Barclays adds 72-hour cooling-off feature for gambling-related spending
UK high street bank builds on blocking feature following extensive customer feedback
Barclays bank has introduced a 72-hour cooling-off time delay to its gambling-related spending block.
The new enhancement means that customers will have to wait 72 hours before they can make payments on gambling sites, during which time any attempted transactions will be declined.
The UK high street bank is the first to introduce a cooling-off period of this length and it comes after customer feedback revealed the positive impact of a longer exclusion period.
Since being introduced in December 2018, the feature has been used more than 570,000 times by Barclays customers.
It was used 187,000 times following the UK’s nationwide lockdown due to Covid-19.
To enable the new cooling-off period, Barclays customers are required to access their existing blocks on the merchant control section of the Barclays app.
The feature can also be accessed via telephone banking as well as Barclays branches nationwide and will be rolled out over the next few weeks.
The bank boasts several additional features allowing customers to control gambling-related spending, including spending limits, cash withdrawal limits and card freezes.
Barclays MD Sian McIntyre highlighted the new feature as proof of the bank’s commitment to its customers.
She said: “Customer feedback on our gambling control showed us there was more we could do to help and we’ve worked closely with them to design the solution.
“Our customers have told us this 72-hour time delay gives them a real pause for thought and helps when they are tempted to return to gambling.”
The additional feature has also been welcomed by gambling-related harm treatment and advocacy groups including GamCare and the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, who cited it as adding an additional layer of friction to potentially excessive spending.