Barclaycard - increasing minimum payments again - 3.75 percent

cymruchris

Interesting to receive an email this morning that shows Barclaycard increasing their minimum payment to 3.75 percent of the main balance. It's not something that affects me at the moment as I always pay in full - but there will be those on the borderline that this might affect. As always you have the right to reject the change and close your account - but that won't be an option that those with balances are likely to be able to swallow. It's a good thing if you're paying your balance back quicker of course - and yes you do save interest in the long run - so in general it appears a good move in terms of dealing with debt - but might still be a bitter pill to swallow for those struggling at the moment. 

sparklep0ny

If you "close" your account you're not required to repay it in full, so it's not quite the bitter pill you make it out to be.

jay1804

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/11/barclaycard-minimum-payments-increase/

They did the same thing last year.

cymruchris

sparklep0ny said:

If you "close" your account you're not required to repay it in full, so it's not quite the bitter pill you make it out to be.

No - I wasn't meaning in terms of paying for it in full - more along the lines of losing a line of credit and less likely if you're at the position of having a balance to clear of getting another. 

cymruchris

jay1804 said:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/11/barclaycard-minimum-payments-increase/

They did the same thing last year.

Yes - maybe their slowly heading up to asking for a 5 percent payment as their minimum target.... 

sparklep0ny

cymruchris said:

sparklep0ny said:

If you "close" your account you're not required to repay it in full, so it's not quite the bitter pill you make it out to be.

No - I wasn't meaning in terms of paying for it in full - more along the lines of losing a line of credit and less likely if you're at the position of having a balance to clear of getting another. 

If you're not paying it off in full (or can't afford 3.75% minimum payment on a 0% deal) you might well be better off losing a line of credit.

wiseonesomeofthetime

cymruchris said:

Interesting to receive an email this morning that shows Barclaycard increasing their minimum payment to 3.75 percent of the main balance. It's not something that affects me at the moment as I always pay in full - but there will be those on the borderline that this might affect. As always you have the right to reject the change and close your account - but that won't be an option that those with balances are likely to be able to swallow. It's a good thing if you're paying your balance back quicker of course - and yes you do save interest in the long run - so in general it appears a good move in terms of dealing with debt - but might still be a bitter pill to swallow for those struggling at the moment. 

Looks like different rates for different people.

My email states this:



However, as I pay my statement in full each month, via DD, the above is irrelevant for me anyway.

cymruchris

wiseonesomeofthetime said:

However, as I pay my statement in full each month, via DD, the above is irrelevant for me anyway.

That's interesting - I've had my card a couple of years now - and have paid it off in full every month since the beginning. They've never earned a penny out of me in interest (just in their retailer transaction fees the shops pay) and I've had cashback from them as well - but I must be in a 'higher risk' category than you I imagine. I wonder if there are any other percentages doing the rounds aside from 3 and 3.75 percent.

SuperAllyB

Not had any email yet so no change here so far 👍

reg091

3% here. What is really galling is that I only use the card as a 0% interest balance transfer. I moved the balance from a Santander card when their 0% deal ended. I was paying 1% of balance for minimum payment there so was shocked when it more than doubled when I moved it to Barclaycard (2.25%).

Now they are increasing it to 3% it is a real pain. I am not paying interest so don't need to pay it off quicker. Yes, of course it would be better in the long run to get rid of the debt but it isn't costing me any money so it makes sense to "park" it for a while to free up some monthly income.

wiseonesomeofthetime

The trouble is @reg091, Barclaycard do not know what its customers have put aside to pay off their cards at the end of promotional deals.

I joined Barclaycard, like you, for the 0% option, albeit purchase, and had the funds parked in a fixed saver for a year instead.

Where the customer does indeed have those parked funds it is not in their interest to repay quicker.

As I said at the start though, Barclaycard don't know our true status. Only what we tell them on application.