topic Re: Goodbye, Barclays in Credit Cards

Goodbye, Barclays

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 20:16:59 GMT

So, I was getting some Credit Solutions luv from Synchrony earlier today, and I decided to give Barclaycard a ring (no pun intended).

I got connected with a rep and I immediately knew she wasn't going to be helpful from her tone. I politely asked about APR reduction offers on my account, and after a few seconds of pulling up my account, she said I have the lowest currently available APR for my account (24.24% APR or something ridiculous like that). I said, OK, can you please transfer me to your retentions department? She said she had to check on that and put me on hold.

After a few minutes on hold, she came back on and said that would not be possible... her tone becoming ruder and more apethetic by the minute. Being fully paid off and not needing the card at all, I asked to close my account immediately. Now at the peak of her indifference, I confirmed the last four of the account I wanted to close and it was done.

I then asked to be connected to her supervisor where I filed a formal complaint against the rep for the poor customer service - the worst I've EVER received from any card company, actually - and stated how disappointed I am in this card that has not grown at all, has wasted two HP's trying to get CLI's up from $5K when my TU FICO has been stellar, and is stuck at an APR rate 50% higher than most of my other cards. Fortunately the supervisor was very cordial and apologized for the treatment and lack of explanation by the rep, and stated her regret in losing me as a customer.

Good riddance, Barclays Bank.

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

ddemari — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 20:24:44 GMT

I remember the last time i called barclays and asked the same question on a card with a 195 dollar annual fee and 25% interest rate, the rep. was like taken back by my question. What you have, is the best possible and is that all?

I said yes, hung up as Im not going to stir their pot but if I wanted too I definitely see doing what you did. I know everyones profile is different and experiences too but I have no luck with them at all in regards to retention related activities.

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 20:29:23 GMT

@ddemari wrote:
I remember the last time i called barclays and asked the same question on a card with a 195 dollar annual fee and 25% interest rate, the rep. was like taken back by my question. What you have, is the best possible and is that all?

I said yes, hung up as Im not going to stir their pot but if I wanted too I definitely see doing what you did. I know everyones profile is different and experiences too but I have no luck with them at all in regards to retention related activities.

Yeah, I'm just thoroughly unimpressed by both them and Amex... giving Amex another try for a BCP approval since we're heavily grocery shopping now at our house, and I'm done if I get denied.

@Closing the Barclaycard Arrival took me from 7.60% util to 7.76% so I'm not too hurt overall. Like I told the supervisor, they're going to have to do far better than $5K @ deep subprime rate and a full-out interrogation every time I call an analyst to have my business.

I was showing my DW their Luxury cards today and when she heard who was issuing them, she immediately went "ugh" and completely forgot about the Black Card. lol

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 20:29:42 GMT

You are better off. I am not a fan of their practices at all. Sorry they wouldn't budge though. With your scores you can be picky so their loss. Other lenders will be happy to have your business and treat you well.

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

baller4life — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 20:32:50 GMT

Good for you getting rid of those clowns. Good riddance!

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

willwar14 — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 20:33:19 GMT

My mom has a 830 TU FICO and her Arrival+ still sits at the max APR of 20.24%, and I agree Barclay's CSRs can be pretty rude...

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 20:34:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
You are better off. I am not a fan of their practices at all. Sorry they wouldn't budge though. With your scores you can be picky so their loss. Other lenders will be happy to have your business and treat you well.

Thanks

Yeah, and I've discovered this now after fearing AA for a while. I think I'm saved with my aggressive credit seeking of 2015-2016 due to my overall clean file and 9+ year oldest account age.

@I agree, I can be a little picky at this point, and my primary bank Chase just issued me a Marriott Rewards Premier @ 22K yesterday, so it's time to start cutting back as soon as a few more CLI's come in.

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 20:40:45 GMT

@willwar14 wrote:
My mom has a 830 TU FICO and her Arrival+ still sits at the max APR of 20.24%, and I agree Barclay's CSRs can be pretty rude...

Wow that's strange how stubborn they are with people who clearly have other choices.

@Luckily I got my own mom on board with their Ring card @ 8% so that works well for her.

Barclay's CSR's have been a mixed bag. The analyst I spoke to to recon for my card initially was very nice and approved me after a light interrogation. The analysts I spoke to regarding my HP CLI's that were denied were obviously tied-down by policy and I was a bit annoyed that they couldn't even give me $500 so the HP wasn't wasted.

Now their regular reps have been pretty awful. I was assured by one that if I paid by phone that day (a day before my statement cut date, as I was on vacation) that the payment in full would post before my statement and it would cut at $0 balance. Nope. What a joke.

The first I asked about APR reduction said I had no offers and that the system wouldn't let them transfer me to a specialist who could manually evaluate my request. I call BS on that.

The second I asked about APR politely explained I didn't currently have an offer, and even given my recent TU FICO boost, it may take them a while to take notice of that. She said I could call back in just a few days to check again, and that would be no problem.

And then there was this one today... ruined it for me.

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

Ghoshida — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 21:05:30 GMT

That is a sad story.

Which is weird because I've found on 2/2 occasions that if I called Barclays to request an APR reduction, they'd transfer me to an account specialist who helped me with APR reduction as well as SP CLI; I did it twice last year, 7 months apart, and got a 4% reduction each time (started at 20.99%) and a total of $6k CLI.

My last round was in October; it's always possible that they've become stricter since then. http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Applications/The-BarclayCard-CLI-Soft-Pull-thread/td-p/3854097 has some updates.

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 21:08:39 GMT

Yep I've been following that thread and that's why I've called in a few times.

I have a feeling Barclaycard just labels me an aggressive credit seeker despite my excellent history so far with them.

Their underwriting guidlines don't like me, I don't like them. We have a mutual agreement to stay away from each other now. lol

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

Ghoshida — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 21:19:54 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Yep I've been following that thread and that's why I've called in a few times.

I have a feeling Barclaycard just labels me an aggressive credit seeker despite my excellent history so far with them.

Their underwriting guidlines don't like me, I don't like them. We have a mutual agreement to stay away from each other now. lol

And if this was about the Arrival card, it's not a big loss !

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 21:39:03 GMT

@Ghoshida wrote:
That is a sad story.

Which is weird because I've found on 2/2 occasions that if I called Barclays to request an APR reduction, they'd transfer me to an account specialist who helped me with APR reduction as well as SP CLI; I did it twice last year, 7 months apart, and got a 4% reduction each time (started at 20.99%) and a total of $6k CLI.

My last round was in October; it's always possible that they've become stricter since then. http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Applications/The-BarclayCard-CLI-Soft-Pull-thread/td-p/3854097 has some updates.

I've had the same good experience as you have had and my last was a month ago so I don't think that they've changed anything.

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

Closingracer99 — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 21:51:52 GMT

@willwar14 wrote:
My mom has a 830 TU FICO and her Arrival+ still sits at the max APR of 20.24%, and I agree Barclay's CSRs can be pretty rude...

Eh the few times I called their reps they were pretty nice to me. Their cards are quite lacking though in rewards.

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

ddemari — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 22:26:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Ghoshida wrote:
That is a sad story.

Which is weird because I've found on 2/2 occasions that if I called Barclays to request an APR reduction, they'd transfer me to an account specialist who helped me with APR reduction as well as SP CLI; I did it twice last year, 7 months apart, and got a 4% reduction each time (started at 20.99%) and a total of $6k CLI.

My last round was in October; it's always possible that they've become stricter since then. http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Applications/The-BarclayCard-CLI-Soft-Pull-thread/td-p/3854097 has some updates.
I've had the same good experience as you have had and my last was a month ago so I don't think that they've changed anything.

Sometimes there is just no rhyme or reason to it, even though im sure there is lol. But circa 2014, I actually got a letter from Barclay cards that was like making me blush about how my superior payment and credit performance has earned me an unsoliciated CLI. Ever since then they havnet done anything for me, but if I didnt have so many cards and used theres all the time, then maybe they would show me some more. That's why I get a little lost on how i feel about the banks. I am doing the right things, but just not enough of it to warrant them to give me reductions or limit increases without having to jump hoops, close out the card or give up.

Sorry for the rant OP, I have a love/hate with barclays for sure.

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 00:12:17 GMT

They generally aren't tolerant of card hoarders so it's not too surprising. Chase is basically the same way, except a lot less free with CLIs.

I can only think of the Ring as a card I would want, but even that's not on my list.

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 00:30:29 GMT

@willwar14 wrote:
My mom has a 830 TU FICO and her Arrival+ still sits at the max APR of 20.24%, and I agree Barclay's CSRs can be pretty rude...

How old is the account? When and how has she tried to get an APR reduction?

I was easily able to get an APR reduction as well as 6 months at 0% (I was really calling to fish for a rewards promo) when my TU FICO was 100 points lower than hers.

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

Callandra — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 00:35:53 GMT

@Closingracer99 wrote:
@willwar14 wrote:
My mom has a 830 TU FICO and her Arrival+ still sits at the max APR of 20.24%, and I agree Barclay's CSRs can be pretty rude...
Eh the few times I called their reps they were pretty nice to me.

Same here, I've never had a problem with the reps and I've called a few times (but I'm not a big caller).

Barclays isn't big on retentions; maybe if you were some huge corporate client running 6+ figures through your card a month, maybe but otherwise, no.

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 10:55:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So, I was getting some Credit Solutions luv from Synchrony earlier today, and I decided to give Barclaycard a ring (no pun intended).

I got connected with a rep and I immediately knew she wasn't going to be helpful from her tone. I politely asked about APR reduction offers on my account, and after a few seconds of pulling up my account, she said I have the lowest currently available APR for my account (24.24% APR or something ridiculous like that). I said, OK, can you please transfer me to your retentions department? She said she had to check on that and put me on hold.

After a few minutes on hold, she came back on and said that would not be possible... her tone becoming ruder and more apethetic by the minute. Being fully paid off and not needing the card at all, I asked to close my account immediately. Now at the peak of her indifference, I confirmed the last four of the account I wanted to close and it was done.

I then asked to be connected to her supervisor where I filed a formal complaint against the rep for the poor customer service - the worst I've EVER received from any card company, actually - and stated how disappointed I am in this card that has not grown at all, has wasted two HP's trying to get CLI's up from $5K when my TU FICO has been stellar, and is stuck at an APR rate 50% higher than most of my other cards. Fortunately the supervisor was very cordial and apologized for the treatment and lack of explanation by the rep, and stated her regret in losing me as a customer.

Good riddance, Barclays Bank.

Barclaycard US: Bad CS

Barclay's US (online savings): Bad CS

Barclay's WM (no longer available): Bad CS

Dude, something is wrong with Barclay's US' customer service.

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

mitchblue — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 11:10:25 GMT

I guess I've been fortunate then. Good CS with Barclay and everyone else. The rewards card they lowered but still high, but my Sallie Mae is quite low.

Re: Goodbye, Barclays

elim — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 12:07:43 GMT

@mitchblue wrote:
I guess I've been fortunate then. Good CS with Barclay and everyone else. The rewards card they lowered but still high, but my Sallie Mae is quite low.

+1 Only needed them 3 or 4 times but Barclay CSR's have been very pleasant and helpful when I had to deal with them. But, those human CSR's are individuals.

I could care less about their products at the moment due to needing higher limits and always expecting CLD.