Barclaycard Giving Away £50

cakeforbrains

I know that this comes up sometimes...

My husband just called to close his Barclaycard account and he got put through to retentions who offered him £50 to stay. They were also offering him a fee-free cashback card with 12%APR for life.

He declined because we're trying to clean up our credit files so want fewer cards, plus he wasn't sure if it would mean a brand new account opening and therefore bad news for our upcoming mortgage application.

Anyway, if you've got a Barclaycard hanging around now's a good time to 'close' it.

chattychappy

Thanks. I've heard of Barclaycard doing this before.

Personally I wonder if it was really necessary for you to have declined. By the way, it shouldn't have meant a new account being opened, unless you specifically asked them to change the product.

cakeforbrains

chattychappy wrote: »

Thanks. I've heard of Barclaycard doing this before.

Personally I wonder if it was really necessary for you to have declined. By the way, it shouldn't have meant a new account being opened, unless you specifically asked them to change the product.

Yeah, by that point my husband had said 'no, close it' a number of times and was quite flumouxed, so he didn't think about the £50 very hard. From what he said it did sound like a new card. I think I'd rather be safe than sorry, as we really don't want a credit search or a new account on his file this close to a mortgage application.

SeduLOUs

cakeforbrains wrote: »

Yeah, by that point my husband had said 'no, close it' a number of times and was quite flumouxed, so he didn't think about the £50 very hard. From what he said it did sound like a new card. I think I'd rather be safe than sorry, as we really don't want a credit search or a new account on his file this close to a mortgage application.

You're right, it's better to be safe than sorry and £50 isn't worth potentially risking a mortgage offer over.

That said, I've changed to the cashback cards myself and just wanted to clarify for others reading that it does not appear as a new account, they just upgrade the existing account and send out a new card and your PIN and online logins all stay the same.

Mine was subject to a credit search, but I understand that this was only because I'd requested a credit limit increase at the same time.