www.bank.barclays.co.uk/

Barclays Bank

Barclays Bank website (opens in new window )

Level: expert

What is Barclays?

Barclays is one of the UK’s biggest banks, and now online, they offer virtually all the services you could get by going into your local branch, without the hassle of getting there!

The Barclays website not only allows you to log in and check your account balance, but you can transfer money, pay your bills, set up direct debits and standing orders, apply for loans, credit cards and even mortgages, all from your computer.

Using Barclays

While I appreciate the above all sounds good, this website isn’t quite as straightforward as that.

Once you’re set up, it's certainly not difficult to use, but the setting up process itself is a little tricky.

Firstly, let's focus on the website.

When you first go to www.barclays.co.uk you will have a page with links to a variety of information, these links are near the top of the page and will enable you to look at personal accounts, privacy statements, loans etc.

All of this is also laid out further down the page, under specific headings, such as:

"online personal banking" which then provides the links to sign in or register.

Under the next heading is a very useful box, where you can type in your postcode and the nearest branch and ATM machine will be displayed.

You can explore the links at your leisure, the information is fairly straightforwardly written, and the questionnaires, i.e for which bank account suits you best, are easy to navigate and fill in.

One thing to remember, is that Barclays opens a lot of its links in a new browser window, so if pressing enter doesn’t work, don’t despair, press control + enter and it should open fine. Remember to close down the new windoes before you can get back to the previous webpages.

Signing in and registration

If you already have a Barclays bank account, or, after looking at their website you think you’d like one, you can register online.

Please note, you can only register online once you’ve set up a bank account with them, this can generally be done over the phone, or in your local branch.

You may encounter some slight difficulties when registering for online banking, for instance you’ll need to enter your account number, card number, and a pin they send you through the post – for this it may be best to have someone sighted around to assist.

Logging in

Once you’ve signed up for online banking, it may take a day or two to become active, and Barclays will send you a machine called a PINsentry.

You’ll need to notify them that you require a talking one, which they provide freely – it's best to do this through your local branch, although you can also phone.

PINsentry is designed to add extra security to online transactions, helping to prevent fraud. You’ll need it every time you log in, and when you pay bills or transfer money to anyone other than one of your own accounts. It may sound daunting, and is a bit fiddly to start with, but eventually it feels like you’ve been using one forever.

When you click log in, you’ll first be asked for your membership number, this will arrive through the post, and once you’ve entered it once you can ask Barclays to remember this for you.

The second form will ask you firstly for the last 4 digits on your card, and then the 8 digit number created by your PINsentry, in 3 sets of 4.

Entering this will take practice, because its time limited, and so you have to enter set 1, go down to the next box, etc, all whilst the Pinsentry is reading out the number! It can be done though, perseverance is the key here.

You can click the "forgotten PINsentry" link, you’ll have to enter your surname, date of birth and card details, but then, for 2 weeks at a time you can log in without using PINsentry, this may be easier for some, but, you cannot transfer money to other people or pay bills whilst using the service this way.

Once you’ve logged in you’ll be taken to your overview page, where you can see a basic figure showing what’s in each of your accounts.

From here, you have the option to pay bills, see statements etc.

All these features work pretty much the same, you put details into a form, and are presented with the required information. The statements, visually, are shown in a table, so that’s why they may appear a bit odd when read with Thunder.

When paying bills etc, you will be asked to use the Pinsentry again, as added security. You’ll be prompted on what to do, and will have to enter another 8 digit number, a bit like logging in.

Overall, Barclays have a very user friendly online service, the only hurdle really being PINsentry, which itself can be mastered in time.

Navigation

The best way to navigate this website is by headings and forms, as a lot of information will need to be inputted – such as log in details, information for obtaining loans etc, searching statements, and so on.

Barclays will provide a few challenges for the beginner, namely the PINsentry system, whereby you gain a 8 digit number from a card reader, and enter it into the boxes provided, however with a little practice, it will seem like you’ve been doing this for ages!