What we are now seeing are credit cards which will be rebranded as Barclaycard Goldfish and the Barclays owned card going back to the loyalty points market.  Previously Barclays were associated with the Nectar scheme which is managed by the Loyalty Management Group whose partnets included Sainsburys supermarkets but this deal didn’t really fit in with the plans that Barclays had.

The £ 35 million takeover of Discover Financial Services will see Barclays taking over the upmarket i24 card which will now be known as Barclaycard i124, then on the other hand Morgan Stanley also but this product is due to be scrapped.

Gary Twelvetree, Barclaycard Chief Marketing Officer for UK Cards says ” This is a return for Barclaycard to rewards, which we’d moved away from when we left Nectar, however, the market has changed in that time and customers are expecting more from their credit cards, not just 0% offers. That’s a good thing for the market.”

What this all means is that Barclaycard will now have nine card programmes under their masterbrand, some of which are Barclaycard Football card, the first “Green” card Barclaycard Breathe and Barclaycard OnePulse.  One observer says “Over the past two years we have seen Barclaycard defining and strengthening its portfolio, but off the back of the iconic Barclaycard brand.”

In the near future we are likely to see a review of Barclaycard’s advertising strategy by seeing the currect campaign being scrapped in order to enhance their growing international ambitions by taking a new fresh approach to market their products.

Recent Additions :

• Barclaycards Takeover of Discover Financial Services
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The message that is being put out to the current holders of the Discover Financial Service cards is that they will not be losing out as a result of this change.  Holders of these credit cards will soon be reciving a new card to replace their old one and they will recieve one of nine new or existing cards that Barclays offer.  Along with recieving their new card they will also be recieving a guarantee that the benefits they had with their previous card will be the same with their new card if not better.

These new credit cards should be with the holder by the 20th of October and will see a new account number and pin being issued.  Although the holders will be getting new cards, account numbers, pins, etc, this will not affect the credit limit or interest rates that they had.  For customers looking to be able to find out more about the new Barclaycard that they will recieve a spokesman for the company advised “Customers will be able to get more information by calling the customer service number on the tailored letter sent to them by Barclays.”

It seems that Barclaycard are doing all possible to make this takeover go as smoothly as possible both for their customers and Barclays and in the words of their Managing Director of UK Cards, Amer Sajed “Over the next few weeks, we are focused on ensuring a simple and seamless transition for our new customers and we feel that the new card offers and our customer service will make them feel welcome to Barclaycard.”

Recent Additions :

• Looking For ‘Free’ Credit? 0% Purchase Credit Cards