barclaycard removed money from my bank without authority

jamesd

simongregson, if Barclays makes an agreement they are required to stick to it, so next months income would not be at risk.

If they don't make any agreement, then protecting the funds needed to live on by using a different account is necessary.

simongregson

I would reiterate my advice, it is much better to be in control of the situation yourself, get an unlinked bank account. I would not trust Barclays to stick to their side of an arrangement, collections departments have a reputation for sharp practice.

jamesd

Any agreement would have to require them returning the money needed to live for this month. Hard to get a better demonstration that they will act properly than that.

The Banking Code changed in April 2008 and now Barclays is obliged to follow these terms:

"2 ... We will deal quickly and sympathetically with things that go wrong and consider all cases of financial difficulty sympathetically and positively"

There's clearly a case of financial difficulty here and ample grounds for complaint if they do not address it.

"14.1 We will be sympathetic and positive when we consider any financial difficulties you may have. Our first step will be to try to contact you to discuss the matter."

So did they follow their first step and contact first? If not, that's grounds for complaint if they don't rectify it.

"14.2 If you find yourself in financial difficulties, you should let us know as soon as possible. We will do all we can to help you to overcome your difficulties. With your cooperation, we will develop a plan with you for dealing with your financial difficulties and we will tell you in writing what we have agreed."

And they are obliged by the Banking Code to work with ellsbells12 on a plan. We know that ellsbells12 has been paying off debts in priority order so there's money to address Barclaycard's concerns as part of the overall plan.

All ellsbells12 needs to do at the moment is ask Barclays to follow the Banking Code and complain if they don't assist in producing a sensible plan that avoids causing financial hardship.

At the moment it's most likely that they acted as they did because they saw no sign of reduction of the debt to them because higher interest rate debts were being paid off first and they didn't know about it. Once they know that there is a plan in place they should be dealing with the situation on that basis.

NickX

Its all very well quoting the Banking Code but this does not mean that Barclays and Barclaycard will adhere to it.

Just look at the cases of Chip & Pin fraud. The Banking Code says that the onus is on the Banks to prove that customers have been negligent with their PINs, however there have been many cases reported where the banks simply say that IF the PIN was used THEN either the customer made the transaction or they negligently revealed their PIN to the fraudster. This is clearly not what the Banking Code suggests.

My advice is to definitely get your wages into a non-linked account where Barclaycard cannot get their hands on it.

jamesd

It's easy to find out whether they will adhere to it: discuss a financial plan and see if they return most of the money taken this month. If they do, problem solved. If they don't, new account time.

No discussion means no chance of getting back the money for this month and that doesn't solve the current problem.

NickX

jamesd wrote: »

It's easy to find out whether they will adhere to it: discuss a financial plan and see if they return most of the money taken this month. If they do, problem solved. If they don't, new account time.

Agreed that the OP should discuss getting a refund of some of the money for this month.

However, this does not mean that Barclaycard won't do exactly the same next month putting the situation back to square one.

Yes negotiate with them on getting a refund this month, but get next month's wages paid into a different account so that it cannot happen again.

jamesd

Next month is something that can be decided after seeing what they say.

If they don't mention keeping the income going into the existing account then switching it might be worth doing. But it will worry them to not be able to see the regular income, so if they cooperate nicely the chance of them causing trouble is lower by keeping it going into the account.

If there's any difficulty in getting them to cooperate over this month then I definitely agree that switching is the way to go.

redcurlypanda

Hi

A little off topic but I'm wondering if Barclaycard/Barclays are having a few difficulties.

Barclaycard were due to collect £30 from my account on the 1st August but instead took £1225. My card was a football one and the transaction (which was for my season tickets) was supposed to be interest free until it was paid off (which I suppose it was, though I was expecting to pay it off over the forthcoming season!). Anyway I found their staff to be very rude and unhelpful and as such requested that my credit card was closed, at this point I was cut off and when I rang back I was told that my account was closed.

Good riddance to them, especially as they seem to have scant regard for anyone. Hope you get things sorted and quickly.

bluecounty

I'll offer a slightly different angle to this topic. The money would have been taken from the account due to the OP not coming to an agreement with Barclaycard/Mercers.

There seems to be alot of sympathy for people on this website when things like this happen, in some cases rightly so, in others.........

The OP has spent the money on the credit card not paid it back and now claims Barclaycard have committed theft by reclaiming available funds in her bank account.

Amazing.

jamesd

bluecounty, it's entirely possible that ellsbells12 was keeping up with minimum payments exactly as in the credit agreement.

There's no problem with Barclaycard asking for repayment but they are required to follow the Banking Code when doing it. And they don't seem to have left reasonable living expenses in this case, so that's something that would result in a complaint against them if they don't do something to correct the situation.