Barclaycard refuses to explain why i don't qualify for rate reduction

eskbanker

As others have pointed out, they're not actually doing anything wrong here - although you feel that their interest rate is punitive they're under no obligation to reduce or even review it, so it's worth remembering that you're asking them a favour rather than exercising some sort of right.

Re transparency, the card companies will never disclose their criteria for decisions as these will naturally be commercially sensitive and to do so would increase their exposure to risk - this doesn't just apply to requests for rate reductions but applications, credit limit reviews, etc.

It certainly sounds like you're in an awkward financial situation and I'm sure most here will be broadly sympathetic, but that doesn't mean that it's appropriate to cast Barclaycard as the villains of the piece just because they won't make it easier for you to pay back what you owe them. It's understandable that you feel strongly about the position you're in but that doesn't mean that it's Barclaycard's fault or that they're vultures, sharks, bullies, corrupt, unethical, etc, so personally I think you'd be better served by focusing your energy on reducing your debts rather than 'taking on' Barclaycard.

Thrugelmir

inpursuitoffreedom wrote: »

Anyway, my intention is not to drag this down into my personal circumstances but to seek to change the way banks handle cases like this.

In all honesty your best way forward is to contact the National Debt Helpline.

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/

Totally free service. Telephone freephone number as well.

If you've never worked in a finance environment then there's little point trying to explain why the system works the way it does. What does matter is your personal situation. That's not going to cured with a crusade against Barclaycard. Get good independent advice then decide you course of action. You'll get scarred in the process but you will still be alive at the end.

Pegasus_1981

Hi,

I had a similar situation but I went down the miss selling of APR, they advertise the variable rates instead of the compound rate, i appealed to reason and said listen I just want to clear the balance and be debt free as i've spent the money thinking my APR was different.

I got a reduction from 29.7% to 6.9% for 24 months, I called them today for a different matter and was advised if I continue to clear my balance at my current rate my card would be upgraded to the platinum card or similar in January.

Will just come down to paying on time and more than the minimum payment for them to help, or you go down the miss selling route as I did.

jamesd

One option is to send them a subject access request. If you're lucky the notes about your account will contain some information about the reason for the refusal and they might not remove that reason.

Thrugelmir

jamesd wrote: »

One option is to send them a subject access request. If you're lucky the notes about your account will contain some information about the reason for the refusal and they might not remove that reason.

Highly unlikely. Scoring systems are highly automated. Computer says no.

Candyapple

inpursuitoffreedom wrote: »

How do people get out of this nightmare if they are kept locked in high rates? I understand if you've had bad debt in the past but as far as I know it credit card companies make their money when you're in a bad situation, so surely all of their systems are designed to optimise this. Is this ethical? Is this fair?

I’ll tell you how I got out of my debt, I increased my income and decreased my outgoings. I used to owe Barclaycard £4k and it was on some stupid rate of 26% APR so my minimum monthly payments were barely making indents to the original debt and just covering the interest.

I was in a similar situation to you, I wanted to clear my debts; but at a lower APR, and I wasn’t eligible for 0% balance transfers offers elsewhere. Given that I was snowballing my debts, it used to pain me to see the minimum payments not really making headway until I made a budget and stuck to it religiously. I took on a second job, I sold anything I had lying around that I had no use for, I cut back on so many things (albeit temporarily) but it was all worth it once I was debt free.

I came across some of my old statements when I was moving house and it made me sick to think of how much money I paid in interest over the years to them. However I took it as a lesson learned because now I am so much more financially savvy and view it as it was a life lesson; albeit an expensive one

I now have 2 Barclaycards and they pay me for wanting to keep me as a customer and also throw 0% offers at me on a monthly basis. It’s no fun paying your debts down especially when they are at a high rate APR, however if you have no choice then you just have to suck it up and look at ways of increasing your income/decreasing outgoings to clear it faster. I found that when I had cleared other card debts and closed those cards, I was starting to become eligible for new cards. Granted it took about a year of me paying off my debts to start to make an impact on being offered mainstream cards though.

Is it fair? No. However card companies are exactly that - companies which are not charities and they are there to make money. It's why they encourage people to get into debt, that is the pinnacle of their business model.

Ben8282

Perhaps the real question to be asked here is 'Why do you think that you should qualify for a rate reduction'?