Barclaycard
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Credit cards |
| Founded | 1966 |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
| Products | Credit cards & Contactless Technology |
| Parent | Barclays |
| Website |
www www |
Barclaycard (stylized as barclaycard) is a multinational credit card and payment services provider, and a division of Barclays plc. The Barclaycard was the first British credit card introduced in the United Kingdom, coming into service in 1966. It enjoyed a monopoly, until the introduction of the Access card in 1972.
The 'Barclaycard' was not the first payment card to be issued in the United Kingdom though; Diners Club and American Express launched their charge cards in 1962 and 1963 respectively. At the time, American Express was seen as Barclaycard's main competitor.
Barclaycard later became part of the Visa network, but now offer MasterCard, Visa and American Express versions. As of May 2016, Barclaycard remains one of Europe’s leading credit card issuers with over 10 million customers in the United Kingdom. Barclaycard's main offices are in Northampton, along with several floors at Barclays' corporate headquarters, One Churchill Place in Canary Wharf, London.
Barclaycard has over ten million customers in the United Kingdom, issuing one in five United Kingdom credit cards. It is currently the leading United Kingdom credit card issuer. It is based at 1234 Pavilion Drive in Northampton, in a specially designed building. It is one of the main employers in Northampton. Barclaycard customer service representatives for the United Kingdom are based in India and the Philippines.
Barclays were the only major British clearing bank not to issue cheque guarantee cards, instead allowing its customers to guarantee cheques with their Barclaycard (on the basis that if a customer was creditworthy for a Barclaycard they were also good for issuing cheques). This practice ended in 1985, with the introduction of relaxed lending rules, and the introduction of the debit card Barclays Connect, however, it was still possible to guarantee Barclays Bank cheques using a Barclaycard well into the 1990s.
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