Eligibility criteria for an Avios Plus Barclaycard

[Misty]

I have tried looking through the forum for the answer to this but no luck, Is there an annual/monthly income requirement for the paid for card? TIA.

[Sam]

Whilst the knowledge of HFP is awesome, Google is pretty good too.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Avios+Plus+Barclaycard+salary&oq=Avios+Plus+Barclaycard+salary&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigAdIBCDQ2OTFqMGo0qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

I didnt use the cheeky option because that seems to be misleading in this case
https://googlethatforyou.com?q=avios%20plus%20barclaycard%20salary

[Misty]

Thanks for your reply.

Just come off the phone from a really helpful consultant at Barclaycard, who talked me through the two AVIOS card options, she said there is not an annual salary amount attached the the Avios Plus card, as a lot of other things are taken into account. So I guess it’s a matter of going through the eligibility checked and seeing what happens.

I had managed to find Barclays web-site on my own thank you, without resorting to google as I have another product with them.

[BJ]

From memory of comments here, having another product with Barcs reducesvyour chances of success. If it’s another credit card you will almost certainly be rejected.

[Misty]

Thanks BJ, It’s not a credit card, but I guess it could still work against me.

Odd isn’t it, you would think they would want to encourage their customers to take out other products.

[BJ]

So many experiences have been reported it is difficult to figure any pattern to Barcs. I think we just have to try and see. I closed my Hilton card with them last year and will have a go next year if they boost the SUB. Good luck with yours.

[JDB]

Misty wrote:

Thanks BJ, It’s not a credit card, but I guess it could still work against me.

Odd isn’t it, you would think they would want to encourage their customers to take out other products.

I think this view stems from the launch of the Avios Barclaycards last year when it appeared that for many people, if you put your bank account as Barclays, you were likely to get rejected and that could be overcome be putting another bank account instead. While what you say is logical, a big part of the launch of these cards was to attract new customers to the bank for which they were willing to pay a substantial SUB (and offer a loss leading product) but not so keen on doing that for existing customers.

In general, Barclays has always been much tighter on offering credit than say Amex although even Amex has calmed down considerably this year. Barclaycard’s bad debt figures were considerably better than Amex’s in their most recently reported figures.

[Misty]

BJ wrote:

So many experiences have been reported it is difficult to figure any pattern to Barcs. I think we just have to try and see. I closed my Hilton card with them last year and will have a go next year if they boost the SUB. Good luck with yours.

Thanks BJ, I’m not in any hurry to take out the card and like yourself I can wait to see if they boost the SUB. (even if they are going to reject me), I would like to add it for non-AmEx spend. I was caught out the other day in Dunelm spending over £300 on linens, and neither myself nor the customer service women could work out what happened, until we had a ‘lightbulb moment’ and realized they didn’t take AmEx !

Good luck with yours too, Hopefully Barclays will have got over their teething problems with their Avios cards by next year. I’ve got a friend who has banked with them for over 40 years with no problems so they must get somethings right.

[RV]

Sharing my recent experience from Barclays/Barclaycard:

I applied in Feb this year for the Barclaycard Avios Plus and got declined (despite having a mortgage with them).

I then opened a Premier Bank Account (which took over 2 months to get set up as they said they could not find my details, and I needed to go to a branch to fix it).

Three months after the account was opened I applied for the Barclaycard. Got accepted but with £200 limit, as they said they couldn’t validate my income. I provided proof of income and got a much higher limit after that (similar to my other Amex cards). Worth noting that I get my salary paid into Barclays.

My takeaway from this is that the accept/decline will depend on a myriad of factors regarding to how much their own systems can read into you. If that data is incomplete/incorrect then maybe it’s a decline or referral. For context: I never got a soft or hard credit check when opening the Premier Account or the Credit Card, which to me seems like they relied on internal data to make a decision.

[Misty]

Thank you for sharing RV.

When you say soft or hard credit check, it that what would normally show in an experian check? Maybe they use some kind of complicated algorithm ? I don’t have a bank account with Barclays, the product I have is a Savings Bond, it seems to be a stand alone product I opened it in branch and they did ask me if I was a Barclays customer, but were happy to proceed when I said I wasn’t. They did all the usual stuff of taking a photograph of me next to my passport, to verify my identity, and making me sign lots of paperwork. She also said that Barclays Bank and Barclaycard are separate companies.

I’m now wondering if it’s worth going through the hassle of applying for the Avios + Barclaycard if the are only interested in ‘new meat’.

[RV]

Misty wrote:

When you say soft or hard credit check, it that what would normally show in an experian check?

Yeah, got nothing via Experian, Transunion or ClearScore. Even when I got declined back in February!

Not sure if the focus on new customers was intended or not. It could be that their algorithms were set up to follow different rules if they match you, and the rules could just not be great (which is understandable to a certain extent, being a new product and all).

Anyway, I managed to get the card after I got an account with them and Barclays got better visibility of my profile.

Overall I’m happy with the card and with the account. And I think the effort was worth it, as now I’m collecting more avios from places that didn’t accept Amex. But that’s my personal opinion of course.

[Misty]

Thanks again for your input. Yes like yourself my main reason for wanting it is to collect avios from places I can’t at the moment. If I get rejected for the Plus, I could always go for the basic, I know its a slower earner, but it’s better than nothing.

[ed8890]

Been turned down twice for barclaycard. Not sure of their criteria? So just use amex and capital on tap for business and allows me to accumulate avios quite nicely. Ba store has been great for Xmas purchases too. Have the annual avios subscription which renews at the original rate. So figure it’s barclays loss !!

[Misty]

ed8890 wrote:

Been turned down twice for barclaycard. Not sure of their criteria? So just use amex and capital on tap for business and allows me to accumulate avios quite nicely. Ba store has been great for Xmas purchases too. Have the annual avios subscription which renews at the original rate. So figure it’s barclays loss !!

Hi

I actually bothered to do the eligibility checker last night, and it said that I was very likely to be approved.

I didn’t proceed with it as I read one of Robs articles on the Avios Plus Barclaycard and in the comments someone put, before applying check the ‘have your 100,000 AVIOS posted’ thread before you apply. So I read it and that’s really put me off, plus the general consensus seems to be that the eligibility checker is as much use as a chocolate teapot

I’ve also been using the BA store for Xmas shopping, I’ve had a few things track but not all or them, not sure what I am doing wrong. I want to book a villa through them with Vintage Travel, it’s about 2K, so it would be good if I could get it to track.

[JDB]

@Misty – you will never know until you apply! I seriously wouldn’t worry about what you have read about any Avios posting. The reality is that the vast majority do post without any hitches, but you only read about the problem cases which, in the context of the number of applications, is frankly immaterial. If they don’t post, they will ultimately put it right. Probably one of the bigger issues Barclays has is a profile clash, where they have some very slight variation in your details from another product which then blocks you until you call or visit a branch with ID.

Barclays does have very specific credit underwriting criteria based on its vast data on UK households (much more than a credit agency) as by far the large credit card provider for years. Many of the reasons for rejection will have nothing to do with the individual but relate to their credit experience with others sharing some similar characteristics. We know they don’t like applicants with lots of other cards and/or high open unsecured credit lines and they seem quite tough on the self-employed.

[Misty]

JDB wrote:

@Misty – you will never know until you apply! I seriously wouldn’t worry about what you have read about any Avios posting. The reality is that the vast majority do post without any hitches, but you only read about the problem cases which, in the context of the number of applications, is frankly immaterial. If they don’t post, they will ultimately put it right. Probably one of the bigger issues Barclays has is a profile clash, where they have some very slight variation in your details from another product which then blocks you until you call or visit a branch with ID.

Barclays does have very specific credit underwriting criteria based on its vast data on UK households (much more than a credit agency) as by far the large credit card provider for years. Many of the reasons for rejection will have nothing to do with the individual but relate to their credit experience with others sharing some similar characteristics. We know they don’t like applicants with lots of other cards and/or high open unsecured credit lines and they seem quite tough on the self-employed.

Thank you for your insight JDB. Currently I only have one personal card and the limit is quite low, although I am an additional card holder on my husbands Mastercard. I’m not self employed but am early retired (not sure if this makes a difference). I also only have one bank account and it’s not with Barclays. It’s not urgent that I take one out now, but in the new year we have some planned spending that would be good on a non-Amex card.