Barclaycard opens door to Internet

Barclaycard is to become the first UK credit card to offer services on the Internet with the launch of an interactive electronic magazine.

The new service, Barclaycard Netlink, allows Internet users to request a Barclaycard application form and enter prize competitions using e-mail.

Card customers will also soon be able to exchange Barclaycard Profiles points for gifts and make enquiries about their account from a customer service representative.

The company says account payment through the Internet is a possibility for the near future.

Barclaycard will also be seeking market research data from users who can comment on Barclaycard services and suggest future developments. It sees the service as an important source of recruitment, especially of students.

“We are giving Internet users the chance to learn about Barclaycard and to tell us what they would like,” says managing director of Barclaycard’s Emerging Markets Unit Roger Alexander.

Barclaycard says responses of a sensitive nature will not be made on the Internet until reliable encryption facilities are available. It also stresses that Internet users will not have access to the computer containing confidential account information on cardholders.