Barclaycard considering “low usage” fee
by Elaine Frei
Barclaycard, owned by Barclays plc (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) has said that it is looking at charging customers who only use their cards once in awhile or who do not use it at all. It says that the fee would only be introduced as a “last resort” if a campaign to get cardholders to use their cards more - and so avoid the fee - does not work. Barclaycard would not say what level of usage would qualify a card for the “low usage” fee, which could be as much as £20 per year.
Barclaycard would not be the first card provider to levy a low usage fee. After a warning that it would do so, Lloyds TSB (LSE: LLOY) began in February of this year to charge 50,000 low usage accounts £35 per year. As with Barclaycard, Lloyds declines to define its criteria for an account that qualifies for the fee. With 9.8 million cardholders, a 15 percent market share, Barclaycard is the biggest provider in the UK. If it decides to implement the fee, it would make it much more likely that other card providers would follow suit.
Discuss this in the Finance Markets forums
Story link: Barclaycard considering “low usage” fee
Add to Bookmarks:
Related financial stories to: Barclaycard considering “low usage” fee
- New credit card from Barclaycard
- Survey: Check usage declines
- Job losses at Barclaycard
- Barclaycard Football launched
- Lloyd’s TSB will charge for not using credit cards
- Barclays to announce new strategies against credit card abuse
- Credit fees on the rise
- Contactless credit payment to be introduced in London
- RBS announces new credit card fees
- Will lenders follow Egg?
Previous: « Home Information Packs delayed to 1 August
Next: European markets higher on session »
Visited 632 times, 1 so far today