A £1,200 charge FOUR YEARS after transferring from Barclays to First Direct

Esther24

Can anyone help???

Today I received a statement from Barclays informing me that I am £1,200 overdrawn...on an account that I closed down over 4 years ago.

In November 2003 I began the process of transferring my Barclays account to First Direct. I gave First Direct the permission to close my Barclays account (selecting this box on the form that I filled in). In Dec 2003 I was notified by First Direct that they could not close the account as it was slightly overdrawn, and I had to contact Barclays. I contacted them, but by Jan 2004, the full closure had still not taken place. I called First Direct who said all direct debits / standing orders etc were now live in my new account, but that Barclays still had not transferred the monies. I thus contacted Barclays, via their telephone banking system, instructing them to do so. I [stupidly] assumed that this telephone conversation was sufficient. I did not reitterate my request in writing. The last time any activity took place in my Barclays account was Feb 2004. After that time, I only used my new First Direct account, assuming that everything was now fully transferred.

To my horror, Barclays informed me today that they have no evidence of my instructing them to close the account. They have no evidence that I called their banking system (unlike First Direct they do not keep a running log of every call, and what is discussed). My only evidence that I was liaising with Barclays is in my First Direct account log, which reveals that on 25 Jan 2004 I spoke with a lady who wrote "Barclays has not transferred balance. Customer [me] said she will contact Barclays to instruct transfer of monies asap." But I can't imagine Barclays will accept this as 'evidence'.

Naturally, had I known that this account was still live, and accruing charges, I would have paid off those charges and shut it down. Since Jan 2004 I have received NO statements from Barclays (until today - almost 5 years later!), and I have never requested a new bank card, cheque book etc etc. Whilst I did move house in July 2004, I notified Barclays of this change in address as I still had a graduate loan with them. I still did not receive information about this live account.

What is more, last year I began the process of buying my first home. I undertook a full credit check, using Experian. Nothing in this fully detailed report revealed a 'live' overdrawn account. Indeed, it would have affected my credit rating, which was actually very positive. Also, I have always registered with the electoral roll each time I've moved house, so it is not like I've tried to 'hide' myself away from lenders who might need to catch up with me!

So, Barclays now claim that I owe £1,200. This is made up of monthly charges for their 'Additions' account (£12.50 a month) plus an overdraft fee of £8.50 a month. Over 4.5 years, that's made up a whopping £1,200 overdraft.

Can anyone help??? Is there anything I can do?

natweststaffmember

I would write to Barclays with a chronological timeline of what occured. Explain to them that you asked for the account to be closed and that you would like an explanation why no bank statements were sent out to you in 5 years. Do you remember having an additions account in 2004? No idea why anyone would keep a pay monthly account if they were intent on moving the account.