Barclays are seeking to recover lost customers. I photo'd this from a TV advert. They are trying to entice new business by promoting their "cashback" benefit. On some, not all, general Barclaycard purchases, you'll get .25% back added to your Barclay's bank account, on what you spend. Of course, they don't mention that if you don't clear your balance at the end of the month, or even pay off the lot a couple of days late, you'll pay 24% interest on what was outstanding on the due date. "So whose money is working for whom?"
1/4 of a percentage point back? Even Amazon gives 5% back for Prime members. I have a Citi card gives 1%-3% dependent upon what you purchased and from whom.
That's true, of Barclaycard, but on the bulk of purchases people make, just general food, household items from high street stores it's only .25%. On some it's nothing at all. Another thing that amuses me is price comparisons. Sometimes a high street chain will present a basket of items and say each item is cheaper than a particular competitor's price. Of course to get a bigger difference they'll include a couple of items, of which they don't sell many and reduce those. "Firelighters," comes to mind. But it's fraught with danger. They'll state in a thin lettered strapline at the bottom of the screen, the exact date when the comparison was made, as some store prices are changed weekly, so they daren't get it wrong, given the time the advert was produced and how long it takes to get to the screen. The advertising agency will actually go out and buy the products at the competitor and hang on to the receipt, to protect themselves. To avoid all this, Tesco's are presently stating in their TV commercials that they, "have thousands of items cheaper than Aldi and Lidl." Err.. Which? How are customers to know? Advertisers sometimes do think the public are stupid.
When I worked for Barclays we were told to get an account even if they didn't have much money. Even £5 in an account gave the bank something to use, times that five pounds by thousands in each branch and then by the number of branches and you've got a fair amount of money to play with
I guess that's true. Someone who has very little money in their account are likely to be paying interest on a Barclaycard, each month, if they have one. So an ideal customer. My last "cashback" on over £3000 Barclaycard spend was about £8.00
That's part of the way they make their money Mr Riley. There were more dodgy ways too, I reported them to the police for one of them
