid depending on what they sell. It may not be as aggressive as it used to be but it still very much exists.
I also worked at an insurance call centre, More than, where selling is a massive part of the role. Again they call in 'customer service' but the pressure to cross sell and up sell is massive.

rugmaker

Every time I go into Barclays they insist on telling me how much I could borrow if I want a loan and checking where my mortgage is. I also notice that just in the last week the list of accounts on the Barclays app on my phone now has a line in the middle telling me how much I have been cleared to borrow as a loan or overdraft.

I have had and almost cleared a mountain of debt, and part of the problem (without in any way excusing my personal responsibility, which was the bottom line) was that it was just so easy to get. Offering people money on a plate like this without having any idea of their circumstances is just not helpful. I am more than capable of asking for a loan if I want one, and have done.

If this is not cross-selling, I dread the day when they launch a big sales push.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Interesting article, but I must be missing something here....

Barclays are a commercial, for profit, business.

They exist to sell products and services to consumers in the marketplace.

Their people are employed to maximise profit and revenue for the company and it's shareholders.

Does anyone not understand this when they walk into a bank?

Or any other business for that matter?

Obviously mis-selling is bad, for example PPI that was never going to pay out, but if the products do what they say on the tin then there is no reason that selling, cross selling, up-selling, etc, should be a problem. Nor any reason that their employees shouldn't receive performance related pay when they do a good job selling those products.

People can choose to buy or not to buy.

So why should this even be an issue?

Thrugelmir

Martin said: "The cheapest option by far for someone with a decent credit score is a balance transfer. A loan has its place for some as the repayments are structured, which some people prefer."

Balance transfer may provide an answer but doesn't provide a solution. As the debt too often doesn't get repaid merely deferred.

Many people require a financial discipline imposed on them these days. As the buy it now culture has created a generation who simply cannot handle money wisely.

How much do credit companies write off every day?

Perhaps if they didn't, borrowing costs across the board would be cheaper for everyone.

John1993_2

caper7 wrote: »

I recently called Barclays to transfer some money.
Once they had completed that task they tried to talk to me about house insurance.
This is not the first time this has happened either.

That's just horrible!

What next, you go into Tesco for some beans and they have a big sign up with an offer for reduced price meat?!

You should demand compensation, I think, or maybe just move banks. I mean, who'd have thought it, a company asking a customer you were interested in their other products?

madmuppet5

It's akin to going into Asda for some strawberries and expecting them to advise you to go Tesco's as theirs are on offer at half price.

opinions4u

Have I really just read an article where the great Martin Lewis implies that Barclays Bank staff should tell customers with interest bearing Barclaycard debt to hop over the road to Halifax and take out a 0% card?

I'm all for encouraging people to seek out the best deal on the market. But to expect Barclays to do anything beyond identify the best deal from their own product range is ridiculous.

Consumerist

opinions4u wrote: »

. . . I'm all for encouraging people to seek out the best deal on the market. But to expect Barclays to do anything beyond identify the best deal from their own product range is ridiculous.

An interesting point but that's what the energy companies are effectively expected to do. Is there a case for extending the general idea to banks too?