First Barclaycard lowered credit card limits for loyal customers, now Barclays cancels vital short-term overdrafts despite cost of living crisis
Barclays is throwing away vital financial buffers for dozens of customers amid the cost of living crisis.
Furious borrowers say their overdrafts were revoked with just a month’s notice, despite decades of loyalty.
It comes just a year after Barclaycard was criticized for slashing the credit card limits of more than 100,000 customers by a whopping 99 percent.
Furious Barclays customers say their overdrafts were withdrawn on just a month’s notice despite decades of loyalty
One customer, Juliette Taylor, had a £1,500 overdraft and has been banking with Barclays for 33 years.
But a letter from the bank in April said it had been removed because it hadn’t used it in the past 12 months.
Mother-of-one Juliette, 50, from Devon, says: ‘I think it’s absolutely disgusting that Barclays is doing away with overdrafts just as families across the country are relying on them.
“It always gave me peace of mind — knowing I have my overdraft when I needed it.”
Litigation website Resolver has handled more than 1,400 complaints about overdrafts in the past year.
Grievances about the loss of financial buffers with little or no notification are among the most common.
Consumer expert Martyn James says he is “concerned that with the loss of overdrafts people will basically only have high-interest options for emergency loans.”
A spokesperson for the Financial Conduct Authority says: ‘Lenders should treat people fairly and we’ve made them aware of that.’
Barclays says: ‘We review all personally agreed debit limits at least once a year. If the overdraft has not been used for a long time, we can remove it.’