Barclaycard Existing Customers Loophole Discussion

tyllwyd

Rupert_Bear wrote: »

I just took advantage of a 12 months deal as an existing BC customer.
0% and usual 2.5% fee.

I used to have a 6 month 0% balance transfer offer with a 3.9% fee, but that's recently changed to 6 months at 0% with a 2.9% fee, so they must tailor it to the customer.

My OH has two cards, one showing the 6.9% life of balance offer and the other showing 6 months at 0%, so it can vary between cards as well as between customers.

chattychappy

Yep. My 6.9% LOB/2.9% fee just blinks in and out. Seems to have nothing to do with my card usage. A long time since I had any other offer though. (Except the 2.9% fee used to be 2.5% fee.)

evenasus

GooliesOfFire wrote: »

Barclaycard Simplicity is/was my favourite CC. The interest rate of 6.8% (0.553%/month) is a really cheap way to borrow money when needed.

What worries me is the new T&C regarding transaction fees (mentioned in my last statement).. now instead of 15.8% rate for cash advances I will probably have to pay 2.99% of the value of the transaction. Same fee applies to lottery ticket purchases and some other specific transactions. I must remember not to pay for my lottery tickets with Barclaycard now.

http://www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/new-transaction-fee

Simple answer - don't draw money out on a credit card.

Always pay your credit card balance in full every month.

Interest rates on credit cards don't affect me.

woopsy

I just phoned Barclaycard about transferring a balance and they tell me I'm not eligible for any offers, including the LOB offer, but may be in a day or two as offers are withdrawn at the end of the month.

Is there really any chance that this will change in the next day or two?

I 'm currently on hold while I try and find out why my present rate is to increase from 19.9% to 24.9%. I had a generic response which initially was that a CRA told them to do it!!

I pointed out that CRA's can't tell BC what to charge their customers and he admitted he was just reading a general response, so I'm now being put through to a manager for an explanation in my specific case. :rolleyes:

I've a feeling I haven't got any new offers coming my way!

woopsy

Just an update.

As I couldn't get a decent deal I phoned BC back to say that I wouldn't accept their rate increase. I was put through to the customer retention people who said that as I had a perfect payment record apart from one late payment 3 months ago they didn't want to lose me as a customer. No promises but if I keep a clean record for another 3 months I am very likely to be offered a deal of a BT of either 6.9% ir 9.9%.

They would still put up my interest rate but offered me £50 off my balance which will more than cover the extra interest for the next 3 months.

I accepted this so will wait and see what happens in 3 months.

Looking back I wish I'd tried to get more out of them, because if no offers materialise it's going to cost me a lot more, but I was taken off guard.

guesswho2000

woopsy wrote: »

Just an update.

As I couldn't get a decent deal I phoned BC back to say that I wouldn't accept their rate increase. I was put through to the customer retention people who said that as I had a perfect payment record apart from one late payment 3 months ago they didn't want to lose me as a customer. No promises but if I keep a clean record for another 3 months I am very likely to be offered a deal of a BT of either 6.9% ir 9.9%.

They would still put up my interest rate but offered me £50 off my balance which will more than cover the extra interest for the next 3 months.

I accepted this so will wait and see what happens in 3 months.

Looking back I wish I'd tried to get more out of them, because if no offers materialise it's going to cost me a lot more, but I was taken off guard.

The late payment three months ago means you're an increased risk in their eyes.

Whatever happens in three months time, it's not certain you'll get the 6.9% bt offer but you'll definitely be outside the period within which you can reject the rate increase, so think carefully about this. The £50 rebate now may be a drop in the ocean if you can't shift or reduce the balance in three months time.

woopsy

guesswho2000 wrote: »

The late payment three months ago means you're an increased risk in their eyes.

Whatever happens in three months time, it's not certain you'll get the 6.9% bt offer but you'll definitely be outside the period within which you can reject the rate increase, so think carefully about this. The £50 rebate now may be a drop in the ocean if you can't shift or reduce the balance in three months time.

I thought again about this and contacted them again. Said I'd decided it wasn't such a good idea after all and rejected the deal. They tried to say that none of their staff would make such a suggestion that I might get a better deal later. I assured them that was what happened and suggested that they listen to the recording of the conversation.

Long story short - they reverted my account to the previous rate and closed it - having said they couldn't.;-)

deftonepea

I rang Barclay card last night to try and get the existing customer deal. At present my partner has £7813.10 with a limit of £8000 on a card at 19.9%.

They stated that because she didn't have more than 10% of her credit limit free we needed to extend the credit limit to be considered for the BT. Sadly my partner was late with a payment in November so she couldn't extend her limit.

Going to phone back at the end of Feb to she if she can then be offered the 6.9% BT.

Cash_Flow

deftonepea wrote: »

I rang Barclay card last night to try and get the existing customer deal. At present my partner has £7813.10 with a limit of £8000 on a card at 19.9%.

They stated that because she didn't have more than 10% of her credit limit free we needed to extend the credit limit to be considered for the BT. Sadly my partner was late with a payment in November so she couldn't extend her limit.

Going to phone back at the end of Feb to she if she can then be offered the 6.9% BT.

.

Having read your post 3 times I am struggling to make sense of it.
Where are you trying to Balance transfer your partners barclaycard balance to?

Barclaycard will not convert your partners current Balance to 6.9% if that is what you were implying?

With regards to limit increases and late payment markers, you now need to wait 6 months before you can ask Barclaycard to increase your partners limit.

deftonepea

Cash_Flow wrote: »

.

Having read your post 3 times I am struggling to make sense of it.
Where are you trying to Balance transfer your partners barclaycard balance to?

Barclaycard will not convert your partners current Balance to 6.9% if that is what you were implying?

With regards to limit increases and late payment markers, you now need to wait 6 months before you can ask Barclaycard to increase your partners limit.

EDIT:

I've re-read the article and understand now that an existing Barclay card debt can't be transferred to the 6.9% card. And only a new existing debt from another card can be transferred across.

Sorry for the confusion