Disappointed with Barclays

[barbaralee]

I did end up sending a message on FB as well, but here is how the communication has gone so far concerning credit allocation. I find their response questionable as I have done it a few times myself:

Sent September 9:

If I close the credit card of my Arrival will I be able to move the credit line from the Arrival to my Sallie Mae card? We will be using the Arrival heavily in October, but will not have a need for it after that, and SM will become my primary card.

Thank you in advance!

Response, same day:

Dear Cardholder :

Thank you for contacting us regarding your Barclaycard Arrival Plus World MasterCard. We can certainly address your inquiry regarding the credit line on your account.


We show that your account is eligible to consolidate credit line in the process re-distribution between 2 active accounts; however the Barclaycard Arrival Plus World MasterCard should have a $0.00 balance. In order to provide you the best service possible, please contact us at 1-866-558-1107; between the hours of 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Time, Monday through Friday. We hope you find this information helpful.

If you have any other questions and concerns, please reply to this message.

Sincerely,

Customer Service

Message today:

Hello! I had emailed earlier explaining that I would not be needing my Arrival as much, and was told that I could move the credit line to my Sallie Mae card, and close the Arrival.

I was wondering if someone can please move $6500 of the Arrival credit line to the SM credit card, and then close the Arrival card?

I appreciate the response!

Response received today:

Dear Cardholder :

Thank you for contacting us regarding your Barclaycard Arrival Plus World MasterCard.  We can certainly address your inquiry regarding the credit line redistribution on your account.

We apologize for the miscommunication earlier. Upon closer review of your account, we will be unable to redistribute the credit line between your Sallie Mae and Barclaycard Arrival Plus account as they are both consumer accounts. We can only redistribute lines between consumer and business accounts. We apologize for the confusion, and hope that we have been able to clarify the situation.

If you have any other questions and concerns, please reply to this message.

Sincerely,

Customer Care

[Anonymous]

hmm....I would definitely call to speak to a live person and challenge that second response bc it sounds like malarky. This part especially >>> We can only redistribute lines between consumer and business accounts. Doesnt sound right at all

[changingmantra2]

Ha!   I think there are many people where who can tell you that you CAN do exactly what you asked.  Give them a call.  However, my experience has been that it is true you need to have a 0 balance on the account you are closing.  They will leave $500 CL on the closed account - but you certainly can consolidate lines of two personal accounts.   I did this earlier this year.

[Jaylima91]

Their statement makes no sense. Ordinarily reallocation of credit lines CANNOT be completed from a consumer to business or vice versa. To be exact, both accounts must be consumer or business and both have to be under your name. Challenge them on that response.

[FocusedAndDetermined]

I moved the CL from the Rewards MC to the Arrival+ and then closed the Rewards MC.  I did it over the phone without any issues.  Cust. Ser. rep was quite helpful.  There was a $0 balance on the Rewards MC at the time of consolidation.  Just call - it will be much simpler.

[core]

I'm disappointed with them too.  They did something naughty (apparently) and aren't allowed to accept customers from my state anymore.  Very disappointing.  Obviously they have some "issues".

[AvadaKedavra]

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@core wrote:

I'm disappointed with them too.  They did something naughty (apparently) and aren't allowed to accept customers from my state anymore.  Very disappointing.  Obviously they have some "issues".

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Wait, what? Can you elaborate?

[core]

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@AvadaKedavra wrote:

Wait, what? Can you elaborate?

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I wish I had all the details, but those are apparently secret.  Right on their app page you can see, "This offer is not available for residents of Puerto Rico, U.S. Territories and Iowa. "  This was not always the case.  The word is they almost got themselves into some big trouble and this is how they wriggled out of it.  During my last app spree (Jun) I was determined to find the reason for all this but all I came across was vague blog posts.  It's been like this for a couple years at least if memory serves.  Keep in mind Iowa doesn't have any screwy laws like a certain west coast state that will remain nameless.  You never see our state listed in the list of exceptions in your credit card agreements.  Everything is plain-Jane here.  It is Barclays' own doing.

I'm tempted to move to a neighboring state for a couple weeks just to get some of their cards that I've been wanting for years.  Not sure what would happen when I move the billing address back home though.  Surely they didn't just dump all of their existing customers that live here.

[Billybob_TX]

Call them and get an american csr. You can move your limits around no problem, they have to be at zero balance I think. I just did this on Saturday.

[Ragelog]

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@core wrote:

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@AvadaKedavra wrote:

Wait, what? Can you elaborate?

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I wish I had all the details, but those are apparently secret.  Right on their app page you can see, "This offer is not available for residents of Puerto Rico, U.S. Territories and Iowa. "  This was not always the case.  The word is they almost got themselves into some big trouble and this is how they wriggled out of it.  During my last app spree (Jun) I was determined to find the reason for all this but all I came across was vague blog posts.  It's been like this for a couple years at least if memory serves.  Keep in mind Iowa doesn't have any screwy laws like a certain west coast state that will remain nameless.  You never see our state listed in the list of exceptions in your credit card agreements.  Everything is plain-Jane here.  It is Barclays' own doing.

I'm tempted to move to a neighboring state for a couple weeks just to get some of their cards that I've been wanting for years.  Not sure what would happen when I move the billing address back home though.  Surely they didn't just dump all of their existing customers that live here.

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Looks like this is a business decision by Barclays due to laws in the  ICCC (Iowa Consumer Credit Code) that they deem are too favorable or just in protest of the state's individual code capping/limiting them in certain areas. Main areas seem that they can't charge more than $15 for a late payment fee or I believe assess a penalty APR. So based on these rules that most states don't have they have chosed to not do business in Iowa for now.

So either two things happen in my eye Iowa changes or most states adopt similar rules and then Iowa is no longer the exception but the rule. Or Barclays will just stay away from Iowa. My hunch is if you opened out of state then moved they would close the account. I am guessing someone could call and confirm by saying I am considering moving to Iowa will my account be closed when I do?