Goodbye Barclays

TallGuy2

I have had a letter telling me that my Platinum acount will be downgraded to basic Barclays, and if I don't like it then I can go elsewhere. Nice. Barclays for 51 years.

Marchitiello

TallGuy2 said:

I have had a letter telling me that my Platinum acount will be downgraded to basic Barclays, and if I don't like it then I can go elsewhere. Nice. Barclays for 51 years.

The Platinum account is a legacy product (has not be available for new customers for a long time) that the have finally decided to discontinue, so there is nothing personal or bad about it, other financial institution do this all the time as they revise their product portfolio.

As the product you hold is no longer available, Barclays (as other banks and financial institution) needs to advise you that you have the option to accept or switch to another bank, is a regulatory requirement, again not because they are selecting you as a not worthy customer… 

[Deleted User]

TallGuy2 said:

I have had a letter telling me that my Platinum acount will be downgraded to basic Barclays, and if I don't like it then I can go elsewhere. Nice. Barclays for 51 years.

Move elsewhere but keep the standard Barclays setup as a backup. 

Barclays has no loyalty to you. Use them to suit your needs. 

B0bbyEwing

I doubt they'll care. For every you that leaves there'll probably be 2 of you that joins anyway. Even if not, they're hardly going to go out of business any time soon. 

I've had my Nationwide account for over 20 years. Maybe 25+. It offers me nothing really but any time I need to apply for anything & they want to know about my bank account & how long I've been with them, I declare this one. It may be pointless and not make a difference but I go on the basis of it will be better for me than showing an account I've had for 5 minutes. I just have a few quid in it at any one time.

eskbanker

B0bbyEwing said:

For every you that leaves there'll probably be 2 of you that joins anyway.

While the principle of some leavers being offset by joiners is likely to be accurate, I'd be astonished if it was literally anything like two joiners per leaver, given the increasing prevalence of banks with no high street presence hoovering up market share from those perceived to be dinosaurs!

[Deleted User]

eskbanker said:

B0bbyEwing said:

For every you that leaves there'll probably be 2 of you that joins anyway.

While the principle of some leavers being offset by joiners is likely to be accurate, I'd be astonished if it was literally anything like two joiners per leaver, given the increasing prevalence of banks with no high street presence hoovering up market share from those perceived to be dinosaurs!

Barclays are clearly more interested in high net worth individuals - they essentially scrapped Blue Rewards for normal retail customers and have only really retained a switching offer (Avios) for their Premier product range and above. Platinum customers tended to have long tenures and/or multiple Barclays products. These attributes don't always translate to profitability especially if they're past needing mortgages and borrowing.

B0bbyEwing

eskbanker said:

B0bbyEwing said:

For every you that leaves there'll probably be 2 of you that joins anyway.

While the principle of some leavers being offset by joiners is likely to be accurate, I'd be astonished if it was literally anything like two joiners per leaver, given the increasing prevalence of banks with no high street presence hoovering up market share from those perceived to be dinosaurs!

I didn't think that my 2-to-1 would be taken in the literal sense. 

Though after people believed I'd hardwired my microwave in in another thread recently I should've known better.

That's why I immediately followed it up with the point - they're not going to go out of business any time soon. In other words they're not going to care whether OP leaves or not.

And to finish your first post off on page 1 - and even if it made them feel better to tell this forum about it.

Me personally, I just leave. I'm not even sure I tell the wife (unless it's the joint account), never mind a bunch of people I've never met.