Barclaycard

The Barclaycard is a credit card associated with the Barclays Bank in the UK. . The Barclaycard was the first credit card introduced in the UK, coming into service in 1966. It enjoyed a monopoly until the introduction of the Access card in 1972.

Related Topics:
Credit card - Barclays Bank - UK - 1966 - Access

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Barclaycard later became part of the VISA network. Nowadays Barclays offers both MasterCard and VISA versions. Barclaycard claims it is Europe's leading issuer of cards in Europe with 11 million in circulation, and that it issues one in five UK cards. Barclaycard's main offices are in Northampton, along with several floors of the One Churchill Place building in Canary Wharf, where Barclays main business is based.

Related Topics:
VISA - MasterCard - Europe - Million - One Churchill Place - Canary Wharf - Barclays

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In 2002 Barclaycard took over the UK wing of the American Company Providian National Bank when it was sold off due to financial irregularities of its American parent company. Providian's former base in Crawley (West Sussex) is now fully part of the Barclacyard group where they mainly cater for the very 'lower-end' of the credit card market. This targetting of the 'lower-end' of the credit card market has created a lot of controversy as invariably the people they target are financially crippled or even previously declared bankcrupt.

Related Topics:
UK - Providian - Crawley

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Barclaycard was also the main sponsor of The Premiership until Barclays itself took over at the start of the 2005-2006 season.

Related Topics:
The Premiership - Barclays

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