Barclays 'Personal Reserve' ready to go

Barclays Bank is preparing to launch its Personal Reserve service to consumers next week, on Monday 18th August.

The new service, which in effect acts as a safety net against undue bank charges, provides card holders with a pre-agreed and pre-notified level of funds available beyond a customer's normal borrowing limit.

If an account goes beyond the agreed overdraft limit and into the Personal Reserve it will be charged one flat fee of £22 - which will cover all payments and withdrawals made for the next five days within the Personal Reserve limit.

"We know from our research customers appreciate the certainty, simplicity and transparency that Personal Reserve will bring," explained

"Most competitors' overdraft charging structures are highly complicated and difficult for customers to understand.

"The benefit of the new Barclays structure is that a customer knows exactly what payments are going to go through, what they are going to get charged and when."

No interest will be charged on the Personal Reserve amount, and Barclay's customers will incur no charges or fees for having the service on their account when they are not using it.

In preparation the bank is launching an internet micro site explaining how Personal Reserve can be of benefit to the bank's customers.

Around 90 per cent of the company's card holders have chosen to keep the Personal Reserve service on their account.

Commenting on the new offering Kevin Mountford, head of savings and current accounts at MoneySupermarket.com, said: "I don't think they are making the system any easier for consumers as the Personal Reserve isn't as clear as Barclays make out, indeed it has had to set up a video blog just to help explain it to customers.

"The truth of the matter is that if overdraft charges were lower banks wouldn't need to resort to confusing 'reserves' and 'buffer zones' to try and make the charges more palatable."

Mr Mountford also questions the claim 90 per cent of Barclay's customers chose the deal, stating it was a positive opt out, with most choosing simply to take what they were offered.

Chris O'Toole