February 23, 2006

With Barclays Bank just announcing record profits for 2005 of £3.5 billion, a 15% increase on the previous year, there has been a small problem within the group.

Barclaycard, the once revered credit card has seen its own profits fall by a staggering 20% to £687 million. This fall is due in the main to bad debt with more consumers defaulting on their debts.

This trend has now forced Barclaycard to be choosier in the credit card applications they receive. It is now estimated that Barclaycard now turn away half of all the credit card applications they receive. They are also cutting existing customers credit limits by an overall figure of £330 million.

Barclaycard hope these measures will limit and reduce their exposure to bad debt.

We understand that many analysts see this move as long overdue. It has been argued repeatedly over the last couple of years that banks and credit companies are not doing enough to limit consumer’s exposure to more credit. Perhaps with this bad debt that has been placed on Barclaycard will force them to be more prudent in offering excessive credit limits to customers in the future.

Barclaycard currently have a number of available which include the following:

Barclaycard Platinum - 0% interest on balance transfers until 1st January 2007 (2.5% handling fee applies)
Barclaycard Simplicity - One low rate of 6.9% p.a. on purchases and balance transfers
Barclaycard Flexirate - The more you repay, the lower your interest rate can be  
Barclaycard Initial – Build up your credit rating

To apply for these click here Barclaycard