Barclaycard Platinum - problem with balance transfer

Money_Conscious_Mummy

I was looking for a long 0% balance transfer card and saw on Clear Score that I was pre-approved for Barclaycard 0% for 29 months.

I have transferred balances many times over the years and have never had any issues, so now I find myself in a frustrating situation.

I completed my application for Barclaycard over two weeks before my current 0% was due to expire. I included the details of the credit card I wanted to transfer the balance from in my application (as I have done many times before) - it was about £4000.

Once the application had been submitted, the confirmation page tells me that I have a credit limit of £270 and the balance transfer has not been processed.

I did not receive any email communication from Barclaycard in the hours or days after I made the application, so was unsure as to whether it had actually gone through. So I phoned them, they couldn’t see anything on their system and told me to wait a few days to see if I received anything in the post.

Over a week later I received the card and it was another several days until I received my pin - I was not able to register for the app without all of this information. I am still unable to register for online banking as I keep getting an error message when I have tried.

During all of this, the 0% on my other card had expired but I still hadn’t been able to transfer the balance.

I called Barclaycard again to see if I could get my credit limit extended (as I’d been advised to in my first call) and spent an hour on the phone to a call centre who just kept going round in circles with me, unable to resolve my issue and telling me to spend on the card to get more offers, the offers are fluid and change all the time. Then, that I needed to upload my payslip to extend my limit but the website to do this kept giving me an error message, so I couldn’t. Then I was told to go into a Barclays branch to give them my payslip - something I was unable to do. I asked to speak to someone else and they told me that I can’t request an extension to my credit limit for 6 months and so I went round in circles with them too.

After an hour and 10 minutes of being on the phone, I was transferred to someone in the UK and explained the situation to him. He then went through all of the questions I had been asked in my original application (income, dependents etc) to see if my credit limit could be extended. He said that the system was not asking to see any evidence of my payslip. Once he had entered all of my information, the system had declined my credit limit increase because of the information on my credit file. I don't understand - I have an excellent credit score, have never missed payments, only apply for credit when it is time to balance transfer a credit card - every couple of years or so.

I asked whether I could close my Barclaycard account and have the search removed from my credit file - as otherwise I have been left in a situation where I can't apply for a different credit card as it will look like I have made 2 applications in 2 months or I am stuck paying interest on the credit card I wanted to transfer the balance from. The call handler said he would check - then came back to me and said the last roll of the dice would be for them to put in an appeal and I would hear back in 48 hours whether my credit limit would be increased. I am still waiting to hear back. After 1 hour 20 minutes on the phone I am no further forward.

I need to know where I stand moving forward and what rights I have if the appeal is unsuccessful?

I applied for this card because I was 'pre approved' and I have never had an issue transferring a balance from one card to another before - it has always happened as part of the application.

I need to shift the balance ASAP as the interest will start mounting up.

Barclaycard have not been very helpful and there seem to be lots of system / computer issues on their side.

Can I contact Clear Score it was their app that told me I was pre-approved and why I applied for this card?

Do I get the Financial Ombudsman involved?

Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

Nasqueron

The error is thinking the score has any relevance 

Lenders look at your credit history (in this case a credit card with £4k on it that you didn't clear during the previous 0% deal = suggests struggling for money) as well as income and debt history - you won't ever find out what Barclays didn't give you a higher limit other than the fact their system said you weren't a good enough risk for it.

You cannot complain about ClearScore offer - they are obviously not Barclays, what they think Barclays want isn't what Barclays want - they just guess. Your "pre-approved" offer will have all the caveats covering that it's not guaranteed until a credit check.

The FOS will not force a bank to give you credit when a commercial decision says no

Brie

If Barclays give you a credit balance of £270 it's because that's what they think you can afford.  They will look at all the other credit you have available (whether you are using it or not) make a decision based on what they know about your available income.  They will have a idea of how much your normal expenses might be, will know what you pay monthly for your mortgage or be able to guess what you might pay for rent.  They will see whether you have an overdraft and whether you use it often, whether you have a phone contract or pay your insurance monthly. 

They won't tell you what the algorithms say about your credit worthiness just what credit they are willing to grant you.  Likely the customer service people you will talk to won't know any more than that.

As for getting the credit check removed from your file that's not going to happen as they've done a check and issue you with credit even if it's not what you expected.  The only thing to do is to wait a couple of months to put this request in the past.  You may find it helps if you cancel the card and perhaps cancel other cards that aren't being used or reduce the available credit on them. 

Obviously if you are dependent on doing balance transfers to make your credit use affordable there's a problem that needs to be addressed.  Perhaps filling out a statement of accounts (SOA) on the debt free board there can be some good advice on how to deal with getting the debt down and reducing the ongoing interest you are concerned about.

amanda1024

It sounds like the pre-approval was correct - you were approved for this card with the advertised rate. It’s just not got the credit limit you were hoping for, which is slightly different

sheilz_steph

I am in the exact same position where im struggling to get a balance transfer card although i have never missed a payment for years across all my accounts  I have a mortgage I have a high income and I have half my monthly salary left over after bills. But clearly living off transferring balances isnt the best way as banks want us to eventually pay back the money and we are kind off getting away with paying the interest by constantly shifting balances. I came here hoping that maybe it was just me and theres a way round it but the sense im getting is no. Il just have to suck up the high interest rates n  try to clear off the balances .I had a decent run for some years

Money_Conscious_Mummy

I completely understand all of the points that have been made, but I would add that:

- My credit utilisation is low (26%)
- I have reduced the balance on my credit card - I took out a 0% card on purchases for 18 months to pay for an unexpected outgoing (not ideal, but sadly in a cost of living crisis, I didn't have the funds available) and overpaid the minimum payment on this each month - as it was not cleared by the end of the promotional period, I wanted to balance transfer to another 0% card.
- I rarely go into my overdraft (if I do, it is never more than by about £50 and I don't stay in it for long)
- I gave them my outgoings as part of the application (so can see the disposable income I have)

Based on everyone's comments, it seems as though I don't have much chance of getting this issue resolved and will have to fork out on interest payments. I still can't help but feel frustrated though as I have never had this happen to me before.

Nasqueron

Money_Conscious_Mummy said:

I completely understand all of the points that have been made, but I would add that:

- My credit utilisation is low (26%)
- I have reduced the balance on my credit card - I took out a 0% card on purchases for 18 months to pay for an unexpected outgoing (not ideal, but sadly in a cost of living crisis, I didn't have the funds available) and overpaid the minimum payment on this each month - as it was not cleared by the end of the promotional period, I wanted to balance transfer to another 0% card.
- I rarely go into my overdraft (if I do, it is never more than by about £50 and I don't stay in it for long)
- I gave them my outgoings as part of the application (so can see the disposable income I have)

Based on everyone's comments, it seems as though I don't have much chance of getting this issue resolved and will have to fork out on interest payments. I still can't help but feel frustrated though as I have never had this happen to me before.

Your comments show the likely reason for the rejection:

1) Is irrelevant, it's CRA score gimmick stuff
2) You took out a BT, that is fine but you still have £4000 to pay off - that will show to the lender and affects your affordability because even paying over the minimum you have clearly struggled to clear the debt because of your situation
3) Use of an OD (and paying interest on it) indicates affordability issues
4) That may have played a part

Basically lenders take your income and existing debt and consider what you could afford assuming you didn't use the BT card and just ran up more debt - that has to factor into responsible lending rules and decided you were simply not a risk they were willing to take.

You could try another application otherwise pay the debt as much as you can and try again in about 3-4 months for another

MEM62

Money_Conscious_Mummy said:

I completely understand all of the points that have been made, but I would add that:

- My credit utilisation is low (26%)
- I have reduced the balance on my credit card - I took out a 0% card on purchases for 18 months to pay for an unexpected outgoing (not ideal, but sadly in a cost of living crisis, I didn't have the funds available) and overpaid the minimum payment on this each month - as it was not cleared by the end of the promotional period, I wanted to balance transfer to another 0% card.
- I rarely go into my overdraft (if I do, it is never more than by about £50 and I don't stay in it for long)
- I gave them my outgoings as part of the application (so can see the disposable income I have)

Based on everyone's comments, it seems as though I don't have much chance of getting this issue resolved and will have to fork out on interest payments. I still can't help but feel frustrated though as I have never had this happen to me before.

It might still be worth applying to another provider.  You have little to loose at this age. 

Lending had been tightening up for the last couple of years and currently you can never be sure of even getting an interest-free card, let alone one with a decent limit.  For this reason it really is important to have a plan for clearing any debt that you have on a card before the interest-free period expires - particularly if that debt is substantial.         

prettyandfluffy

Barclaycard seems to be one of the more cautious CC companies.  I got a card from them last year with a lower limit than I requested (better than yours but still pretty low); after 6 months of having the card and managing it in a responsible way I was able to request an increased limit.

Money_Conscious_Mummy

Thanks for everyone's comments - thought I'd give you a quick update:

I heard back from Barclaycard today that they reviewed my request to increase my credit limit and it has been declined.
With nothing to lose, I applied for a 0% on balance transfers for 23 months with Nat West and was accepted with a £5100 limit.

I will be requesting Barclaycard close my account.

I suppose it goes to show that there really is no logic to all of this!

Good luck to those who were in a similar situation to me!

Nasqueron

Money_Conscious_Mummy said:

Thanks for everyone's comments - thought I'd give you a quick update:

I heard back from Barclaycard today that they reviewed my request to increase my credit limit and it has been declined.
With nothing to lose, I applied for a 0% on balance transfers for 23 months with Nat West and was accepted with a £5100 limit.

I will be requesting Barclaycard close my account.

I suppose it goes to show that there really is no logic to all of this!

Good luck to those who were in a similar situation to me!

Personally I would keep the BC unless you have a good selection of other cards - at the very least it's a good way to keep your credit history running and improving by spending a small amount every month and paying off in full