Barclays cuts fees for overdrafts to £8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Froggy]

Re: Barclays cuts fees for overdrafts to £8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

These are the bits off the PDF.

Still ploughing through the information but please see the above table. Unpaid fee is capped at ONE item of £35. Now its 5 items at £8 EACH so that is a £5 profit from previous one.

[Froggy]

Re: Barclays cuts fees for overdrafts to £8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

And god helps us if you exceed your reserve during the festive period(the worst time of the year, of course). Have you ever received mail first class within 3 days of sending it?

[Amethyst]

Re: Barclays cuts fees for overdrafts to £8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

FOR BUDGIE

First bit

[Amethyst]

Re: Barclays cuts fees for overdrafts to £8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!



FOR BUDGIE

[Amethyst]

Re: Barclays cuts fees for overdrafts to £8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

You are right tho Bud doesnt say if the first exaple on there is £8 as thats the opt out of PR bit. Ladidi fancy another call ?

[Budgie]

Re: Barclays cuts fees for overdrafts to £8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am gonna call in an hour or so as well

Budgie

[TANZARELLI]

Re: Barclays cuts fees for overdrafts to £8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh this is confusing LMAO. Anyone get the feeling of deja vous from when LTSB announced they were overhauling the charging regime and it ended up being something making it worse for customers?

Only time I can see it being useful is if you use it just prior to payday and all DD's are due out around the same time. I might be wrong.

[Amethyst]

Re: Barclays cuts fees for overdrafts to £8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

yep pretty much Tanz.

IF the £8 is the fee for OD transactions when you have opted out of PR then I think it is good too.

I don't like PR for anyone who has any financial management problems and i'm pretty opposed to it being opt out rather than opt in. (just incase you hadnt picked that up)

[Amethyst]

Re: Barclays cuts fees for overdrafts to £8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Phorm – Webwise and Open Internet Exchange

just about opt in rulings will add

[Amethyst]

Phorm – Webwise and Open Internet Exchange

http://www.apacs.org.uk/resources_pu...tIncreases.pdf
A lender’s ability to manage credit limit increases is an important part
of responsible lending practices, helping to ensure that customers are
only lent what they can afford to repay


http://www.parliament.the-stationery.../274/27406.htm

Credit limit increases
72. In our earlier report we discussed the practice of unsolicited increases in credit limits. The DTI Task Force on Over-indebtedness identified that this practice as being associated with households in financial difficulties.[124] We recommended that issuers should carry out internal and external checks before increasing credit limits and that there should be restrictions on the number of unsolicited increases in credit limits.[125] In response, APACS have introduced a set of best practice guidelines that have been incorporated into the Banking Code: "These cover assessment of a customer's ability to repay, checks on a customer's suitability to receive an increase, communication with cardholders, regulation of emergency increases and clarity of information to consumers as well as opt-outs [from receiving unsolicited increases in credit limits], refusals of increases and reductions in credit limits too".[126] In regard to whether there should be a restriction on the number of unsolicited credit limits each year they told us that "The industry does not believe that a pre-specified one-size-fits-all number of increases per year would assist consumers. It is not the number of increases but how these are operated in the interest of consumers that is paramount. Constraint on the way in which credit limit increases are currently managed would undermine proven processes which are a central pillar of responsible lending and could lead to higher credit limits being set at the outset of agreements, unnecessarily increasing risk to both lenders and borrowers".[127]

69. Industry witnesses put forward a number of justifications for the issuing of unsolicited credit card cheques, including that they are a way of helping customers to have access to their credit line;[119] can be used for balance transfers;[120] and, since just over 50 per cent of the people in the Yellow Pages do not take credit cards, can enable customers to pay for goods and services that they could not otherwise use the [credit card] to pay for.[121] We asked lenders whether they would consider issuing credit card cheques using a system under which customers had to opt in to receiving them. Some witnesses did not believe this would be to the benefit of the customer, but several witnesses said they would consider it. Mr Hoffman later wrote to tell us that Barclaycard were designing a test that offered "new customers the opportunity to opt in or out at account recruitment stage".[122]

Credit Card Cheque Action Questioned

He suggested that there was only room for one of these two possible clauses, and continued: "Opt-in versus opt-out will be discussed at the review of the banking code."

moneyadvicetrust - re credit card cheques

We therefore recommend that the Code be strengthened to require customers to opt
into receiving credit card cheques rather than to opt out of doing so. In cases where
a customer opts in to receive credit card cheques, there should be a requirement for
the lender to prominently display information on (a) the APR, ie the rate and (an)
illustrative example(s) of what this means in terms of additional liability, and (b)
charges relating to the cheques, as part of any covering literature when cheques are
issued. This information should use plain English wording and preferably be in a
standard, accessible format

]


OFT banking code review document

This issue has been raised by TSC, alongside concerns about inadequate credit checking
in its reports Transparency of credit card charges December 2003 and Credit card charges
and marketing February 2005. The APACS guidelines and Code need to be strengthened
so that consumers have stronger and clearer opt-out rights, and to ensure that a broader
set of criteria are used when assessing whether credit limits should be increased or not.
11
See sections 19 to 22 of the Consumer Credit Act 2006

just about opt in rulings will add

[tomterm8]

Re: Barclays cuts fees for overdrafts to £8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

The headline figures are that Barclays are cutting their fees. However, I don't think they are cutting their revenue. This is like a New labour tax cut.

[LuggerBugs]

Re: Barclays cuts fees for overdrafts to £8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right, the banks keep bleating on about how their charges are fair and transparent.

Obviously, they don't see the need for that in Barclays. Cos they are confusing the feck out of everyone from day 1 with their new regime. :tinysmile_hmm_t2:

[Budgie]

Re: Barclays cuts fees for overdrafts to £8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmmmm,

I prepared a nice long post to go on here but will hold back on it for a while.

One thing which isn't clear and I wondered if anyone can clarify ( with definite proof please ).

If a Customer opts out of the Personal reserve scheme.
How will they be charged if they exceed their overdraft limit or go into an unauthorised situation after August 18th ?

I can't find it actually written anywhere.

We are all assuming that the Customer will be just charged the lower £8 for each failed transaction and nothing else. ( Well other than interest on any overdrawn amount if those £8 charges caused the account to go into an overdrawn situation. )


I have my doubts !!!!!!


Budgie

Reason for my doubts ---- Usually if you opt out of something you remain with the existing conditions that your account is governed by !!!!!!!!!!
It may be that the £8 charge is actually linked to the Customer opting IN to the personal reserve scheme.
Someone needs to call Barclays for clarification if we can't find the answer on their website.

LOL, sorry for quoting my own post but thought it the best way to cover this.

I spoke to Anna ( Customer service ) at Barclays in Leeds this evening ( after getting call transferred there from India).

She said that they only received the guidance notes this morning regarding these new accounts and the personal reserve scheme so everything is new to them. They do not yet have the full terms and conditions and neither do the Branches, they are expected very soon.

They have not had any questions from other Customers similar to the question I was posing and cannot answer with 100% certainty.

However, as far as they are aware. If a Customer were to have opted out of the Personal reserve scheme and at some point thereafter items were presented for payment that would mean the account would be placed in an anauthorised overdraft situation then any such items would be bounced and a return transaction fee of £8 would be applied to the account for each item up to a maximum of five per day. If these return transaction fees, when applied to the account were to take the account into an unauthoried overdraft situation then there would be no additional fee. Interest would of course be payable on the overdrawn amount. However Anna advised that they had not been informed as to whether this would be the normal overdraft interest rate or a higher unauthorised overdraft interest rate.

She did add a rider at the end to say that as they hadnt been issued definitive guidance she couldn't be 100% certain that was she was saying was correct but after consulting with various colleagues they felt that was how the land lay.

She agreed to pass on my concerns to the Customer Services Manager and agreed that the website was not totally clear, she also agreed that some form of guidance and advice should be added to the website etc regarding the temptation and risk that some Customers ( especially those on very low incomes or benefits ) may be subjected to if they were to agree to have a personal reserve facility set up. She did qulaify this by saying that this is one of the reasons why the Personal Reserve scheme would be subject to status and eligibility.

Anyway, still not 100% certain but it does on the face of it look as though my doubts may have been misplaced.

I will post the post that I was going to post in a while.

Budgie

[Amethyst]

Re: Barclays cuts fees for overdrafts to £8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good work Bud - I guess until the T&C's come out and the policy on who will be offered the PR we're fishing in the dark a bit.

This is good news

If these return transaction fees, when applied to the account were to take the account into an unauthoried overdraft situation then there would be no additional fee.

Now do Barclays have to submit these new terms to the OFT for consideration of fairness ?

[Budgie]

Re: Barclays cuts fees for overdrafts to £8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, I am ignoring all of the personal reserve crap. As this just seems to be a new fangled method of generating exactly the same income ( or higher ) than Barclays have already been creating from their charging regime and also appears to be potentially extremely dangerous for people on very low incomes or benefits who might be tempted to avail themselves of this facility and then find themselves in an ever worsening situation as a result.

Sensible or "in the know" Customers may decide to opt out of the personal reserve facility. Which they will have the right to do! It will depend on what is right for the individual Customer.

We just need to let people know that they should carefully consider all the option before deciding whether to opt in or opt out.

Customers who opt out of the Personal Reserve ( or exceed the personal reserve ) and have direct debits that make them either exceed their authorised overdraft limit or go into an overdrawn / over personal reserve situation will ( to be confirmed –see previous post), from August 18th, be charged £8 returned item fee ( maximum 5 returned items per day - so max £40 ) instead of £35 ( maximum 1 per day ).

So it appears that it is totally dependant on the number of failed transactions, on a particular day as to whether a Customer might be better off or worse off with the new lower £8 returned item fee.

I suspect that the majority of people who experience problems in a particular month would probably have most of their direct debits set up to go out on the same day each month so would therefore have a great risk of having 5 or more failed transactions on the same day and could actually face a higher charge than pre 18th August. I also assume that Customers who do exceed their overdraft or personal reserve or who go into an unauthorised overdraft will also still pay interest at the Barclays unauthorised rate of 27.5% AER, however this is yet to be confirmed.

So taking all into account the new Barclays charging system is probably a meaningless publicity scam. It may help some Customers, some might pay lower fees than they were before, some may take advantage of the personal reserve, however it could certainly mean that some Customers will end up paying a lot more than they have done previousely.


Budgie