Current Accounts Jargon Buster

Current accounts Top 20 Terms

Cashback

A service offered by most supermarkets and some pubs. It allows you to withdraw cash from your current account when you shop using your debit card. The total amount - the cost of your shopping or drinks plus the cash - is deducted from your current account.

Chip & PIN

A new way of paying with credit, debit and charge cards in the UK that's designed to cut the cost of card fraud. When you use your card to pay for goods at shops, restaurants, petrol stations etc, you'll enter a four-digit personal identification number (PIN) into keypads at the checkout instead of signing to authorise the transaction.

Clearing

The process of presenting cheques to the drawer's bank for payment. For example, if a friend writes you a cheque, you pay it into your account. Your bank then sends it to your friend's bank, which decides if it will honour it. It should do if your friend has enough money in the account. If the cheque is returned unpaid, you will be advised by post. The process takes several days, which is why payments into your account may take a while to show up on statements.

Connect card

The name of your Barclays Bank debit card. You can use it to withdraw money from cash machines and pay for things in shops and other outlets.

Continuous authority

A method of payment in which you agree to have certain amounts debited from your credit/charge/debit cards on an ongoing basis to pay for goods and services.

Direct Debit

A godsend for the more forgetful among us. Direct debit is a good way of paying regular bills and subscriptions that might otherwise slip your mind. You authorise the payees to take funds from your bank account - and they can adjust what they take as long as they give you notice. They give you a guarantee to protect you if any errors are made.

EAR (Equivalent Annual Rate)

For overdrafts, we quote an Equivalent Annual Rate (EAR). This rate shows the effect of interest accruing on interest in a situation where no repayments to the borrowing are made in a year. The calculation does not include fees - these charges are quoted separately.

Fee cap

This is the maximum number of guaranteed transaction and/or returned transaction fees that can be applied to an account on any given day. This is currently set at five. This means that although a customer may have a total of (for example) ten guaranteed and returned transactions occurring on the same day, only five fees will actually be applied.

Gross rate per annum

The amount of interest paid on an account before the deduction of any income tax.

Guaranteed cheque

A cheque guaranteed up to the value permitted by the account holder's card, provided that the retailer checks that the card is valid and writes the number of the card on the back of the cheque.

Guaranteed transaction fee

A guaranteed transaction fee is charged where we have to make a payment because it is guaranteed (e.g. backed by a cheque guarantee card) and that payment results in you going overdrawn or exceeding your overdraft limit, and / or any reserve amount. You will pay a guaranteed transaction fee for each such transaction we have to pay.

LINK

A national network of cash machines run by a group of building societies, banks and supermarkets. It accepts a variety of debit cards, including Barclays Connect and VISA Electron.

Overdraft Limit

An overdraft is a pre-agreed facility that allows you to withdraw money from your account, in excess of your credit balance.

Overdraft interest

This is the interest charged for any overdrawn balance over a set period of time. Overdraft (or debit) interest is usually calculated each day and then applied monthly. We notify customers 14 days before any overdraft interest is actually charged to their account.

PLUS

A cash machine network controlled by the VISA organisation. There are more than 700,000 PLUS machines worldwide where you can use your VISA or VISA Electron card.

Personal Reserve/Reserve

Personal Reserve gives you your own Reserve - an additional amount by which you can go overdrawn or exceed an agreed overdraft limit on a personal current account in an emergencies. It is designed to help you avoid having payments returned unpaid because of insufficient funds in your personal current account. You only pay for this service when you actually use it. Reserve is subject to status and eligibility.

Personal bankers

The banking specialists in each Barclays branch who can help you with questions you may have about our products and services.

Reserve usage fee

A Reserve usage fee is charged when an account balance goes into the Reserve by going overdrawn, or exceeding an agreed overdraft limit, by more than £1. You can make payments or withdrawals up to the limit of your Reserve for five consecutive working days from the day you start using your Reserve. Further Reserve usage fees will be charged for any subsequent five working day period when the Reserve is used.

Returned transaction fee

This applies for each transaction that is returned unpaid where there are insufficient funds in the account, including any agreed overdraft or Reserve, to make the payment.

VISA Electron

A debit card that lets you withdraw cash from any Barclays, Woolwich, PLUS or LINK cash machine - as long as you have the money in your account. You can use it in stores displaying the VISA Electron sign and some will allow you up to £50 cashback when you're shopping. Unlike a Connect card, VISA Electron cannot be used as a cheque guarantee card. Please note: Barclays no longer offer this card to new customers.