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finally free of Barclaycard's 22% interest!!
PsiDOC
Posts: 354 Forumite
in Credit cards
The prologue
At christmas I had a couple of days off to have a look at my bills, finances and such like. I have everything on standing order and direct debit so I guess I got complacent.
I noticed that Barclaycard were spanking me for 22% interest
Obviously I duly called them and asked them what they could do. Fair play to the young asian lad on the phone he tried to move me to the Simplicity card, however because my gold card was a Visa no can do... Strike 1
Then 2 days later I called and spoke to a young lady, again asian about this 22% and she advised me to call between 9 and 5 when their customer loyalty team could deal with my case as I had been a customer of 10 years... Strike 2
The very next day at 10am was the showdown. I called and again connected to an asian gentleman and asked to be put through to the Customer Loyalty team, only to be told that this could only be done if I was closing my account. I tried to argue the point that surely it's business sense to try and keep customers BEFORE they get to that point. Sadly to no avail. So I tried with him to get the interest reduced and basically I sadly hit the stone wall.
Today
I have been liquidating everything I don't need. My 4x4 (I have a small car for work) all the electronic stuff I don't use, junk from the attic and even stuff that I'd have thrown out! (ebay is wonderful!!) This coupled with a bit of overtime from work and today I made the call to get my balance so as I could make the bank transfer and pay the whole lot off in one hit. Lo and behold I tell the young (again asian) lady of my intentions and bam! I am straight through to the loyalty team!
I asked them if the call was being recorded. They replied yes. I replied. Oh good. please give this to your ceo as it'll be a good forward to my letter, and let them have both barrels of what I thought of the way they treat a customer of 10 years!
Well suffice to say the credit tranfer has been made, but just for devilment I have added 3p to the transfer so I am now in credit on my credit card, why have I done this? Simple.
They have to send me a statement every month which costs them at least 1.00 to print and post and they get NOTHING more from me!
In 3 months time I intend to cancel the account, but only after I have had a bit of a giggle when the bill hits the doormat. Call it my way of extending my middle finger at the system that decided to take the mickey out of my wallet and hard earned.
Thanks for letting me vent and please...
I IMPLORE YOU.. NEVER GET A BARCLAYCARD GOLD!
PsiDOC
At christmas I had a couple of days off to have a look at my bills, finances and such like. I have everything on standing order and direct debit so I guess I got complacent.
I noticed that Barclaycard were spanking me for 22% interest
Obviously I duly called them and asked them what they could do. Fair play to the young asian lad on the phone he tried to move me to the Simplicity card, however because my gold card was a Visa no can do... Strike 1
Then 2 days later I called and spoke to a young lady, again asian about this 22% and she advised me to call between 9 and 5 when their customer loyalty team could deal with my case as I had been a customer of 10 years... Strike 2
The very next day at 10am was the showdown. I called and again connected to an asian gentleman and asked to be put through to the Customer Loyalty team, only to be told that this could only be done if I was closing my account. I tried to argue the point that surely it's business sense to try and keep customers BEFORE they get to that point. Sadly to no avail. So I tried with him to get the interest reduced and basically I sadly hit the stone wall.
Today
I have been liquidating everything I don't need. My 4x4 (I have a small car for work) all the electronic stuff I don't use, junk from the attic and even stuff that I'd have thrown out! (ebay is wonderful!!) This coupled with a bit of overtime from work and today I made the call to get my balance so as I could make the bank transfer and pay the whole lot off in one hit. Lo and behold I tell the young (again asian) lady of my intentions and bam! I am straight through to the loyalty team!
I asked them if the call was being recorded. They replied yes. I replied. Oh good. please give this to your ceo as it'll be a good forward to my letter, and let them have both barrels of what I thought of the way they treat a customer of 10 years!
Well suffice to say the credit tranfer has been made, but just for devilment I have added 3p to the transfer so I am now in credit on my credit card, why have I done this? Simple.
They have to send me a statement every month which costs them at least 1.00 to print and post and they get NOTHING more from me!
In 3 months time I intend to cancel the account, but only after I have had a bit of a giggle when the bill hits the doormat. Call it my way of extending my middle finger at the system that decided to take the mickey out of my wallet and hard earned.
Thanks for letting me vent and please...
I IMPLORE YOU.. NEVER GET A BARCLAYCARD GOLD!
PsiDOC
Near a tree by a river, there's a hole in the ground.
Where an old man of Aran goes around and around....
Where an old man of Aran goes around and around....
0
Comments
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just remember that there will be residual interest to pay on the next bill.0
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I wasn't so unfortunate with them.. I got through to customer loyalty and they froze all my interest at 6.9%.. I was complacent with my gold card.. and my interest was 27.9%.. mine and your fault for checking.. not theirs!
You'lll also find they change the way they calculate interest if you clear a balance.. they'll charge interest from the day of issue, you'd need to clear your balance by more than 3p.. you'll find yourself back in debt next statement.
Now you're in a position of strength with them.. think about your options.. you can get your purchase APR down to 12.9 easily enough.. you have a card you can transfer any other balance to at 6.9%
i've spoken of my shuffle elsewhere.. unless you really won't need the card, a barclaycard is a useful card to have in your armoury.
(well it is for me.. of course other people's needs are different)
MBNA are putting accounts up to 34.9%.. 22.9% is rubbish.. but not as rubbish as some!0 -
Thanks for the comments. I didn't know that. I'll watch the next bill and make sure it's cleared as soon as it comes in. Although I'll pay the 3p extra again, just to have my little bit of vengance.
PsiNear a tree by a river, there's a hole in the ground.
Where an old man of Aran goes around and around....0 -
What's the relevance of the ethnicity (that you had to mention it 4 times) of Barclaycard's CSA's?0
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Might be worth calling them to request a reduction in your credit limit so they don't get to hog a big chunk of available credit on your credit report."A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five." - Groucho Marx0
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I actually love Barclaycard.
In May 2004 I took out a Barclaycard, it was my next card transfer at 0%. This time Barclaycard were offering a deal that if you spend a £1 per month your balance is 0% for life of the balance.
I transferred in £4200 and today its down to £625. All my wife does is spend £1 per month. That is the only time it gets used. I think the interest for almost 4 years is about £50. (The offer was only available for about 1 week I think).Mortgage free
Vocational freedom has arrived0 -
Yorkshireboy
Ethnisity is very relevant to Barclaycard. The indian call centre staff are friendly, but useless.
I simply wanted to know what interest I was paying on different parts of my balance.. what was cash/promo/purchase. Then I wanted him to freee all my interest at 6.9%, which he interpreted as "I'd like to make a balance transfer and pay 27 pounds 90 pence APR"...
Get off your PC high horse.... his comment is a completely valid one.0 -
YorkshireBoy wrote: »What's the relevance of the ethnicity (that you had to mention it 4 times) of Barclaycard's CSA's?
It might well not be ethnicity (British Asians) but nationality (Indian call centre)?...much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.0 -
Why wouldn't they let you move over to their Simplicity card?0
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YorkshireBoy wrote: »What's the relevance of the ethnicity (that you had to mention it 4 times) of Barclaycard's CSA's?
Yes I did because sadly they simply don't care, and are incompetent to the point of being useless. 99% of the time the language barrier is so predominant that I have difficulty understanding what has been said to me.
I have never had anything more than a painful experience when calling an [now how can I put this without offending your political correctness - Ah! I know]... "offshore" call centre.Why wouldn't they let you move over to their Simplicity card?
Because I already have a Barclaycard Visa card the one mentioned above. according to them you can only have 1 Visa Card. So I couldn't get the Simplicity Card, transfer the balance from Gold to Simplicity then cancel the Gold. Their rules not mine.
PsiDOCNear a tree by a river, there's a hole in the ground.
Where an old man of Aran goes around and around....0
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