Phone Barclays Business on 0330 058 0087 if you have received a letter, email, or text from the Barclays Business Banking team suggesting you need to update some details on your Barclays Business account.
Why are the Barclays Business team contacting me about updating my details?
For those of you that don’t know Barclays are not offering new business accounts at the moment. It would appear they are trying to keep their business account holder numbers down. In addition they are doing reviews on the accounts of existing Barclays Business account owners.
In recent weeks and months the Barclays have been contacting business owners around the UK to request they provide details about the business associated with their Barclays Business account. This is so they can perform checks regarding the income of the business, personal details and business address.
In fact as you follow this update process it will become clear that this is more about ensuring against fraud than it is about getting your contact details correct. Several people that have phoned Barclays have reported that upon phoning Barclays on 0330 058 0087 they have been asked questions not only about past income, but also about expected income in the future. This may catch customers off guard if they are only expecting to go through formalities regarding their address, phone number, or other business details.
In fact the real reason Barclays Bank are contacting customers is because some business accounts have been used for money laundering and other purposes over the last few months and years. Barclays are clearly having a crackdown on accounts that might be in operation for criminal financial activity. However, in order to do this they are contacting all their customers regarding their accounts. This is a hindrance for many Barclays Business customers.
How will Barclays contact me regarding updating my details?
The first point of contact is usually by text, with Barclays Business customers reporting the following text message:
We need to make sure the details we have for your business are accurate and up to date, so we can keep your account protected and prevent financial crime. Please log into Online Banking and review them as soon as you can.
On the face of it this message appears to simply be a call for you to update details including address, contact number associated with the account and etc. Those that do not log into their online account will be sent a further text message a few days later, as follows:
We recently asked you to update your details, but it looks like they are still out of date. You need to log in to Online Banking and review them as soon as you can – if you don’t we may have to restrict your account.
The restrictions they refer to in this slightly threatening message are for them to stop you getting any further loans. This will only be made apparent when you phone them up.
What happens when I update my details?
Once you log in to Barclays Online Banking you can fill in a brief questionaire on the details of your business. Questions include a request to confirm phone number, business address and company details. It would be fair to assume that having filled in your contact details this would be the end of the matter. However, many Barclays customers have reported that this is far from the end of the matter. Indeed