Barclays new trick?

SplendidIsolation

Today I received a letter from Barclays bank saying they were adding a new feature to my account, that I would have to write back to opt out of. They call it a Reserve.

Seems to me like a way for them to keep making money, but not having to comply with any ruling by the courts about bank charges, as this is after all a uasge fee and not a penalty fee. :mad:

Sorry just noticed that this posted to the wrong place.

natweststaffmember

There is a thread on this forum about Barclays Personal Reserve.

Protopia

I received a letter from barclays telling me that, since I had not used my reserve account (which for me at least was an adjunct to my OpenPlan mortgage that gave me an overdraft at mortgage rates), they were going to remove my Reserve facility unless I told them I wanted to keep it and would charge me a significant sum to re-instate it if I decided later that I wanted it.

This is just one in perhaps 40 complaints I have made to Barclays over the past three years since they started moving me over from the Woolwich. In once case I needed to write to the Chairman of Barclays to get any form of customer service. They are possibly the most Customer Unfriendly bank you could possibly hope (or fear) to have to deal with. From my own personal experience, it is my belief that the current Nat West adverts showing bankers who have complete distain for their customers is based on Barclays.

I used to be the happiest customer of the Woolwich - now I am the unhappiest customer of Barclays. In simple terms I have had such a bad time with Barclays since they started moving me over from the Woolwich that I just hate being a Barclays customer, and if it wasn't for having a mortgage with them I would sever my 23 year banking relationship with them and move elsewhere to a bank which values my custom.

IF YOU ARE THINING OF BANKING WITH BARCLAYS I URGE YOU TO GO ELSEWHERE.

ShelfStacker_3

SplendidIsolation wrote: »

Today I received a letter from Barclays bank saying they were adding a new feature to my account, that I would have to write back to opt out of. They call it a Reserve.

Seems to me like a way for them to keep making money, but not having to comply with any ruling by the courts about bank charges, as this is after all a uasge fee and not a penalty fee. :mad:

Sorry just noticed that this posted to the wrong place.

You won't be charged for the Reserve if you don't use it...

It *is* an attempt to get around the bank charges thing by billing it as a service, agreed, but unless you go over your overdraft limit (which you shouldn't do anyway) it shouldn't impact on you and it won't cost anything.

If it annoys you that much, go to a bank which has a buffer so if you go overdrawn by less than a certain amount you won't be charged: HSBC is the only one that springs to mind after Barclays removed theirs (probably the only thing that annoys me about this whole thing). But like I say, if you don't go over your overdraft limit then it won't affect you one jot.

Totally agree with the poster above about Barclays' customer service though. Branch service was alright but telephone service was atrocious, and if nothing else their rates are poor.