Embarrassed by Barclays

Locana

Oh Im not sure about them being skint. Although Barclaycard reduced my limit to £560, Barclays, my bank, keep offering me loans. They started at around 5,000 and now I think im pre approved for 25,000.

bethanyrayne

Locana wrote: »

Oh Im not sure about them being skint. Although Barclaycard reduced my limit to £560, Barclays, my bank, keep offering me loans. They started at around 5,000 and now I think im pre approved for 25,000.

Maybe it's just CCs

A loan for £25,000 starts earning money from the get go and is a fixed amount.

A CC for £25,000 can sit unused for months but the bank knows it could be used at anytime and so have to have the means to cover it if it is used. Which means if they have liquidity problems they must rely on being able to borrow the money on wholesale markets which is where the problem lies.

mancitychick

Well I have had a Barclaycard for 10 years and always had a cr limit of 1700 but got a letter today telling me that they had upped my limit to 3,400 and to phone if I did not want the new limit. This was a surprise because a) I hadn't asked them to review my limit. b) I am no wear near my old limit and finally c) everyone keeps saying credit cards are reducing limits left right and centre.

setmefree2

That's really horrible for the op though....I would also die of shame:cool:

Mary_Hartnell

Do we need a "sticky" thread for each of the banks that run credit cards (eg I think A & L are really MBNA) so we can monitor which banks are running out of money in the "credit crunch".

bethanyrayne

mancitychick wrote: »

Well I have had a Barclaycard for 10 years and always had a cr limit of 1700 but got a letter today telling me that they had upped my limit to 3,400 and to phone if I did not want the new limit. This was a surprise because a) I hadn't asked them to review my limit. b) I am no wear near my old limit and finally c) everyone keeps saying credit cards are reducing limits left right and centre.

Took them 10yrs to go from£1700 to £3400 strange company considering all the other things they are doing to annoy.

neverdespairgirl

setmefree2 wrote: »

That's really horrible for the op though....I would also die of shame:cool:

Why? It doesn't matter what some random car salesman thinks of you.

Dylanwing

Anyway I always find overseas call centre staff very polite and helpfull.
To me it makes no difference where they are based. They all read the same autocue machine.

Unfortunately, some of the Overseas operators cannot understand my West Country accent. Personally, I find overseas call centre staff as much use as a wax fire-guard! Full marks to Aqua, they may have a slightly higher rate, but at least I can talk about football and egg-chasing with a guy from Cardiff!

Bismarck

Don't actually think they're skint, just sorting out their limits...read somewhere that they're looking to focus on the homeowners with families who can't run away! They've upped both my limits big time without me asking - they must see me as a good slow earner for their money.

Re the overseas operator debate...it's tricky to say what you feel without stepping over labelling lines but I get scared agreeing a balance transfer over the phone with someone when I'm not sure they're getting the details right.....what comeback do you have if they "misheard" you over something important like the interest rate or amounts involved? Surely the banks are making enough money still to be able to afford to pay UK workers?

zzzLazyDaisy

I think Barclays have money problems, and if my money was with them (its not) I'd move it.

My sister applied for a small (£50K) mortgage, with £100K deposit in September 2007. It was approved in principle, and she was told it would take 28 days to process. She sold her house in November but there was an admin problem with Barclays so rather than hold the sale up she moved in with friends 'for a couple of weeks'. They susbequently confirmed that the mortgage was approved, she paid for their surveyor to survey the house - all in order as it was a new build - she then received a text confirming that the offer would be faxed to her solicitor that afternoon so she moved the deposit from the bank to the solicitor in readiness for exchange. The offer didn't arrive. Exactly the same thing happened the next two consecutive Fridays. By which time it was Christmas. They told her it would definitely be sorted out after Christmas, but on 2nd January she went to a mortgage broker who made an application to another lender. On 17th January Barclays told her that her mortgage application had been refused. Nothing had changed in that time apart from her income increasing by £700 a month. The second lender processed the application within three weeks start to finish and she moved in before the end of January.

She is still waiting for the promised refund of her surveyors fees. Oh, and when she asked to move the deposit into a high interest account, she was told there was no point as the mortgage would be through in less than 28 days, so she lost interest while they were earning interest on her money elsewhere.

Another friend was refused a mortgage by Barclays - he earns £50k a year, has a house with his ex with no mortgage that is currently on the market, he has a good deposit (over 25%) and just wanted £100k to buy a somewhere else, which would have been paid off as soon as the other house sold. Barclays refused him, but the mortgage application went through with another lender, no problem.

Seems to me that it is Barclays that has the problem.