Barclaycard - Call or wait for BT offer?

SkintFlynn

Hi all, 1st post!

I've got a Barclaycard Cashback which I've had for some time (years), in the last few months I've been able to pay off more than previously, and mid-December the credit limit bumped from £4000 to £8000.

Of course a balance transfer offer appeared on my online account (before the bump I didn't have enough free for a BT), expiring before new year, but I didn't take it because I had some more income due to pay it off further with, and when I've had BT offers expire before there was usually another offer straight away.

But this time there hasn't been another BT offer:( I've continued to pay off what I can on the card, and reduced the balance quite a bit further. An offer at this point would let me put a big dent in the interest I'm paying on my other cards.

Am I likely to get an offer soon, or should I call and ask for one? If I call, am I likely to get different (worse) terms than if I wait?

Might be relevant - there was some fraudulent activity on my card a couple of weeks ago. Barclaycard caught it and sorted it out quickly, issued new cards, didn't even need to send me a form. Would that affect my chances of getting a BT offer?

Thanks for your advice.

Nebulous2

I don't think k you can second guess when you will or won't get an offer. They come out every month, towards the end of the month and last just over a month, until the end of the next one.

I wouldn't see the fraudulent activify as relevant, especially if they didn't ask lots of questions. It happens all the time and companies may well know where the problem arose.

What I would do in your position is wait until the end of this month to see if an offer appears online and then if it doesn't appear I would call. If the offer is not of your pleasing when you phone dont take it.

MisterBaxter

I rarely use my Barclaycard but I seem to get an offer for BT in the post and by email pretty much every month; from reading these forums it seems like a lot of other BC customers also get frequent offers so providing you are in good standing with them I wouldn't be surprised if you got an offer, but if you don't get an offer this month a phone call won't hurt and they can only say no to the request.

msallen

As many here also report, I get BT/MT offers from Barclaycard most months - both by letter and also shown on my account when I log in. To me this implies that if they were willing to offer anything at the moment they would have done so, and hence I think you'd probably be wasting your time with a phone call. I'd wait until next month and see if one is forthcoming then.

SkintFlynn

Thanks for your sensible advice everyone, I'll wait until February and then call if there hasn't been anything.

SkintFlynn

Hi everyone, thought I should post back with an update. Here's a timeline of what happened:

Mid Dec: Barclaycard credit limit bumped to £8000 from £4000. New BT offer appeared, 0% until September 2016, 1.9% fee.
Late Dec: Paid off a chunk of the balance. BT offer expired, no new offer appeared in its place.
Early Jan: Paid off another chunk of the balance. Successfully applied for an MBNA Platinum card, and requested BT from Barclaycard.
Mid Jan: Barclaycard statement date. Still no BT offer.
Jan 26th: New BT offer appeared. Same day as transfer to MBNA hit, but I think that was coincidence. Offer was 0% until August 2016, 1.9% fee. Disappointing under the circumstances.
Jan 29th: Paid off remaining balance, called Barclaycard and asked to close account. Can't remember exactly what I said when asked why, but mentioned other cards with longer BT offers. Eventually was offered 0% for 18 months BT, 2.9% fee. Ummed and ahhed a bit and accepted. Rep started the process, but then said he couldn't complete it, for reasons which sounded to me, frankly, like male cow manure. Promised me a call back "Monday, definitely by Tuesday". I assumed he was messing me around, but...
Feb 2nd: ...he called me back! Gave me a similar offer, 0% until August 2017. Said he mis-spoke on Friday and the fee was actually 3.9%, but he'd refund the extra 1%. Set up the transfer for me, then tried to bump my credit limit again so I could completely clear the target card! However, that needed credit scoring, and I didn't pass muster in the end.

At the end of the day I'm very happy, hope this is helpful to someone else.