Debt and mental health

Find out what tools Sarah used to help manage her spending and feel more in control. If you’re in a similar situation, you’re not alone – we’re here to help. 

Sarah has a mental health condition that means her mood and mental wellbeing goes up and down. When she isn’t feeling good, Sarah sometimes spends money impulsively on things that she later thinks she doesn’t really want or need, and also lacks the energy to check her balances. Sarah tends to put everything off and tells herself she’ll do it when she’s feeling better.

One day, after a change in mood, Sarah checked her account balance. She saw that she’d spent more than she’d expected and began to feel overwhelmed – she had already missed a Council Tax payment and there wasn’t enough money left for her other household bills. The thought of not being able to make ends meet gave her a panic attack and she didn’t know where to go for help.

Sarah’s brother convinced her to get in touch with us. He’d noticed Sarah had started putting her food shop on her credit card and he could sense she was worried about her finances.

Sarah’s next steps

Sarah’s situation is more common than you might think and we had a number of tools to support her. 

Sarah downloaded the Barclays app¹ and found several tools to help her control her spending.

• She set a limit on how much she could take out of a cash machine every day. If she felt like her spending was getting out of control, she started temporarily freezing her card
• Sarah also set up text alerts to help her avoid missing payments and manage her money better
• After a period of poor mental health, Sarah would often forget her PIN. She used her app to view her PIN if she needed to

Contact us

Worried you’ll miss a payment?

Help is always at hand. As soon as you think you might have some financial difficulties, give us a call – it could help make things better.

Have some information about your financial situation ready, before you call, including your income and outgoings. You might be talking for a while – we’ll want to understand your situation in detail, so make sure you set aside some time.

Mortgages – 0333 202 7492 Monday to Thursday, 8am to 8pm, Friday, 8am to 7pm and Saturday, 9am to 4pm

Barclaycard – 0800 051 8346 Monday to Friday 8am to 9pm, Saturday and Sunday 9am to 9pm

Overdraft and Barclayloan – 0333 202 7412 Monday to Thursday, 8am to 8pm, Friday, 8am to 7pm and Saturday, 9am to 4pm

Self-employed or have a business? Get some support

Call charges

Missed a payment and want to catch up?

If you’ve missed a payment on your Barclayloan, overdraft or Barclaycard, you might be able to pay it using the Barclays app¹, – or give us a call.

Overdrafts and Barclayloan – 0345 703 4034 Monday to Thursday, 8am to 8pm, Friday, 8am to 7pm and Saturday, 9am to 4pm

For a mortgage or Barclaycard, please call the relevant number in the section above.