Screw you Barclaycard

TobyCG

So I've had a "standard" Barclaycard for literally decades.  I put a lot of purchases through it, between £12k & £20k a year on average, mainly for convenience and Section 75 protection.  I pay the card off in full every month.

Obviously I've been missing a trick here and should have had some kind of rewards card with the amount I'm putting through it - totally my fault.  To that end I enquired with Barclaycard about switching to a rewards card, likely the Avios one.

Basically the answer was just "no".

They said that the only way to switch was to be "offered" it via the app or website and I have no offers at all.  The person I initially spoke to via chat kept rambling on about "I'm sure there'll be an offer soon" which was clearly just nonsense to string me along.  Why would an offer suddenly appear?

I then called to speak to someone and he expressed what I believe was genuine surprise that I was unable to switch to an alternate card given my longstanding account.  He tried escalating it but was told categorically that this was the "new AI system" and there was no way they could affect it.

What a total joke Barclaycard!  I've been totally happy with your service until now but am now looking to leave for an alternative provider, partly to earn rewards but mainly just out of spite and anger at this lack of loyalty and service.

I did think I could try applying for a second rewards card as a new account/customer but I decided not to in case it was refused due to my existing account and I'd then have a "credit refused" black mark on my record.  As a result I'll be looking at alternative providers.

paul_c123

The best way to screw a credit card company IS to spend heavily on it and pay the balance in full by the due date. So, at least you have the warm reassurance that you've already been doing it for years. 

Start being a bit sloppy with paying in full, a bit of interest or fees here and there, etc and the offers will come flooding at you.

Emmia

I spent ages paying in full on a Barclaycard with no offers for their reward card in the app...

Then one day a few months after I opened my Amex (although this might be coincidental) the offer to switch to a rewards card popped up in the app. 


*My rewards card is still being denied for Google pay though!

jay1804

I believe you can only change to a different card using the App. I'm using the Barclays app on iPhone, go to Your cards > click on Barclaycard then under Manage credit there should be an option for Change to a different card . Then you are able to pick which card you want to transfer to, and it will take place on your next statement.

If you haven't got the option, stop spending on the card for a month or two and see if a offer becomes available. 

If you really want to screw Barclaycard then look for a different CC, Amex Cashback, Santander Edge come to mind and earn more than Barclaycard.

zagfles

jay1804 said:

I believe you can only change to a different card using the App. I'm using the Barclays app on iPhone, go to Your cards > click on Barclaycard then under Manage credit there should be an option for Change to a different card . Then you are able to pick which card you want to transfer to, and it will take place on your next statement.

If you haven't got the option, stop spending on the card for a month or two and see if a offer becomes available. 

If you really want to screw Barclaycard then look for a different CC, Amex Cashback, Santander Edge come to mind and earn more than Barclaycard.

Yes I did that, I have 2 BCs and wanted to switch one of them but it would only let me switch the other one at first. But tried a couple of months later and it let me switch the one I wanted to switch. 

zagfles

paul_c123 said:

The best way to screw a credit card company IS to spend heavily on it and pay the balance in full by the due date. So, at least you have the warm reassurance that you've already been doing it for years. 

Start being a bit sloppy with paying in full, a bit of interest or fees here and there, etc and the offers will come flooding at you.

How do you think that "screws" them? Credit card companies still make loads of money through the fees they charge retailers so they're quite happy with full payers, that's why they offer the specific interest free exemption for paying in full. Plus even cashback with some cards. IIRC something like 60% of people pay in full every month.  

paul_c123

zagfles said:

paul_c123 said:

The best way to screw a credit card company IS to spend heavily on it and pay the balance in full by the due date. So, at least you have the warm reassurance that you've already been doing it for years. 

Start being a bit sloppy with paying in full, a bit of interest or fees here and there, etc and the offers will come flooding at you.

How do you think that "screws" them? Credit card companies still make loads of money through the fees they charge retailers so they're quite happy with full payers, that's why they offer the specific interest free exemption for paying in full. Plus even cashback with some cards. IIRC something like 60% of people pay in full every month.  

1) Because it costs them to provide the infrastructure/service/etc of providing a credit card.
2) Because they're offering a credit line for free

Sure, they make money through retailers fees etc but its a competitive, marginal, industry. They won't make any money from full-payers. Its all relative.

zagfles

paul_c123 said:

zagfles said:

paul_c123 said:

The best way to screw a credit card company IS to spend heavily on it and pay the balance in full by the due date. So, at least you have the warm reassurance that you've already been doing it for years. 

Start being a bit sloppy with paying in full, a bit of interest or fees here and there, etc and the offers will come flooding at you.

How do you think that "screws" them? Credit card companies still make loads of money through the fees they charge retailers so they're quite happy with full payers, that's why they offer the specific interest free exemption for paying in full. Plus even cashback with some cards. IIRC something like 60% of people pay in full every month.  

1) Because it costs them to provide the infrastructure/service/etc of providing a credit card.
2) Because they're offering a credit line for free

Sure, they make money through retailers fees etc but its a competitive, marginal, industry. They won't make any money from full-payers. Its all relative.

Of course they make money from full payers. Over half CC users are full payers, why would they want such customers if they didn't make money from them? And even give them cashback on top with some cards. If they didn't want them or weren't making money from them they'd simply charge interest from the purchase date to the payment date with no exemption for full payers. 

They like full payers, because they're a reliable rock solid income stream. Obviously they'd prefer it if you pay them interest as well, but they know that anyone who manages their finance properly is never going to pay interest at credit card rates. So if they did charge everyone interest from the purchase date, then full payers would close their cards and use debit cards instead.

But they want full payers, hence the specific interest exemption for them. 

As with any business they'll have loss leaders, for instance 0% offers, but they're always temporary time-limited offers which require action by the customer to avoid big fees/interest at the end. Paying a card in full every month requires zero action after setting up a DD to pay in full, and can last decades. They're not going to have ongoing permanent loss leaders for half their customer base. 

wiseonesomeofthetime

Emmia said:

...

*My rewards card is still being denied for Google pay though!

Have you tried today? You might be pleasantly surprised. I was

Emmia

wiseonesomeofthetime said:

Emmia said:

...

*My rewards card is still being denied for Google pay though!

Have you tried today? You might be pleasantly surprised. I was

I have, still a "no"

TobyCG

jay1804 said:

I believe you can only change to a different card using the App. I'm using the Barclays app on iPhone, go to Your cards > click on Barclaycard then under Manage credit there should be an option for Change to a different card . Then you are able to pick which card you want to transfer to, and it will take place on your next statement.

If you haven't got the option, stop spending on the card for a month or two and see if a offer becomes available. 

If you really want to screw Barclaycard then look for a different CC, Amex Cashback, Santander Edge come to mind and earn more than Barclaycard.

Yeah, no offers under that option at all unfortunately.

I'm likely going to get another card and use that instead and see what happens.  I was thinking about Amex but I'm concerned about it not being as widely accepted as Visa/MC.

Not looked at Santander yet but was looking at the HSBC Premier cards as a possibility.