Is there any real reason to open an account at Barclays Bank?

cardi_b

They offer no switching bonuses nor do they reward loyalty in any way. Plus their savings accounts are very poor, even considering that we live in an age where interest rates are low.

It makes me wonder how they still have any customers. Aren't they the most switched out bank along with HSBC?

debtorwithaquestion

Actually they do reward loyalty. The clue is in the title ‘Blue Rewards’.....;)

Monthly fee of £3 and then it pays you £3.50 for the first 2 direct debits on the account. Only £48 net a year but that’s still something for doing very little. In fact its more than the Halifax reward account which only pays £3 now. And everyone seems to rave about that.

Zanderman

Is this a new form of "which bank is best" thread?

The Barclays you say don't reward loyalty in any way must be unrelated to Barclays who offer blue rewards. Gets me £4 month profit easy.

Flobberchops

It's ultimately a personal choice, and while Barclays offer a fairly middle of the road loyalty cashback scheme, you'd have to weigh up the rest of the account features, interest rates, digital offerings, product range, customer service, branch availability and opening hours, etc. If you can find better elsewhere, great; go there instead. Barclays doesn't want dissatisfied customers any more than you want to bank somewhere that doesn't fit your needs!

eskbanker

cardi_b wrote: »

They offer no switching bonuses nor do they reward loyalty in any way. Plus their savings accounts are very poor, even considering that we live in an age where interest rates are low.

It makes me wonder how they still have any customers. Aren't they the most switched out bank along with HSBC?

You need to bear in mind that for every person on here who likes to think of themselves as financially savvy and able and willing to chase the best deals, switching repeatedly along the way, there are dozens (maybe even hundreds) of others who stay with the same bank through thick and thin, for a myriad of reasons including inertia, local branch access, history, cross-sell with mortgages, irritation with other banks, employment, affiliate deals, and yes, ignorance.

And in answer to your question, no, Halifax, HSBC and Santander all lost more switchers in the most recently published stats, although it's true that Barclays had the most net losses.

Shakin_Steve

eskbanker wrote: »

You need to bear in mind that for every person on here who likes to think of themselves as financially savvy and able and willing to chase the best deals, switching repeatedly along the way, there are dozens (maybe even hundreds) of others who stay with the same bank through thick and thin, for a myriad of reasons including inertia, local branch access, history, cross-sell with mortgages, irritation with other banks, employment, affiliate deals, and yes, ignorance.

And in answer to your question, no, Halifax, HSBC and Santander all lost more switchers in the most recently published stats, although it's true that Barclays had the most net losses.

Thank you for that link, the figures are very interesting. I think we might have got a better idea of the impact of people switching away if the table had included the overall percentage of customers switching. After all, 10,000 switching from a bank with 3,000,000 customers would not be as bad as, say, 5,000 switching from a bank with 1,000,000 customers. (Figures plucked from thin air).

Nationwide8

Besides BlueRewards as others have mentioned Although for me that will prob go in April because of Tesco DDs ending
Availability of bank branches and face to face banking esp for the elderly.If you need to go to a branch have always found them very helpful etc

PeacefulWaters

Shakin_Steve wrote: »

Thank you for that link, the figures are very interesting. I think we might have got a better idea of the impact of people switching away if the table had included the overall percentage of customers switching. After all, 10,000 switching from a bank with 3,000,000 customers would not be as bad as, say, 5,000 switching from a bank with 1,000,000 customers. (Figures plucked from thin air).

It's also likely that those banks offering cash incentives to switch will, by nature, have more people leaving because they will inevitably have attracted tarts alongside customers seeking a deeper banking relationship.