Barclays personal reserve

Driving_Soon

Ok, I'm a little confused ... I got this letter aswel! but did not really understand it, so just ripped it up! but after reading this thread I'm a little worried, what are they offering? and should i ring them up to say no .. if its as bad as you guys are making out?

littleowl

Driving_Soon wrote: »

Ok, I'm a little confused ... I got this letter aswel! but did not really understand it, so just ripped it up! but after reading this thread I'm a little worried, what are they offering? and should i ring them up to say no .. if its as bad as you guys are making out?

Please don't worry. If you do not wish to have the reserve facility you can refuse it.

I just think that it is another way for Barclays to gain revenue from people using the facility and racking up charges every 7 days. If you do not go over your overdraft into the reserve it is not a problem. But if you do not have the reserve it is even less of a potential problem!

steve012345

I have received one of these letters this morning offering a reserve of £150 on an executor's account that has stood at a nil balance for a year or more. I did ask for this account to be closed some time ago but my request was ignored.

If I was stupid enough to make full use of the reserve then the effective rate of interest for a year would be 763% (a charge of £1,144 comprised of £22 charged 52 times throughout the year). I believe that this phenomenal rate of interest beats anything charged by any loan sharks!

I find it very sad that a once respected financial institution can sink so low as to send these letters out under the pretence of "making a number of significant changes to improve your day to day banking".

bluflashlite

I'm so glad I'm not alone in my disgust!

In my view Barclays Bank are clearly blowing raspberries at folk like us for collectively standing up for our consumer rights over bank charges!

They evidently don't feel very confident about winning that Appeal case if they are prepared to scam all their existing & long standing customers in this fashion!

What appalls me most is that Barclays WILL succeed in scamming the most vulnerable of people, who will unwittingly be all-too-trusting of this High-Street name!

Should add I've been a Barclays customer for over 28 years & only reason I've never switched is that my branch has always run a tight-ship & rarely messed-up (& thats a bonus in my book!)

Decisions like this from 'on-high' tho, will destroy staff moral in any well-run branch....not really a lot of point in branch managers making the effort to enhance customer relations then, is there?

Anyone know if the other banks are trying-on any similar dirty tricks?

I'm a lone-carer/parent on meagre benefits & Barclays just "gave" me a total of £1,250 in "honoured payments"! (Very inviting when you're struggling to survive on a low income!) But if folk like me get snared into this scam, how many will be able to afford to get free of it once those charges bite?

Martin, please include a warning about this one in your next email??

littleowl

bluflashlite wrote: »

I'm so glad I'm not alone in my disgust!

In my view Barclays Bank are clearly blowing raspberries at folk like us for collectively standing up for our consumer rights over bank charges!

They evidently don't feel very confident about winning that Appeal case if they are prepared to scam all their existing & long standing customers in this fashion!

What appalls me most is that Barclays WILL succeed in scamming the most vulnerable of people, who will unwittingly be all-too-trusting of this High-Street name!

Should add I've been a Barclays customer for over 28 years & only reason I've never switched is that my branch has always run a tight-ship & rarely messed-up (& thats a bonus in my book!)

Decisions like this from 'on-high' tho, will destroy staff moral in any well-run branch....not really a lot of point in branch managers making the effort to enhance customer relations then, is there?

Anyone know if the other banks are trying-on any similar dirty tricks?

I'm a lone-carer/parent on meagre benefits & Barclays just "gave" me a total of £1,250 in "honoured payments"! (Very inviting when you're struggling to survive on a low income!) But if folk like me get snared into this scam, how many will be able to afford to get free of it once those charges bite?

Martin, please include a warning about this one in your next email??

I agree with everything you have said and, as well as declining Barclays 'kind' offer I have written to express my distaste at this piece of obvious profiteering.

MABLE

I only opened the account so I could view my ISA online. Never use it and they advise my amount is £150.00. I have just sent back the optout form declining their less than generous offer.

Lonewolf10

I mentioned this in another thread a day or two ago. I got my letter back at the start of June, mine was for £150 (ontop of £100 overdraft). Sent the opt-out form back yesterday.


Regards,
Lonewolf10

ShelfStacker_3

Am I the only person who doesn't see the problem with the personal reserve? So long as it doesn't appear as part of your available balance (so there's no temptation to dip into it) then it'll only affect you if you go over your overdraft limit, which a) you shouldn't do and b) people who are truly desperate for cash that quickly will accept the charges for, especially since there's no hit to your credit file?

I'm not a Barclays customer, hell, I don't like Barclays, but I genuinely don't see an issue with the Personal Reserve.

robertjonesuk

personal reserve may not be a brilliant idea, but at least is quite clear and customers now know what they will pay exactly. £22 for 5 days is cheaper than £30 or £35 for every return item.

it seems that some people will never be satisfied and ideally would like banks to borrow the money (i.e. overdraft or unauthorised overdraft, etc.) free of charge. not gonna happen.

another reason to stop complaining and moaning.

littleowl

ShelfStacker wrote: »

Am I the only person who doesn't see the problem with the personal reserve? So long as it doesn't appear as part of your available balance (so there's no temptation to dip into it) then it'll only affect you if you go over your overdraft limit, which a) you shouldn't do and b) people who are truly desperate for cash that quickly will accept the charges for, especially since there's no hit to your credit file?

I'm not a Barclays customer, hell, I don't like Barclays, but I genuinely don't see an issue with the Personal Reserve.

As far as I am concerned the problem is that Barclays has, without any discussion, imposed a personal reserve on my bank account. Yes, of course I can opt out and have done so but I thoroughly object to not being given the opprtunity to opt in if I wanted to rather than having to opt out.

I also think that some people with poor money management might well use this facility to their detriment.

The other appalling aspect of the scheme is that if a customer were to go over the 5 day limit of using the reserve he/she would be charged a swinging £22 - and that will apply every time they use the reserve over the 5 day stipulation. That is an horrendous amount of interest which is why I said in an earlier post that I believe that Barclays is trying to find a way to increase revenue now that the scandal over bank charges is so high profile.