Barclaycard Credit Cards

In a world in which it is commonplace to tediously click buttons in order to go round in circles, Barclaycard's new "customer service" computer system has set new standards in user-unfriendliness. All I wanted to do was pay a missed payment (£40!!). It took me 30minutes to give them my money. Unbelievable.

I had a Barclaycard that was sitting dormant for a while - I basically used it to transfer a balance and then once the interest free period was up I changed it again. Recently I paid for a holiday and wanted to balance transfer again, but did not want the prospect of having to get more credit cards, I re-applied for a log in for on line banking and was very surprised. The website has changed and the site is great, really easy navigation and a great look. There was an option to apply for balance transfers on line so I selected it and to my amazement they offered my 0% until January, which for an existing card I thought was pretty good. I needed a slightly bigger credit limit and on line there was a button to press to increase the limit, I did this and was accepted and had the funds immediately. On line it also shows your spending patterns it graphs etc which is quite cool. The security is also good with detailed security options available. They have also automatically added me for Barclaycard freedom, which is a kind of reward scheme, so I get points on spending. This is not as good as some other cards but it is better than they had before. The big down side is that they don't have all UK call centres, which can make it difficult to be understood if you get put to one of the foreign ones and that is the main reason why I am not giving 5 stars to tis review.

According to Barclaycard, I appear to have an 'unusual purchase pattern'. My card is frequently blocked. I've asked them (several times) to stop blocking it, but without result. I had no problems when the card was with MorganStanley. MorganStanley staff phoned occasionally and were very polite, phoning back later if they couldn't get hold of me at that moment. Barclaycard, on the other hand, don't appear to try so hard, blocking the card frequently, resulting in my waiting on the phone (not a free number) to speak to a gruff 'Fraud' department, with no apology for making me miss purchases, or having to charge to other cards. It's frustrating and I am unable to trust the card. I always travel with a back-up card now and frequently have to use it. The free phone number for Barclaycard (8am-8pm) is currently 0800 731 0200. Connection may drop, especially when 'transferring', but persistence pays off eventually. They have rarely called me back when they've said they would.

Barclaycard is far more transparent than any other credit card on the market and charge less in fees than most. £20 instead of the normal £25. I have credit cards with many companies and find them to be the best. Alot of things have changed for the better at Barclaycard recently and I would stick with any bank that keeps its customer services in the UK.