Claim back any unfair bank charges! Article Discussion Area

barclays_wrongdoings

Hi all
I do need some advice on my problems with Barclays.
First some background:
I have been a custommer with Barclays for over 10 years now. They used to like me so much that they offered me many years ago to become one their premier custommer. Wich i am. I used to have an excellent personnalised service for a few years. I had a GBP 4k overdraft limit, a select loan allowing to borrow GBP 4k at anytime. Everything was fine until 2 years ago.
In sept 2004, I decided to take a long vacation and travel the world with my wife. I called Barclays to let them know of my intentions and stopped any unecessary outgoings from my account. I had a barclays addition account wich I stopped since I did'nt need anymore. I keep the premier account in order to keep access to the 4k overdraft and the 4k select loan.
Since I left the UK, barclays changed their phone number from 0207 to 0870 making it impossible for me to contact them from abroad.
I have just returned to the UK because everything has gone wrong with my account!
While I was away, they sent me a letter saying that even though I was 3,5k overdrawn, "they assume that I did not need my overdraft limit of 4k anylonger" and they cancelled it 14 days later. This decision lead to a whole range of extra charges, and ultimately they cancelled my cards (while I was away) and closed my account!
I need some advice? Was their move legal? Can I claim some compensations?
Many thanks

MissG_2

Hi Barclays-wrongdoings,

I have sent you a personal message with some info which you may find useful.

Regards

MissG

hostie

I have a thick question. I am now at the stage when I send the letter two weeks before taking them to court. On the Bank Action Forum there is a bit in red that you include if you have had a default notice made against you. How do I know if I have had a default notice made against me?
I wanted to send the letter as it was due to be sent today (two weeks from the first but i'm not sure about default notices)

bookworm1363

asharon wrote:

What do you do if you have sent the inital letter with eh £10 asking for the statments and they have cashed the cheque but it is over the time limit and they are doing nothing ?

You click on my sig, register and use the lovely template letters to send to the bank to complain about a DPA non-compliance, and you follow the guidelines set there. They've cashed the cheque so they can't say they didn't get request. Time to regain control here!

bookworm1363

melpomene wrote:

I was going to supply my list of charges extracted from my statements. Is a total all that's required at the first letter stage?

Yes.

We have however recently been changing that to an advice of sending a list like you suggest, because further down the line, some of those cheeky monkeys at the banks have been trying to railroad the legal system by saying they never got a schedule of charges. If you can show that you did, there's not a lot they can do, and they'll look stupid in the bargain.

bookworm1363

Laura_Heasman wrote:

I am considering claiming unfair charges back from LloydsTSB. However, can anyone advise me before I go ahead, bearing in mind I exceeded my overdraft limit by £4000, defaulted on my Lloyds credit card, and a Lloyds loan? The actual amount I ended up owing was by far over double what I had initially been indebted to them for, despite asking on several occasions if they would freeze charges and having seen an adviser that they sent to my house to discuss the debt - he advised them that I could only afford to pay back £15 per month and they still continued to threaten court action if I did not send them £100 per month. As a result, I discontinued corresponding with the bank as I was getting nowhere and knew that if they took me to court, I would still only be able to pay back a minimal amount. It just occurred to me that if I claimed all the unfair charges, my debt with them would be hugely reduced but I don't want to put myself back in the firing line! Can anyone advise me?

On what?
Can you reclaim your charges? Yes.
Should you? Well, it's a judgment call, but if it were me, hell yeah!

Was there an other question in there? I'm sorry, I don't see it.

bookworm1363

emmaro wrote:

Hi,
I am in the same position as you and would love to know if we could possibly be successful in recovering some of the extra charges back, after all most of the debt is purely from charges, and probably from the recovery agents adding ridiculous amounts of money to the original debt. I agree that I also should not have buried my head in the sand but i did.
Good luck with everything
emma

Not some. ALL of the unlawful charges over the last 6 yrs.

According to the CAG survey, as of now, total returned: £ 913 553 to 962 people.
We estimate only about 25% of people fill in the survey. You do the maths. If you like what you see, click on my sig, register and start taking control.

bookworm1363

tashcoupe wrote:

Hi I have a Virgin CC - MBNA are the company behind it and are now on my back. I didn't set up a direct debit but was making payments, now I am behind with them and I have accrued hundreds of pounds of charges - limit of my ac. is £3600 - actual balance is £4500 - and I haven't used the card for almost a year! They are calling me, have been e-mailing - I of course have been avoiding them - stupid I know. Not sure where to go from here - please advise! Thanks

You click on my sig and you go THERE. You register, and you start fighting back for what's lawfully yours. You'll probably have to write to them 1st to get them to stop calling, but all the info about that is at CAG as well.

bookworm1363

keefyboy wrote:

We were both sure that they would use us as an example to take to court and we would not get a penny, but 5 days later we have had an offer of £2000 on the joint and £325 on the second, no fuss, no hassle, the only thing they said was it will be in full and final settlement of this matter but no admittance of liability from them. We are over the moon with the offers, but we have now been put into another question, do we refuse and take them to court or do we accept the offers and pay off all 3 overdrafts, restock the cupboards etc. We need the money now to pay off the overdrafts, we need the money to buy the food, last week I even sold a gold and diamond ring of mine so we could have food, (thats how bad things have got), so what do we do ?

It is tricky, isn't it... When it's so close you can taste it, feel it. Natwest did this to me, they actually sent me the cheque but said if I cashed it, that meant I agreed to confidentiality. That was mean. I did tell them to stuff it, though, and that I'd see them in court first. They caved.

For what it's worth, if they have made an offer, they've already lost. I expect you know that. Now, they're just trying some cost damage limitation.

This is money you NEVER expected back anyway. But in the end, as always, of course, it is your decision. Noone will think less of you for settling now. I just hope that you don't regret not holding out for 100% in a few months' time.

Good luck and well done either way!

bookworm1363

Benson wrote:

I

However on the statements it only says

"charges as notified"

On my spreadhsheet i have the date noted and the amount, do i need to know what the charges were for?

They differ from £20, £28 and £30.

Also, if it a joint account I presume that we have to claim together, I just cannot do it?

Call them and ask. Or write on your spreadsheet "charges as notified", their problem for not being clear.

If you both have authority on joint account, of course you can. You don't need 2 signatures every time you issue a cheque, do you?