BarclayLoan Complaints?

Janina31

Hi Guys

In an attempt to try and get my money situation straight, I took the advice of the Great Martin Lewis and got a copy of my credit file for free.

It was very illuminating and showed that I still had a loan via Barclays, which I was not aware of. Strangely, it showed that I still had an outstanding balance of several thousand pounds, but that I had not missed any payments.

Using internet banking, I realised that there WAS a BarclayLoan, but it had been right at the bottom of the home screen and I hadn't seen it.

Now. I had taken a loan out with Barclays back in 2005. In October 2006, I re-mortgaged and paid off all my debts at the same time. The re-mortgage company issued a cheque, based on the settlement figure provided by Barclays. As I recall, the cheque did take some time to come through and there is a possibility that at least one further payment was sent to Barclays for this loan.

Since paying the loan off, I have made no further payments, but have received absolutely NO communication from Barclays regarding missed payments.

Being the honest person I am, and feeling a little worried, I called Barclays. I spoke with a Customer Account Manager, who after FORTY FIVE MINUTES on the phone eventually admitted she could see the loan, that there was still an outstanding balance, but that a large amount was paid to it in October 2006 but nothing since. After a silence from her end, she advised that there was still a balance on the loan, but not to worry as it could be that I am owed some money back.

That was back in October. They advised at this point that I should expect a resolution by 25 November. I received a further letter from them last week advising that the investigations are taking a little longer and I will now not hear anything further until 23 December.

In the meantime, I tried to apply for an extended overdraft with my new bank (First Direct - another MSE recommendation - and they are excellent!) and it was declined due to a problem with my credit file.

Two days later, I received a letter from Barclays Collections advising that I have missed a payment on my BarclayLoan, and that I need to pay immediately or they will take me to court. I called and explained and was advised that I would continue to receive letters until the complaint has been resolved.

Yesterday, I called the Complaints department again, as I felt that 2 months to resolve this issue is quite unacceptable. I was told that there was nothing more they could do, but interestingly this has happened to thousands of BarclayLoan customers who paid in full early, due to a problem with their old loans system. They now have a new system which is demanding money from customers. I was told due to the backlog of complaints about this, it was unlikely to be resolved before Christmas and that it was likely I still owe PPI on the account, plus interest.

Sooooo! After all this waffling, the question is! Has anyone else out there experienced a similar problem with BarclayLoan? And on top of this, can they do this if you called for a settlement figure?

I am really worried now that I owe them more money, as I am barely scraping by as it is!

Thanks in advance for your advice and comments.

rae1202

hey i am having trouble with my barclay loan going up not down

Janina31

Hey Rae1202. Have you contacted Barclays, and if so, what have they told you? I take it you have been making regular payments, and haven't missed any?

rae1202

yeah got all about mine on here they are getting back to me and been told about a new computer system they introduced that has caused hassle...(i think they are getting excuses from cabinet)

rocketeer125

Towards the end of October, Barclays implemented a new system called ALS to consolidate the three old systems into a single one. Along with this, it has changed some of the ways that the system handles it's billing scheduling.

What is affecting you in particular, Jamina31, is something called the Prepayment Modifier. This affects the way money is applied to the loan account in the case of an unexpected lump-sum payment.

With PM turned on, the funding is credited to the account, and future bills are paid off, up to the value of the lump sum payment. Essentially, you can think of the loan account reacting as if you are purchasing a payment holiday.

With PM turned off, the money simply goes into the balance, but the bill will still expect its regular payment.

I believe the new system may have set this property to OFF.

The rule of thumb here is not to just send a lump sum payment to the loan with
as the system will not always react as you expect. If you wanted to pay-off the loan back, you would need to ask for a settlement quote before sending the money. When you do this, the system will also calculate any fees, and more importantly, any rebates you may receive in PPI and Interest.

Janina31

Hi Rocketeer125

Thank you so much - your information is very helpful and I can understand things a little better now!

However, I do have a couple of points to put to you (you appear to have a rather deeper understanding of these things than I!). I did request a final settlement figure from Barclays, before making any payments, and this was the amount that was paid.

Unfortunately, the loan I had applied for to cover this, took rather longer than anticipated and it may have been up to 2 months after this that they received their monies.

However, the cheque was posted directly to them from the new loan company - so I have no real knowledge of whether they put a letter in to explain what it was for - a little unfortunate!

From what you have already said, is it likely that I am to now expect a bill for any PPI that was on the loan, along with interest? If this is the case I am rather hoping that they will write it off, as they had sent me no letters about it and I really can't afford any extra payments right now.

Thanks again for your words of wisdom!

rocketeer125

Janina31, You're welcome.

Just to add; if there was any PPI on the loan, you should expect some money back, rather than you having to fork out. Though it won't be that much, as it is towards the end of the term of the loan.