Barclays Personal Loans Review: Pros, Cons & Features

Barclays personal loans: at a glance

A Barclays personal loan stacks up well against the other lenders we’ve reviewed. Although other lenders had a higher overall score, Barclays still gets five stars for its application process and its availability of customer support.

However, you can only apply for a Barclays loan if you have a Barclaycard or a current account with the bank.

NerdWallet Review Rating

See how we rate our lenders below.

Remember, if you’re considering a loan it’s sensible to only borrow what you need and pay it back as quickly as possible based on what you can comfortably afford to repay each month.

Barclays loans pros & cons

The pros and cons featured here are chosen by us based on a combination of our expert opinions from our research of the personal loans market and an exclusive survey of UK consumers conducted on behalf of NerdWallet UK in February 2023 to identify the features of personal loans that people feel are most important. They are unlikely to be the only product features and restrictions that you should consider. Pros and cons are subjective and you should align them to your own personal circumstances. Information was correct at the time of publication but may have changed since.

Barclays loans overview

Barclays is a major high-street bank with branches across the UK. The origins of the bank go back to 1690, and it now offers a range of products and services including current accounts, credit cards and mortgages, as well as loans. 

If you’re a Barclays customer, you may be able to apply for a loan from £1,000 up to £50,000. You could use this money for home improvements, a new car, an emergency expense, or many other different costs.

But, if you’re considering a loan, it’s always worth looking at a range of lenders to help you find the right deal for you. 

Amount borrowable	£1,000 to £50,000
Term length	Two to five years
Time to get a decision	Instant
Time to receive funds once approved	Minutes
Need to have an account with the provider	Yes
Customer support	Phone, live chat, app, social media, branch

How do we rate Barclays personal loans?

We’ve assessed a selection of UK loan providers and rated each against a set of criteria that take into consideration what loan customers tell us are the most important product features. 

Here’s what we review and how Barclays performs:

Criteria	Star rating
Flexibility	3.5 stars
Application process	5 stars
Available customer support	5 stars
Overall (The overall score is weighted in favour of the features borrowers told us they consider most important)	4.5 stars

Nerdwallet’s star rating assessment criteria does not include the lender’s product lending rates or fees. Always check and compare a lender’s rates against others on the market when considering a loan.

Category definitions

Flexibility

A flexible loan gives customers a choice of funds, terms and payment options. That means offering a wide range of loan amounts and repayment term options, allowing the borrower to change their payment date and make overpayments, for example.

Application process

The best application processes are quick and easy, with clear eligibility criteria, soft checks and multiple ways to apply to suit different customers’ needs.

Available customer support 

Good customer support can include clear information on the lender’s website and a customer service team that’s available most of the time and can be reached in multiple ways.

Where Barclays loans stand out

You could get your money within minutes

Once you’ve signed your loan agreement, Barclays may be able to transfer the loan to your account within minutes. It may take longer if you sign your agreement between 11pm and 5am, or if you want the loan transferred to an account that isn’t with a main UK high-street bank.

You can borrow up to £50,000

If you need to borrow a large sum of money, Barclays can offer loans of up to £50,000. This is one of the largest maximum amounts offered by the lenders we reviewed. But you should only ever borrow the amount you need, so, even if you can take out a bigger loan, think about whether this is the best decision for you.

Where Barclays loans fall short

They’re only available to certain Barclays customers

You can only apply for a loan from Barclays if you have a current account or Barclaycard account with the bank. If you’re not a customer, you won’t be eligible to apply.

Limited choice of repayment terms

The minimum repayment term Barclays offers is two years, unlike many of the other lenders we reviewed that allow you to repay over one year. The shorter the repayment period, the less you pay in interest, so Barclays may not be right for you if you want to pay off your loan in under two years. Additionally, the maximum loan term Barclays offers is five years, which is shorter than many other lenders we looked at that allow you to pay back a loan over seven years or longer.

Features

Barclays offers unsecured loans, which means you don’t need to put forward your house or other valuable item as security. 

You can borrow between £1,000 and £50,000 and repay the loan over a term of two to five years.

The interest rate Barclays charges will depend on a number of factors, including your credit score, financial situation, loan amount and loan term.

It can also depend on the type of current account you have with them. If you have a Barclays Premier account, you may be able to access a lower rate of interest than if you have a standard current account.

Joint loans

Barclays doesn’t offer joint loans. You can only apply for a loan as an individual.

If you want to take out a joint loan, there are other lenders that may be able to help.

Flexibility

Barclays offers a good amount of flexibility when it comes to repayments, although some other lenders we reviewed offer more.

With Barclays you can choose the date of your payments and, if you want to, you can change your payment date during your loan term. However, you can’t move it any more than 25 days later than your original date.

Bear in mind that changing your payment date can affect the amount of interest you pay overall, so it’s worth checking this before making any changes.

Extra repayments

If you can afford to make extra repayments towards your loan, on top of your usual monthly payments, Barclays allows you to do this without charging any fees. Making additional payments can help you to pay off your loan quicker and save you money in interest, but always double check if there are any limits to the amount you can overpay at a time.

You can also pay off your loan in full before the end of the term. You need to get an early settlement quote from Barclays which will include your outstanding loan balance plus any interest charges that Barclays may apply. 

Paying off your loan in full should mean you pay less interest overall.

» MORE: How to pay off a loan early

Additional borrowing

If you’ve had a loan with Barclays for at least three months, you may be able to borrow more. Barclays will run new affordability checks to see if you can afford to borrow the extra amount.

You can choose to take out a new loan alongside your current loan. This means your existing loan agreement will stay the same but you’ll have a new loan agreement with another set of monthly payments to make.

Alternatively, you can choose to take out a new loan that will pay off your existing loan and give you the extra money you need. For example, if your current loan is £10,000 and you want to borrow an extra £3,000, you would take out a new loan for £13,000.

Bear in mind that this new loan may have a different rate of interest and payment term to your existing loan, which means you could end up paying more in interest overall than on your existing agreement. It’s also worth checking if you’ll face any charges to repay your existing loan early.

Application process

Barclays performs well in this category as it’s possible to apply and receive your loan within minutes.

To see how much you can borrow and how much your repayments could be, Barclays offers a loan calculator on its website. You can then check your eligibility for a loan and get a quote to see how much you can borrow, without affecting your credit score. 

But bear in mind that, instead of applying for a loan directly, you can also use a loans eligibility service. This compares loans from multiple lenders and can help you see what loans you are likely to qualify for. These services use a soft credit check which means it won’t be recorded on your credit history or affect your score.

» MORE: How to get a loan

How long does it take to apply?

If you decide to apply for a loan online or through the Barclays app, you should get a quick decision on your application. And, if approved, you could get the funds in your account within minutes after signing your loan agreement.

It could take longer to receive the money if you sign your loan agreement between 11pm and 5am or if your account isn’t with a major high-street bank.

Availability of customer support

Barclays gets five stars for its availability of customer support as it offers customers many different ways to get in touch.

For example, if you have a question about taking out a loan or your current loan agreement, you can call Barclays or visit one of their branches.

You can also message Barclays through your online banking account or the mobile app. An automated assistant is available to try to answer your query 24/7, but a member of the team is also on-hand to reply between 7am and 11pm.

For more general queries, you can contact Barclays on social media. But you won’t be able to get answers about your specific situation.

Customer ratings

Barclays has a rating of 1.4 stars on Trustpilot, based on over 9,200 reviews. 

On the App store, Barclays gets a score of 4.8 stars based on 1.7 million ratings. On Google Play, it has a score of 4.4 stars based on 489,000 ratings.

But bear in mind that these ratings are not necessarily from customers who took out a Barclays personal loan.

On Fairer Finance, an independent review site that only assesses providers on personal loans, Barclays is one of the lower scoring lenders it assesses. It has a customer experience rating of 60%, compared to the top lenders that have a score of 70% and over.

This information is correct as of 17 October 2023.

Am I eligible for a Barclays loan?

To qualify for a loan from Barclays, you need to:

• be a UK resident aged 18 or above
• have a Barclays current account or Barclaycard.

If you have an online banking account or the Barclays app, you may be able to see how much you’re eligible to borrow and the rate you could receive. But this isn’t a guarantee that your application will be approved if you do decide to apply for a loan.

» MORE: Am I eligible for a loan?