Would you keep or close Barclaycard given their recent actions?

Darkslider

Just paid off my Barclaycard with a £6k limit that I've had since 2014 (second longest account bar my current account)

In the past I've had a few cycles of clearing it then balance transferring other CC balances onto it, however I haven't had any BT or MT offers from them since well before covid (so 3-4 years), and with the recent credit limit reductions they've imposed on most accounts it seems their appetite for lending has all but disappeared during the pandemic.

I'm wondering if there's any point keeping a card open if there's zero chance they'll bring back existing customer 0% offers any time soon. I'm not the most disciplined so I would rather not have £6k of credit tempting me going forward.

Is there anyone on here with a bit more insight into Barclaycard who could comment? I'm thinking that if they're 12 months plus away from bringing back 0% promotional offers I'd probably do better cancelling it now and giving myself the option of taking one out again down the line as a new customer probably getting a better deal.

jpsartre

I just had a 0% offer this month, both for balance and transfer. First time in a year or so.

Nebulous2

It depends on what you are getting from it. It is my oldest card, because they bought over someone else, and it still offers me 0.5% cashback from any purchase. They have made me offers fairly regularly, not every month, but quite often. 

The current offers are the best I've had for some time. 2.9% BT for two years or 2.6% MT for 18 months. 

Offers have always been very individual, however 2-3 months after clearing a balance is often the sweet spot.... 

jay1804

I had various BT offers in the last 18 months, so they definitely are still offering them. 

Darkslider

Thanks for all the responses, sounds like it could be worth sitting on it for 6-12 months to see if I get any offers. I've got 2 other hefty 0% deals running out later in the year so it'd be really handy if they did offer me a 0% BT deal. 

MrFrugalFever

jpsartre said:

I just had a 0% offer this month, both for balance and transfer. First time in a year or so.

Ditto. Both BT and money transfer through til May 2023

Thrugelmir

Darkslider said:

 I've got 2 other hefty 0% deals running out later in the year so it'd be really handy if they did offer me a 0% BT deal. 

A potential reason why they won't. Duty of care, responsible lending obligations blah blah blah......

[Deleted User]

I have a BC Platinum BT card, have several balances running on it (all being paid down to clear before the end of the deal) and I keep getting offered them. My NatWest card has offers (with 2 balances on it, clearing this year) and they just upped my limit and my Halifax, Lloyds and Sainsbury's ones keep offering me them. Definitely down to individual cases

ManyWays

You could phone them up and say you want to close it unless they can offer you a 0% deal? I did this a few times a few years ago with about a 1 in 3 success rate. 

MrFrugalFever

ManyWays said:

You could phone them up and say you want to close it unless they can offer you a 0% deal? I did this a few times a few years ago with about a 1 in 3 success rate. 

That has worked for me before, complained about the lack of deals and they put in place a 0% promotion.

Darkslider

MrFrugalFever said:

ManyWays said:

You could phone them up and say you want to close it unless they can offer you a 0% deal? I did this a few times a few years ago with about a 1 in 3 success rate. 

That has worked for me before, complained about the lack of deals and they put in place a 0% promotion.

That's interesting and good to know, I'll give it 3 months and if nothing is forecoming I'll consider doing that. In my experience the best way to get good deals is to be prepared and ready to walk away, and if they weren't going to offer me a 0% offer then I'd be closing anyway so nothing to lose there.