topic Re: Bye Bye Barclay in Credit Cards

Bye Bye Barclay

Anonymous — Tue, 17 May 2016 02:57:11 GMT

Ive had the barclaycard Apple rewards visa for a year with a 2k limit. Apped last month for the ring MasterCard, because I hate the apple card. its interest rate is rediculous but I got it so I could have an in with Barclays. Called today because my application was declined for too many new accounts, (I understand, that's fine) but they wouldn't let me transfer my limit over either. So I said, okay, just close out my account completely. Goodbye Barclay!

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

RonM21 — Tue, 17 May 2016 03:18:40 GMT

No increase either by the end of that year on that card?

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

Anonymous — Tue, 17 May 2016 04:09:57 GMT

they wouldnt lower the interest, give me a cli, or let me transfer the limit!

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

Ghoshida — Tue, 17 May 2016 04:14:30 GMT

Good riddance when there's no more use for the card!

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

wai0405 — Tue, 17 May 2016 05:40:57 GMT

they seen to be really strict about all that. ive been with them for a about 2 years and they only give me 1000 increase on my cashforward card

@Anonymous wrote:
they wouldnt lower the interest, give me a cli, or let me transfer the limit!

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

Anonymous — Tue, 17 May 2016 10:59:38 GMT

Sorry you had to do that, OP. The Apple card is a killer if you acquired it with lower scores like I did. It took a little over a year for me to get a cli. Good luck with future endeavors.

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

MyLoFICO — Tue, 17 May 2016 12:15:24 GMT

When I app’d the Apple card and got approved I app’d the cash forward too and got denied as well for the same reason you did. When I called to recon it they told me the Apple card is easy to get and almost always with a 2k limit even for low scores but it was a standalone card and could not be pc’d or limit transferred at all. I also have the Arrival and came very close yesterday to closing both of them for the same reason. I am afraid of hurting my score by closing all my useless cards though so I SD them.

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

kdm31091 — Tue, 17 May 2016 12:19:01 GMT

Although I've never had any issue with Barclays, they can be difficult to work with and rather unfriendly at times. I think having an in with them isn't all that necessary anyway as most of their products are average (and I have a cash forward myself).

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

CreditMagic7 — Tue, 17 May 2016 12:41:37 GMT

@wai0405 wrote:
they seen to be really strict about all that. ive been with them for a about 2 years and they only give me 1000 increase on my cashforward card
@Anonymous wrote:
they wouldnt lower the interest, give me a cli, or let me transfer the limit!

I been with them soon to be 2 years too and they haven't increase my line at all.

It was like pulling teeth just to finally get them to close Rewards MC and shift that limit to open the Ring.

At this point in time i have no confidence in them and will be closing that only card this year.

They are so unprofessional as it gets and difficult to work with too IMHO.

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

Themanwhocan — Tue, 17 May 2016 13:02:01 GMT

Barclays is great. Just don't call the number on the back of your card, call the Customer Care phone number. 888-232-0780

Just make sure its been 6 months since your last CLI request. They seem perfectly fine with transferring credit limits, I haven't done so yet but i've asked about it a couple times and each time they were positive they could do it for me. They even said transferring the credit line was a good way to obtain a higher limit card.

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

CreditMagic7 — Tue, 17 May 2016 13:27:14 GMT

Many would beg to differ on how "great" they are from their known reputation on AA and from all the posts that pop up about that.

Just like with any lender though there's always that one who you can do so much better without, and for some this one is proven a total pain to deal with.

They don't compete on the same level as the masters in this business that's for sure, but they sure try to act like they do when it comes to dealing with their U/W staff who nit pick over every little detail and then act like their doing you a favor when they do offer something. Pfffft

It's been my experience with them and nothings changed..

Just read their success stories from the SEARCH feature here and about consistent low starting lines. Pfffttttt

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

Themanwhocan — Tue, 17 May 2016 13:57:59 GMT

@CreditMagic7 wrote:
Many would beg to differ on how "great" they are from their known reputation on AA and from all the posts that pop up about that.

Just like with any lender though there's always that one who you can do so much better without, and for some this one is proven a total pain to deal with.

They don't compete on the same level as the masters in this business that's for sure, but they sure try to act like they do when it comes to dealing with their U/W staff who nit pick over every little detail and then act like their doing you a favor when they do offer something. Pfffft

It's been my experience with them and nothings changed..

Just read their success stories from the SEARCH feature here and about consistent low starting lines. Pfffttttt

Yep, I'm certainly dealing with low starting lines on my first two Barclay cards. And since I currently have 4 cards from them, my $32.4K in limits is certainly stretched a bit thin at the moment.

But, I have 2 Sallie Mae cards, and old Priceline VISA that I get 2.2% cash back on everything, and an Arrival+ mostly for the $400 sign up bonus. I certainly loved the quarter that one of my Sallie Mae card was giving me 7% cash back on grocery, and though they sometimes give me bonus categories that I cannot personally use, like Gas, I do like that they give these bonus offers to people that use their cards.

Barclays isn't perfect. If I wanted high credit limits, I'd choose someone else. If I wanted a lot of sign up bonuses (and I do) I'd mostly choose others as well. But they do occasionally have cards with good cash back in certain categories, and so far when those cards have no longer been offered they have maintained them for existing customers. I like that kind of loyalty. I also like that I got most of my CLI's via a SP just by using the cards consistently and calling every 6 months to see what was available.

If the current Barclay offerings aren't a good fit for you anymore, of course use someone else. But don't blaime them if you choose an Apple card, or the Barclay Rewards card and they aren't any good anymore. After all, you choose them, and presumably you had a good reason to do so at the time.

Sometimes you just have to move on. I'm closing my Arrival+ card in the next few weeks after all... But if you have a no annual fee card, it might be beneficial to maintain a long history with Barclays, because if history is any indication they may have some more interesting cards available in the future.

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

CreditMagic7 — Tue, 17 May 2016 14:50:51 GMT

@Themanwhocan wrote:
@CreditMagic7 wrote:
Many would beg to differ on how "great" they are from their known reputation on AA and from all the posts that pop up about that.

Just like with any lender though there's always that one who you can do so much better without, and for some this one is proven a total pain to deal with.

They don't compete on the same level as the masters in this business that's for sure, but they sure try to act like they do when it comes to dealing with their U/W staff who nit pick over every little detail and then act like their doing you a favor when they do offer something. Pfffft

It's been my experience with them and nothings changed..

Just read their success stories from the SEARCH feature here and about consistent low starting lines. Pfffttttt
Yep, I'm certainly dealing with low starting lines on my first two Barclay cards. And since I currently have 4 cards from them, my $32.4K in limits is certainly stretched a bit thin at the moment.

But, I have 2 Sallie Mae cards, and old Priceline VISA that I get 2.2% cash back on everything, and an Arrival+ mostly for the $400 sign up bonus. I certainly loved the quarter that one of my Sallie Mae card was giving me 7% cash back on grocery, and though they sometimes give me bonus categories that I cannot personally use, like Gas, I do like that they give these bonus offers to people that use their cards.

Barclays isn't perfect. If I wanted high credit limits, I'd choose someone else. If I wanted a lot of sign up bonuses (and I do) I'd mostly choose others as well. But they do occasionally have cards with good cash back in certain categories, and so far when those cards have no longer been offered they have maintained them for existing customers. I like that kind of loyalty. I also like that I got most of my CLI's via a SP just by using the cards consistently and calling every 6 months to see what was available.

If the current Barclay offerings aren't a good fit for you anymore, of course use someone else. But don't blaime them if you choose an Apple card, or the Barclay Rewards card and they aren't any good anymore. After all, you choose them, and presumably you had a good reason to do so at the time.

Sometimes you just have to move on. I'm closing my Arrival+ card in the next few weeks after all... But if you have a no annual fee card, it might be beneficial to maintain a long history with Barclays, because if history is any indication they may have some more interesting cards available in the future.

I honestly wish that i could share a better review of them from my own 2 years of experience with (Rewards MC $5K) but it's not been because of lack of effort. Not one to wait around and be left behind by top lenders, when they turned down (3) attempts at Sallie Mae it indicated to me they had no interest in building anything mutual and that same impression came across when after first getting turned down for Ring Card, they finally overturned the denial but required closing the Rewards MC and moving that same $5K limit to open it. It's been a rather dull experience on this end and one that i'm totally prepared to put behind soon.

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

wasCB14 — Tue, 17 May 2016 14:38:32 GMT

@kdm31091 wrote:
Although I've never had any issue with Barclays, they can be difficult to work with and rather unfriendly at times. I think having an in with them isn't all that necessary anyway as most of their products are average (and I have a cash forward myself).

While I don't know the credit histories of most people in this thread, I have to wonder if efforts to have an "in" with a lender are counter-productive in the case of Barclaycard. By getting a lower-tier card like Apple or Rewards and only using it occasionally, I expect some borrowers are trying to show Barclaycard that they can handle a modest CL and be responsible with it by not overspending. I wonder, though, if when Barclaycard looks at the customer's history in the future (during an app for a better card) they just see yet another new account, and one that doesn't even get much use at that. That might make the applicant look less like a customer eager to rise in the "ranks" with a lender, and more like an aimless accumulator.

I've had a 5% Sallie for about two years, and a no-AF Arrival for about a year. I've gotten various APR reductions/promos on request, and one auto-CLI. I'm not thrilled about getting bad information from CSRs regarding chip availability and PC rules, but have no complaints about their underwriting standards.

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

kdm31091 — Tue, 17 May 2016 14:41:00 GMT

I think the biggest thing with Barclay is that they actually do care about usage. If you SD your card they are unlikely to offer you another card or anything like that. They really are keen on loyalty. Whether we agree with that or not that's how they operate.

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

nursepower — Tue, 17 May 2016 18:47:13 GMT

Barclays likes to CLD me. But I've had the apple at 500 for at least a year now.

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

SouthJamaica — Tue, 17 May 2016 20:09:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Ive had the barclaycard Apple rewards visa for a year with a 2k limit. Apped last month for the ring MasterCard, because I hate the apple card. its interest rate is rediculous but I got it so I could have an in with Barclays. Called today because my application was declined for too many new accounts, (I understand, that's fine) but they wouldn't let me transfer my limit over either. So I said, okay, just close out my account completely. Goodbye Barclay!

Barclays makes me nervous but...

(a) they gave me Rewards card before my scores got up to 700

(b) that Rewards card has been very useful

(d) I enjoy my LL Bean card and JetBlue card too

(e) they have a recon department which will give you the time of day,

will try to do something for you on many occasions, and will sometimes

even accomplish it for you

So far they have never done anything adverse to me, even though

I use the cash advance checks and balance transfer offers frequently...

but you never know what the future will bring.

Would I prefer some security, knowing that they won't take adverse action

if I manage my credit card accounts well? Sure I would.

But I'm not prepared to drop them just because they might do something

bad to me someday.

And banks like Chase and Citi and BOA aren't exactly known for their

compassion or loyalty either.

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

SpiceIslander — Tue, 17 May 2016 21:28:46 GMT

Sorry to hear. OP. I would've probably done the same. Generally, CC companies do not transfer limits from co-branded to their other cards. (I think there a few exceptions.)

Personally, I haven't had any negative experiences with Barclays but I've read about many right on this board. I will not hesitate to give them the axe if they get ugly.

I like the auto CLIs but haven't received one in19 months. Another thing I like about Barclays is that the rewards show up as soon as the charges post AND you can redeem them in whatever increments you want.

Re: Bye Bye Barclay

Anonymous — Wed, 18 May 2016 05:38:16 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
@kdm31091 wrote:
Although I've never had any issue with Barclays, they can be difficult to work with and rather unfriendly at times. I think having an in with them isn't all that necessary anyway as most of their products are average (and I have a cash forward myself).
While I don't know the credit histories of most people in this thread, I have to wonder if efforts to have an "in" with a lender are counter-productive in the case of Barclaycard. By getting a lower-tier card like Apple or Rewards and only using it occasionally, I expect some borrowers are trying to show Barclaycard that they can handle a modest CL and be responsible with it by not overspending. I wonder, though, if when Barclaycard looks at the customer's history in the future (during an app for a better card) they just see yet another new account, and one that doesn't even get much use at that. That might make the applicant look less like a customer eager to rise in the "ranks" with a lender, and more like an aimless accumulator.

I've had a 5% Sallie for about two years, and a no-AF Arrival for about a year. I've gotten various APR reductions/promos on request, and one auto-CLI. I'm not thrilled about getting bad information from CSRs regarding chip availability and PC rules, but have no complaints about their underwriting standards.

I think it's better to wait for your credit profile to support a specific card than just barely getting approved. The problem with barely getting approved is that you spend the next 12-24 months trying to achieve a "worthy" CL. Building a solid credit profile is not a sprint, it's a marathon which takes patience.