Barclays Blue Rewards

ColdIron

£669 for me without fees. Account now closed, all very easy and quick

10_66

Just left the Blue Reward, and typical of Barclays "efficiency", after clicking the leave button, it reminded me that I'd be missing out on rewards of £84 a year.  So, they haven't updated their own system yet to show the correct reward payment then 🙄

AlwaysLearnin

Latest reward rec'd here today too.  £522 net total received.  Thanks, but time to go - switch out arranged.

InA

Zanderman said:

I switched my Barclays Blue Rewards to Santander - the switch completed today, 3rd March.

I had timed it to get the last rewards payment on the 2nd as usual, but like others above, the payment didn't arrive on the 2nd. So no last reward for me.

Account now closed, but I just got a text from Barclays telling me my account (the one that doesn't now exist) has 'exceeded its borrowing limit' - i.e. is overdrawn.

I assume this is Barclays trying to take the Blue rewards fee that they should have taken yesterday. If so it's not very intelligent messaging on their part.  

It will be interesting to see if they follow this up in any way.  The text implies I owe them money - which I clearly don't . 

Edited to add:  I just tried logging in to Barclays, just to check the account is definitely gone. It was the only product I had with them so, not surprisingly, the login failed, as there is no account. So I cannot be over my borrowing limit on it. 

The fee and Blue Rewards payment will both be dated 2nd March, the fee will have been taken before your account was switched and closed. Your last reward will be in your Blue Rewards wallet, which will still be visible on your account.The reason you can't login, I suspect, is because the pinsentry no longer works once your card has been deactivated (if that's the login method you're using).

I did the same as you, arranged a switch to complete on the 3rd, but the Blue Rewards wallet is still available and any attempt to cancel Blue Rewards results in an error message. I wonder if anyone can shed any light on this? Which accounts are eligible for Blue Rewards? And, once those accounts are closed, will the Blue Rewards be automatically deemed to be cancelled?

Zanderman

InA said:

Zanderman said:

I switched my Barclays Blue Rewards to Santander - the switch completed today, 3rd March.

I had timed it to get the last rewards payment on the 2nd as usual, but like others above, the payment didn't arrive on the 2nd. So no last reward for me.

Account now closed, but I just got a text from Barclays telling me my account (the one that doesn't now exist) has 'exceeded its borrowing limit' - i.e. is overdrawn.

I assume this is Barclays trying to take the Blue rewards fee that they should have taken yesterday. If so it's not very intelligent messaging on their part.  

It will be interesting to see if they follow this up in any way.  The text implies I owe them money - which I clearly don't . 

Edited to add:  I just tried logging in to Barclays, just to check the account is definitely gone. It was the only product I had with them so, not surprisingly, the login failed, as there is no account. So I cannot be over my borrowing limit on it. 

The fee and Blue Rewards payment will both be dated 2nd March, the fee will have been taken before your account was switched and closed. Your last reward will be in your Blue Rewards wallet, which will still be visible on your account. The reason you can't login, I suspect, is because the pinsentry no longer works once your card has been deactivated (if that's the login method you're using).

I did the same as you, arranged a switch to complete on the 3rd, but the Blue Rewards wallet is still available and any attempt to cancel Blue Rewards results in an error message. I wonder if anyone can shed any light on this? Which accounts are eligible for Blue Rewards? And, once those accounts are closed, will the Blue Rewards be automatically deemed to be cancelled?

Maybe.  Maybe not.

If the fee was really taken before the switch I wouldn't have the text saying the account was overdrawn.  And the switched balance would show the difference, which I don't think it does..  So it wasn't taken as far as I can tell.

And I'm not using PINsentry to try to login.  

So my situation, from the info Barclays have given me is that they think I owe them money (presumably £4).

And I cannot login to see the £7 rewards they should owe me.

None of which may matter. 

Unless they want to play silly games over the alleged debt - even though it's them that owes me £3.

InA

Zanderman said:

Maybe.  Maybe not.

If the fee was really taken before the switch I wouldn't have the text saying the account was overdrawn.  And the switched balance would show the difference, which I don't think it does..  So it wasn't taken as far as I can tell.

And I'm not using PINsentry to try to login.  

So my situation, from the info Barclays have given me is that they think I owe them money (presumably £4).

And I cannot login to see the £7 rewards they should owe me.

None of which may matter. 

Unless they want to play silly games over the alleged debt - even though it's them that owes me £3.

Are you sure the text said you were overdrawn? Or was it a, £0.00 balance limit message? I had the same text message (£0.00 balance). They took the fee from the money I had in my Barclays account, the remainder of which was transferred to my switched account (i.e. minus the fee). Easy way for you to check would be to see how much of your balance was transferred to your switched account. I think you'll find that the fee has already been deducted. My rewards wallet had the full £7 in rewards.

I wonder if it's an option for you to just open an everyday savings account with £1, to gain access to online banking? When you do gain access, you'll need a Barclays account to transfer the money in your wallet (the savings account worked for me).

Zanderman

InA said:

Zanderman said:

Maybe.  Maybe not.

If the fee was really taken before the switch I wouldn't have the text saying the account was overdrawn.  And the switched balance would show the difference, which I don't think it does..  So it wasn't taken as far as I can tell.

And I'm not using PINsentry to try to login.  

So my situation, from the info Barclays have given me is that they think I owe them money (presumably £4).

And I cannot login to see the £7 rewards they should owe me.

None of which may matter. 

Unless they want to play silly games over the alleged debt - even though it's them that owes me £3.

Are you sure the text said you were overdrawn? Or was it a, £0.00 balance limit message? I had the same text message (£0.00 balance). They took the fee from the money I had in my Barclays account, the remainder of which was transferred to my switched account (i.e. minus the fee). Easy way for you to check would be to see how much of your balance was transferred to your switched account. I think you'll find that the fee has already been deducted. My rewards wallet had the full £7 in rewards.

I wonder if it's an option for you to just open an everyday savings account with £1, to gain access to online banking? When you do gain access, you'll need a Barclays account to transfer the money in your wallet.

Short answer YES.
Why do you keep doubting what I said? I'm reporting factual information, not making it up.
If you had a text message about zero balance then you did not have the same message.
And yes, I have checked the transferred balance. 

nicetea

Does anyone know how to cancel Blue Rewards in online Banking.It does not seem to be possible even though I had an email from Barclays saying it is .
I do not have a smartphone to use their an app.

10_66

nicetea said:

Does anyone know how to cancel Blue Rewards in online Banking.It does not seem to be possible even though I had an email from Barclays saying it is .
I do not have a smartphone to use their an app.

When you're logged on, when you see your account and the Blue Rewards home page, go onto the rewards link and there's an option saying "thinking of leaving", if you click on that you then have the option of leaving the rewards scheme.

Zanderman

Following my report yesterday (3rd March) - that after switching my Barclays Blue to Santander on the 3rd I had a text from Barclays saying I was overdrawn ('exceeded my credit limit' on my account and 'needing to move money back into credit' in their words) I have had another saying exactly the same thing today.

The texts are clearly untrue as the account doesn't even exist. And all transactions should have transferred to the Santander account yesterday.

I have submitted an online complaint to Barclays (a difficult procedure in itself) and I still assume that the issue is likely to the Blue Rewards fee, which should have been taken (but wasn't) on the 2nd. I assume their system tried to take it on the 3rd, by which time the account had been closed.

Having managed to log in eventually yesterday my £7 Rewards was sitting in my Rewards account, untouched, yesterday.  That too should have been there on the 2nd but wasn't.  Logging in today I see it has vanished - they seem to have snaffled that!  But still send me texts saying I owe them. Edit to update:  The £7 has now appeared in the  Santander account, so that's good, but doesn't alter the main issue!

So not very high marks to Barclays on this one.  I'll see what response I get from them. At this point all I want from them is to admit that I am not overdrawn and reassurance that this is not going on any records. It's not as if I can pay anything into the account anyway, as the account doesn't exist. 

The moral, it seems to me, is not to time your switch away to be so close to the Blue Rewards date. 

InA in their response to me above seems to have done the same as me in date terms but with no problems, so my experience may be a one-off. 

But just in case it isn't maybe others should avoid the same timing!