Introduction
Another day, another Barclays shutdown story. This is from a reader who used to MS on the card (when Buxx was alive,) but have mostly stopped for the past couple of months.
Here are some data points:
- Both he and his wife’s cards were shut down
- He had Aviator Red. Wife had A+ and Aviator Red
- Hadn’t hit Aviators since last June
- Funded a bank in January
- 3 “anonymous” payments to pay back that bank funding
- Had put regular spend
- Did cash out points via travel like everyone else
- Annual fee hit on 3/31 – Did this put eyes on his account?
What caused the shutdown
So we don’t know and will never know why they shut him down. Did the annual fee trigger the shutdown? I don’t think so since my wife’s annual fee wasn’t due. However, my Aviator Red was due. I won’t know if my wife caused our shutdown or my Aviator Red caused the household shut down. That’s 2 data points where coincidentally our annual fee was due. This isn’t enough for a pattern. If you or someone you know got shut down, please let me know if it was up for an annual fee.
Or maybe it was due to cashing out via “travel.” Or maybe it was his past history with Buxx loads. We just don’t know. But that’s not the reason for this post.
Should you close your Barclays account?
Now this is a great question that someone else brought up after hearing about the reader’s shut down. If you were MS’ing on your A+ or Aviator cards and aren’t doing any MS now, it doesn’t mean you’re safe. In questions like this, we have to weigh the risk vs reward.
Close the cards down – You can get signup bonuses down the road. You most likely won’t have any adverse action for your past sins on your current cards.
Keep the cards open – You can still use the cards. Sorry, that’s all I got. I’m sure you can come up with your own reasons to keep the card – maybe for the 10% AA credit? It’s not like there aren’t any other 2% cards out there.
Conclusion
I’m not telling you that you SHOULD close your Barclays cards. I’m just telling you that closing your cards preemptively wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
I had an Arrival+, and and an Aviator Red shutdown last December. I had MSd around 110k on A+, and 55k on AR over the calendar year.
My annual fee came due on the AR, and I called in to have it waived. It was waived without issue, but the CSR commented how much I had charged on the AR, and offered me bonus miles (which I gladly accepted). He also noted that I had the A+, and said he was going to check if there were any promos for the A+. He again commented how much I had spent.
My accounts were closed approximately 2 weeks later…I’m not sure if it contributed to the issue, but it is the only thing I can figure out that put eyes on my account.
I should add that I had to complete a CFPB to get the value of my points back. I asked for the amount as my travel credit, and received the full amount, however they would not refund my AF.
Thanks for the feedback. Did you CFP to any of the Barclays cards?
Yes…I added that on to my post later. I actually sent a certfied/return receipt letter to them asking for an explanation as to why my accounts were shutdown, and for my points to be reimbursed. I waited for two weeks after the letter was delivered for a response. I never received a response from them, so I filed a complaint with CFPB. Only after I filed the CFPB complaint did I hear from the Office of the President.
No I meant did you do any CheckFree pay or any other kind of anonymous payments to Barclays?
Ah…LOL. I used to make payments from multiple (5) Serve variants, and my own banking accounts. Are the Bill Pays on Serve anonymous?
I am not 100% sure but I think that runs on the Checkfree system (see Jason’s comment below) and may look anonymous.
I had a card with them for years. Last month they shut all my cards down and anyone else at my address! I had to file a complaint to get my rewards points posted. By default they just seize them. You can email the office of the president or do a BBB complaint or CFPB. All will get the points. But they will not reopen accounts. One agent said wait 90 days to reapply. One said you can never bank with them again. YMMV
Was your AF due at around the same time? Did you open any cards in the prior 3 months? Refundable tickets? Wondering what could have caused your shutdown.
It was a fee-free card, Priceline card. Open since 2007. I haven’t opened any new accounts at any banks for 6 months. I did redeem my points for Orbitz bookings to get a 10% bonus. Then I would cancel the Orbitz booking when the points posted.
Did you do any anonymous payments to the card?
Yes, via checkfreepay (serve) 2500 or 2000 at a time.
Hmm I wonder if that’s what did you in. That seems to be a common denominator in all these shutdowns.
Can you please email me how you got the miles back? Did you get it back at 1 cents a mile or 0.5 cents a mile? Would be great if you can explain what worked for you? Whole fmaily got shutdown. I think WM BP did it.
My cards were cash back. So I’m unsure what the rate is. But BBB or CFPB, as listed in my message. They easily did it upon my request. Although they first say “we’ll see if we can do that”
What worked in your case? A letter directly to BBB/CFPB or a letter to the office of president? If it was letter to the president, would you please share the address.
I sent an email to the president but they ignored it. I did a BBB & a CFPB. They seem to respond better to the CFPB and faster.
Some variable you never thought of may trigger these events. It’s a systemic problem with travel blogs. From observing a metaphorical tree, bloggers tend to create in their minds actual forests the size of South America. Don’t commit the cardinal sin of logic, believing A caused B because A happened first.
I have no idea what you just said. If you don’t like reading blogs, then stop reading. It’s that easy.
lol where did u get that he doesn’t like reading blogs. Ur all like I don’t understand what ur saying so I’m gonna take it as an insult and tell you to go away so I won’t feel inferior for not understanding ur comment. Brings to mind a caveman screaming fire bad!
He thinks that bloggers see one tree on fire and thinks the forest is on fire. I never said the forest was on fire. I’m saying you should get out of that forest just in case there is a fire that is coming and you can’t see it.
I take that as an insult and so I told him to feel free to stop reading the blog. Same applies to everyone else who likes to bash bloggers.
No, read his comment again. He was pointing out that you need more data points to come to the conclusion that there is a forrest and not just one or two trees. Dont know where ur getting forrest fire since he never said the word fire. He states that this is a inherent problem with these kinds of blogs. He was pointing out that you were using faulty logic when he states “believing A caused B because A happened first”. Never did he state blogs are bad just pointing out a fact.
Looks like you were insulted by not understanding his point and like I said you reverted to cave man thinking of I don’t understand fire so fire bad. I mean you literally stated in ur comment back to him that you had no idea what he said but now you’re trying to say you were insulted by it. How can you be insulted by a comment u didn’t understand?
The guy was making a valid point. sorry u could not understand what he was trying to say.
You are ignoring the possibility that activity on cards from other issuers could have attracted attention – excessive new apps, cycling credit line, etc.
Ah good point. But if that was the case, a lot more people should live in fear since we all apply for what… at least a dozen new cards per year.
I’m with Dave on this. Wife and I regularly MSd via Buxx (maxed out same card loads across) on A+ and Aviator and also did Citi funding on the Aviator. My Aviator annual fee came up last month and was waived, my wife’s this month and was waived. All accounts still in good standing.
Further, I had issues getting approved for any Barclays account (since the NFL card bonus years back) for “Too many inquiries.” Declined at least 3-4 times till I got the Aviator a year ago. Current inquiries on our accounts are minimal (2-3 each).
When the first wave of Serve shutdowns happened, I was lucky to have avoided it. Eventually the firing squad found me and got me in round 2. Just because you haven’t been shut down yet, doesn’t mean you will be shut down or if you’re safe. 2 scenarios will happen – 1. you get shut down months later. I say ‘told you so.’ or 2. you keep on going strong. I do know many A+ abusers who are still alive though, so the sky isn’t falling by any means. The question is – if you aren’t using the cards today, why bother even keeping the cards and the 1% chance you do get shut down?
This has got me nervous. I did some Citi funding before that ended on my A+. I currently have $1k in points stashed. I actually put some decent regular spend on the card. But, I also have an Aviator Red which just had its fee post. I want to get that waived or possibly cancel, but I’m worried based on this report (and similar reports of shutdowns after eyes are put on account). The Aviator Red had some heavy MSing the last 6 months of last year, around $45k. Haven’t touched it since.
I think I’ll just cash out the $1k and preemptively close both accounts. I don’t need the hassle of trying to CFPB to get the points back.
You should cash out the $1K NOW regardless.
don’t AA miles from the Aviator Red automatically transfer to AA monthly?
Yes. He was cashing out A+ pts.
Can you explain how to “cash out” your A+ rewards points please.
Book travel that you need or book refundable tickets and just get credit for future flights etc.
Yeah, this post, and some other rumblings I’ve heard have convinced me to do so asap. I’m in the process of booking some refundable travel to zero out the balance.
Part of me wanted to wait until I actually had travel later this year to redeem it again. Logically, I know that money is money, and cash is better than points. But there is something satisfying about zeroing out, for instance, $1k in travel expenses.