Barclays Bank UK PLC · DRN-6237876

The complaint Mr K has complained that Barclays Bank UK PLC (“Barclays”) won’t refund him the monthly fees he has paid for a Travel Pack. What happened Barclays issued its final response letter on 13 November 2025 and didn’t uphold the complaint. After Mr K referred his complaint to this service, one of our investigators assessed the complaint and she didn’t uphold the complaint either. As Mr K didn’t accept the investigator’s assessment, the matter was referred for an ombudsman’s decision. What I’ve decided – and why I’ve considered all the available evidence and arguments to decide what’s fair and reasonable in the circumstances of this complaint. We’ve explained our approach to complaints about packaged accounts on our website and I’ve used that to help me decide this complaint. And having considered everything, I don’t uphold this complaint. I will explain why. Mr K held a Travel Pack. Included with this was travel insurance and breakdown cover. The Travel insurance came with an upper age limit of 80. And the basis of Mr K’s complaint is that he would like a refund of the Travel Pack fees from when he was no longer eligible for the travel insurance. I can see that in September 2025, Barclays made a change in its policy, whereby it would cancel any feature store packs held by its customers, where it identified that the customer holding the pack is not eligible for all of the benefits. In this case, as Mr K was no longer eligible for the travel insurance included with his travel pack (but was still eligible for the breakdown cover), Barclays wrote to Mr K on 12 September 2025, confirming that it will cancel his Travel Pack from 31 October 2025. I understand it was this letter that prompted Mr K to complain and ask for a full refund of his Pack fees from when he turned 80. If it was the case that the Travel Pack only included travel insurance, then I would be minded to uphold this complaint, because there would’ve been no insurable interest once Mr K turned 80. But as the Travel Pack contained more than just travel insurance, it’s not as straightforward a matter, as Mr K would’ve still been able to benefit from some of the features of the pack, just not all of them. Therefore, to decide whether Barclays acted unfairly in continuing to charge Mr K for his Travel Pack, after he turned 80, I have taken into consideration the information that Barclays had sent to Mr K about his Travel Pack. I can see that Barclays had written to Mr K on 20 July 2023, and explained that Mr K won’t be covered by the travel insurance included with his Travel Pack once he turns 80. It explained that he’d still be covered by the breakdown cover included with his Travel Pack. The letter ended by saying:

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“This is a good time to review your Travel Pack and consider whether it’s still right for you as you’ll no longer have the benefit of the Worldwide travel insurance.” So from this letter, Barclays had made it clear to Mr K, well before he turned 80, that he would no longer be covered by the travel insurance on his Travel Pack, once he turns 80. So I’m satisfied that Barclays had given Mr K enough information and enough notice, to make an informed decision about whether he wanted to keep his Travel Pack or not. Barclays then sent an annual eligibility statement to Mr K in February 2024. Again, it explained that Mr K won’t be covered for the travel insurance over the age of 80 and said: “If you’ve recently turned 80 or are about to, please call us to make sure your insurance still meets your needs.” The annual eligibility statement went on to say: If you’re still eligible for your packs insurance benefits and would like to keep them, you don’t need to do anything. If you’re no longer eligible for some or all of your cover, or you wouldn’t be able to claim if you needed to, you can remove your pack at any time. You can do this in your app, Online Banking, by calling us on the number at the top of this letter or by visiting any of our branches.” Despite sending this to Mr K, Mr K kept the Travel Pack. In April 2024, Barclays sent a text message to Mr K. This said: “Hi, the age restrictions on your Pack mean you’ll no longer qualify for the travel insurance once you turn 80 - you may still be able to benefit from other features. Weve sent you a letter and would like to talk to you about this. Please reply yes and well give you a call. Your Barclays team” Mr K responded to this message and Barclays called him a short while later. I have listened to the conversation Mr K had with Barclays. I’m satisfied that Barclays made it clear that Mr K was no longer eligible for the travel insurance due to his age. It was made clear to him that despite that, he was still covered by the Travel Pack for breakdown cover. And when asked whether he wanted to keep the Pack, Mr K confirmed that he did. I understand that Mr K says he’d called Barclays and visited Barclays’ branches and he says he was told he was still covered by the Travel Pack travel insurance. However, I’ve not seen evidence of this. Indeed, the only evidence I have seen where Mr K was informed about his Travel Pack, are the letters and statements I have referred to here, as well as the conversation Mr K had with Barclays in April 2024, where he confirmed he wanted to keep the Pack. So, based on everything I have seen, it seems that Mr K was given clear information that he would no longer be eligible for the travel insurance on his Pack once he turned 80. And when asked, Mr K confirmed he would be happy to keep the Pack - despite being made aware he was no longer covered for the travel insurance. Because of this, I can’t reasonably say that Barclays has acted unfairly or unreasonably here. In his response to the investigator’s assessment, Mr K said that, when he received the letter in July 2023, he assumed that his Travel Pack would be cancelled, and he’d no longer be charged for the Pack. I can’t say that Mr K’s (incorrect) assumption was a reasonable one, given that the letter made it clear that he was still covered for the breakdown cover and it was explained to him what he’d need to do if he wanted to cancel the Pack. Furthermore, Mr K turned 80 in late 2023, and Barclays wrote to him in December 2023 explaining that the Travel Pack fee was increasing. So even if Mr K had incorrectly assumed in July 2023 that his Travel Pack would be automatically cancelled, he was sent information

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in December 2023 that made it clear it had not been cancelled (and again Mr K was invited to cancel his Pack if he didn’t want it, following the fee increase). Mr K has also said that he received the Annual Eligibility Statement in February 2024 and says he didn’t need the breakdown cover. But if that was the case, I can’t see why Mr K didn’t cancel his Travel Pack in February 2024, or indeed at any point since he’d turned 80, if he didn’t want it anymore. Furthermore, although Mr K says he doesn’t need break down cover, this directly contradicts what he said to Barclays in the phone call in April 2024. During that call, when he was asked if he wanted to cancel his Travel Pack - due to no longer being covered by the travel insurance - and it was explained he was still covered for breakdown cover, he said he wanted to keep the Travel Pack. So in summary, I’m unable to say that Barclays has acted unfairly or unreasonably here. I think that it has taken reasonable steps to make Mr K aware that he was not eligible for the travel insurance – both before he became ineligible and after. And it proactively checked with Mr K whether he wanted to keep the Pack, when he was only able to benefit from the breakdown cover and he said he wanted to keep it. Because of this, I’m unable to uphold this complaint. Finally, I note that, during its investigation into Mr K’s complaint, Barclays had offered to refund 10 months’ worth of Travel Pack fees to Mr K. Should Mr K still wish to accept this offer, he should contact Barclays directly. My final decision Because of the reasons given above, I don’t uphold this complaint. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Mr K to accept or reject my decision before 17 April 2026. Thomas White Ombudsman

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