Barclaycard don't listen do they?

Merlinexcalibur

Have been paying Barclaycard a minimum payment of £5 for several months. After a lot of to and froing (firstly with assistance from CCCS who provided me with a statement, offer of payment; all of which was ignored or not paid attention to; BC/Mercers (when they eventually got involved months later; then became relentless like a hound baying for blood for months on end) this was set up to prevent further action. Despite being in default of my CCA request as below.

CCA was requested sometime last year. I was told elsewhere what they supplied wasn't enforceable, was a pre-application; I replied with help with the according letters. They still argued it was a CCA regardless. I was advised not to keep sending them letters because they knew what was required, so no need for me to keep reminding them.

Then the £5 was agreed to. Which I had been paying happily until recently. Without warning, they are wanting more money per month - at no point have they notified me in writing as you would assume they had to eg give me formal warning and time to sort my finances out ready for this increase - which I cannot pay. They also claimed I had missed payments and 'defaulted' on this agreement. Except I haven't.

Checking my credit record recently I also found I had no default entered on this account but they have already issued me a default notice last year before passing it to Mercers last year.

I have done everything humanly possible throughout the last year to inform BC of my situation. Countless recorded delivery letters. It would seem they only reply to things they want to and everything else gets ignored. Such as my CCA request and their demands for higher payments than what they can see from my SOA sent to them a few times they can see what I can afford.

Today I received another statement off them asking me to pay more next month. I have no intention of doing so as I had agreed to pay them £5 until my circumstances improved.

How can I tackle this now? I have an advisor who acts on my behalf but they have ignored everything he has sent, too.

No enforceable CCA was provided, confusingly no default is registered against my credit report (though, could that be because I am paying them now something??) and they still remain in default of my CCA request.

I want to keep paying them this amount but they persist in saying they want £x amount which they know from seeing my SOA I cannot reasonably afford. Every avenue has been exhausted with them, letter writing being just one and is a very reasonable way of communicating. Phoning them as I did in the early days just got you nowhere.

But what is obviously worrying me now is they will start hounding me again with Mercers like before, I will get the usual threat letters saying this/that if you don't pay the arrears off. And late payment charges will start getting added twice a month including over limit (went over the limit because they kept adding them for months).

I note they are also now including a folded leaflet from the OFT. 'What to do'. Yeah, well I've done all what it said in there after going to get help from people CCCS and not avoiding payment BC you just aren't listening are you!

So, do I continue paying the £5 or do I waste my time writing to them telling them what I can only afford and tackling the CCA thing again?

Merlinexcalibur

As you can see I am getting into a terrible muddle with all this.

Fire_Fox

Keep paying the £5 and simply send copies of previous communication that has been ignored by recorded delivery. Keep a record of all communication in case you do need to take things further at a later stage. You are doing the right thing, hold onto that. DO NOT waste time on new letters, just copies of old ones which means you waste little effort.

I know it isn't quite the same, but I have twice been threatened with court action over my (disputed) service charge arrears. I found it very frightening, but later equally satisfying to copy them all the ignored communication with the relevant sections highlighted! I have all the receipts from recorded delivery 'just in case'. The last time I was given two weeks to pay was a year ago - nothing since. My belief is their legal team are advising they don't have a leg to stand on.

Stand your ground - they are trying to 'attack', don't let them manoeuvre (?sp) you into a position of defence or get you to run away. Only then do they win.

Merlinexcalibur

Stand your ground - they are trying to 'attack', don't let them manoeuvre (?sp) you into a position of defence or get you to run away. Only then do they win.

Thanks for replying. Trying to stand my ground, as I think it's dreadful how people get treated when in debt - regardless of how they do get there; people need help for example, not unfairness when in this situation - but sometimes I give an inch with 'doubt'. Had another scare today, something turned up about to the blue left me thinking despairingly 'what??? how can you expect me to do that if I only received the bill today??' That sort of thing. I would swear all of these letters come from a central point somewhere as they seem to arrive same day. What usually happens is I seem them, though I do know what they are about of course eg worded, fly about worring for an hour over the confusing nature of it all, then come down again later. Just how I am.

Agree with the manoeuvering.

Sometimes I just want to stop fighting for myself and anyone else who has been wronged. But I know I must persist against the tidal wave, even if it changes something very small in that flow it makes a bigger change later on. This week in hospital, for example, listening to the conversations around me I wanted to help put those things right for those people because it was ever so wrong. I may one day, what I am working towards right now. Just made me want to fight for those people, their situations even more. Sorry for waffling.

I_luv_cats

"Barclays" were like hound dogs to me!! Ringing me daily until I sent them a letter referring to harassment and they stopped ringing but more letters.

I was living on less than 50.00 a week and common sense should prevail about repayment!!! In the end I went BR as I was exhausted with them / others!!!

Keeping paying them what you can afford.

I don't believe in all this CCA nonsense as you know you owe them the Money!!!

Fire_Fox

Merlinexcalibur wrote: »

Sometimes I just want to stop fighting for myself and anyone else who has been wronged. But I know I must persist against the tidal wave, even if it changes something very small in that flow it makes a bigger change later on. This week in hospital, for example, listening to the conversations around me I wanted to help put those things right for those people because it was ever so wrong. I may one day, what I am working towards right now. Just made me want to fight for those people, their situations even more. Sorry for waffling.

That's a completely natural response, as you'll know from reading this board. This whole debt thing is really a game to the big companies, except to you and I it's our life on the line. There are rules (laws!), but creditors don't want to play by them - they play dirty tricks to frighten us into submission. :eek:

That doesn't mean you cannot keep calm, and carry on playing by the official rules. This website is one of the most popular forums on the net - I think in the top ten - so it's just as mighty as your corporate opponents. You also have various charities and the strong arm of the law on your side, tho they may not be standing shoulder to shoulder with you every step of the way. You don't have to 'fight', you can play the game serenely and stick to the tactics you started out with. You will get scared, stressed but they don't need to know that! :cool:

Nargleblast

Merlin - sounds like you need to threaten them with the Financial Services Ombudsman if you haven't done so already. You can raise a complaint with them online if you go to their website. I can't say if it will do any good but if the Ombudsman receives a complaint they will write to Barclays who will be forced to address the issue. It is all very tedious, like banging your head against a brick wall - either they are thick as two short planks or they do this deliberately to try and wear you down. Stand your ground, you are already doing all that you can and no court in the land can make you pay more than you physically have. As Firefox said, be serene and like the swan - calm on the surface but pedalling like fury beneath! And you are more than welcome to let off steam and have a good !!!!! about them on here.

Merlinexcalibur

Hi, just got back in. Thanks for replying. Will keep paying the £5. If they start getting heavy, will come back here for further advice.

DRO is something I am considering (been over in BR board most of this week, why haven't been on here a lot) but I need to first see the process in action. In order not to become a 'casualty' of rushing into something without getting the facts first.

It's the game playing I don't like about these companies. And how it affects other people more than anything. Just makes me so mad at times.

Bismarck

unfortunately they're like programmed machines, there may be a human element in there until they can successfully replicate a human voice at all levels, until then it's a faceless, merciless automaton.

as you say, don't rush into anything, consult on here at every opportunity and try not to take it personally.

Deep_In_Debt

B/C were hell with me for nearly 6 months when I first started my dmp with CCCS last year. They even sent a doorstep collector. However, since his visit (he got told to b*gger off by the way) I've not heard from them since and they accepted my dmp. That was June last year.

I reminded them also that they had sent me a totally unenforceable CCA but I am still paying them despite that.

Also, I'm sure their constant calls (up to 6 times a day, at work, on my mobile and at home) were costing them more than the money I owed them as they just left messages each time. They even tried to get crafty and sent me text messages in a sort of "matey" way asking me to call "so & so" on this number for a chat. Since I didn't know "so & so" I didn't particularly want to ring up for a chat. They must have thought I was born yesterday!

They were also one of my creditors who recommended I contact CCCS when I rang them to tell them I was in difficulty as they would accept their proposals....??!!

As others have said, stand your ground with them. It is hard work but you'll get there in the end. I ground them down as they tried to grind me down but it didn't work.

Good luck.

eira

1)I have had trouble with Barclays for years-they have lost my account nos etc
2) Mercers is Barclays- I paid a totally crooked company with my BC-so crooked that they were investigated by Watchdog/the DTI/Interpol and the Fraud Squad.Whilst this was goiing on my ex cut the maintenance owed completely so I was unable to keep up payments and went on an agreement. I sent BC a package of documents to their Liverpool office-even had a named employee dealing with it-they lost them (so they claimed ).
3) Mercers disclaimed all responsibilty and threatened me with court etc , being on my own with 2 kids I paid up a minimum amount because-to be honest-they were so threatning.It wasn't until 2 years ago that the knives came out again and a dreadful woman on the phone said that it had been Barclays all along that had been dealing with the account !! nThey tried to sell me on to Lowells but couldn't provide any correct documentation sp agreed to keep the debt ! Still none the wiser.Dreadful-they say that Section 75 doesn't apply.
As a rider I should add that the company in question tried to re register again with Companies House-I complained-they went bust again.The average loss of customers of this company was £30-40000 ( I 'just'lost £5000 in total) BC basically just pass you round from office to office hopimng you'll either get too frightened or too weary to argue