REPLACING OUR AARP CREDIT CARDS WITH BARCLAY BANK CARDS - SEE POSTSCRIPT WRITTEN 09/21/21 and 09-24

I just cancelled my AARP Barclays Card.  What a mess.  I had no idea how many automatic payments that I had that were tied to my Chase AARP account. Why on earth would anybody think this was a good idea.  Even if it had been executed perfectly, I still would have had to spend hours making sure that I changed all my automatic charges to the Chase account.  The fact that the transfer was a disaster just added to my anger and frustration.  I have yet to see anything from AARP for Barclays apologizing for this inexcusable failure.  I too opened a new account at Chase with whom I never had a problem.

It appears AARP will continue to ignore member concerns over this Barclays credit card fiasco. Below are some select copies from an AARP email received today. If you did not have the Chase AARP Visa card you can sign up for Barclays and get back $150, an increase over the $100. More interesting is the “donation” Barclays will make to AARP for new customers. Always follow the money!

       An opportunity to earn a $150 Cash Back Bonus with AARP® Essential Rewards Mastercard® from Barclays

       3. From March 2‌2, 20‌21 to March 3‌1, 20‌22, Barclays Bank Delaware (Barclays) will donate $10 for every newly approved AARP-branded credit card from a Barclays account that is used within the first 90 days of account opening and 1% of all eligible electronic and telecommunications purchases made with the card to AARP Foundation, in support of efforts to increase social connection. Total maximum donation by Barclays is $1 million annually. As AARP's charitable affiliate, AARP Foundation works to end senior poverty by helping vulnerable people over 50 build economic opportunity, emphasizing equitable outcomes.

I cancelled this **bleep** thing quite some time ago due to the colossal incompetence of Barclays. A small balance was paid in FULL , which they still managed to get out of my bank anyway. Then it was restored.   Now I am getting letters from these fools acting like the account was never closed.  There has to be a million lawsuits against these crooks at the least.  I will NOT renew AARP either---they switched us for MONEY and cared nothing for anything else.  

I opened an account in June 2020.  Right off the bat there was a fraudulent charge of $14.00.  I contacted the bank, they waived the charge on the newly opened account, closed the account, opened and gave me a new account and card.  THEN they moved the $14.00 fraudulent charge to my new account!!!  I've contacted the bank several times, all I get is some letter from there fraudulent department they're investigating the issue, but I never hear anything back.  Calling there customer service 1-800 number is a joke!!!  You're on hold forever, then your disconnected.   Since July of 2020 every month they continue to add late fees and interest to the $14.00 fraudulent charge.  My credit score went from very good of 720 to just fair of 650.  ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE BANK!!!  Shame on AARP for endorsing this sham of a credit card.

Barclay's STUCK an invalid charge of $11.99 on their new Barclay's AARP credit card transferred from Chase AARP credit card. 7 other transactions were transferred too, but these were valid. I asked AARP for help. As of today, 2/15/22, the charged has been reversed, and here is what I find as disturbing. (1) I was a member of AARP for years, but had to cancel a few years ago. With my wife disabled, and us living on a fixed income, the $28 subscription fee was a luxury we could not afford. AARP will not help us since we are no longer members. (2) I question why AARP still has their name associated with Barclay. (3) Barclay's policy is to "dispute items in writing", Complaint Policy | Barclays US (barclaycardus.com) not just call a "Relationship Manager" (as is common practice with other credit cards). (4) When a CASE NUMBER was finally assigned in month 2, Barclay CONTINUED to charge me a finance charge (which is not allowed by FTC rules). (4) when the item was finally removed, the service charges WERE NOT removed. I had to call them to get the service charges reversed. (5) Since I had refused to become a Barclay AARP Credit Card holder, I lose my accumulated points (6) these point can only be cashed when you reach $2,500 in purchases instead of $2,000 in purchases.

I feel this mess is finally over, and wanted to convey my thoughts on this whole mess. Thanks for nothing AARP.

I survived the nightmare of this abusive and botched transition by AARP to Barclays by extracting myself and concurrently changing cards, ultimately to Chase Freedom Unlimited card, which has been smooth as silk....

I agree 100%