Help re Barclays and Reserve Usage fees

youngladyindebt

I have received my list of charges from Barclays today for past 6 years. I note they fail to include the horrendous £22 reserve fee in their default charges, which would form the majority of my claim as I am in financial hardship, have no income and the fees just mounted up.

I would be greatful if anyone could enlighten me with the legalities of this 'charge/fee'?

Many thanks in advance.

Andyluke2

Hi younglady,

I recently wrote to Barclays and requested the return of bank charges. Barclays changed their "charges for overdraft borrowing" on 18/08/08 to the "Personal Reserve" - its a new charge and one that they claim is not thw same as the previous charges.

Personally I have calculated all charges prior to this date and submitted that request - knowing that the charges are on hold and that I am in the queue waiting for the test case. There are template letters for you to use if you are claiming financial hardship on this website.

I will on result of the test case submit another request for the charges on the Reserve and I will see what happens. The £22 is still above the recommended £13, so wil always be worth a try.

I am sorry that I cannot enlighten you further on the legalities, but I wish you luck. :money:

youngladyindebt

Thank you Andyluke for that. Do you know whether the test case is looking at these £22 charges?

natweststaffmember

Andyluke2 wrote: »

Hi younglady,

I recently wrote to Barclays and requested the return of bank charges. Barclays changed their "charges for overdraft borrowing" on 18/08/08 to the "Personal Reserve" - its a new charge and one that they claim is not thw same as the previous charges.

Personally I have calculated all charges prior to this date and submitted that request - knowing that the charges are on hold and that I am in the queue waiting for the test case. There are template letters for you to use if you are claiming financial hardship on this website.

I will on result of the test case submit another request for the charges on the Reserve and I will see what happens. The £22 is still above the recommended £13, so wil always be worth a try.

I am sorry that I cannot enlighten you further on the legalities, but I wish you luck. :money:

There is no such recommended level on bank charges so please do not confuse credit card complaints with bank charges complaints. To clarify the £12 issues

"Only a court can decide finally whether a term is unfair, or at what level default charges should be set to meet the requirements of the UTCCRs. It should be kept in mind that other enforcers may apply for injunctions under the UTCCRs and that the UTCCRs may be relied upon by consumers in private claims."

OFT 842 April 2006.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/publications/guidance/unfair-terms-consumer/
You can read the whole thing here. Barclays have claimed their fees are fair yet they have not been tested in a Court of Law.

lazza_w

I've just been to Barclays today to arrange overdrafts on my current accounts following reserve fees this month, due to slight errors on my part (I paid off a credit card but forgot that they would also take the minimum payment DD so ended up £45 overdrawn for <24h costing me a pricely £22).

I had a bit of of moan about the reserve useage fees and I was told by the personal banker that they were agreed with the ombudsman as an alternative to the old £35 fee they used to charge so I suspect that they're entirely legal. It's bad news on 2 fronts then - you can't reclaim them as unfair, as you agreed to the fees and the ombudsman views them as fair charges PLUS as it's an agreed fee yoru personal banker can't waive them at their discretion if you talk to them. They've found a loophole by changing it from a charge to a pre-agreed fee for allowing you to be overdrawn to a set limit

For the future the best thing to do is to cancel the reserve fee and get an agreed overdraft on the accounts. If you do go overdrawn then you just have to pay the 17.9% APR on a daily bases rather than the set amount of £22. If you go into an unagreed overdraft then they currently change £8.00 but you can then try sweet-talking your personal banker to see if they'll remove the fee.

natweststaffmember

lazza_w wrote: »

I've just been to Barclays today to arrange overdrafts on my current accounts following reserve fees this month, due to slight errors on my part (I paid off a credit card but forgot that they would also take the minimum payment DD so ended up £45 overdrawn for <24h costing me a pricely £22).

I had a bit of of moan about the reserve useage fees and I was told by the personal banker that they were agreed with the ombudsman as an alternative to the old £35 fee they used to charge so I suspect that they're entirely legal. It's bad news on 2 fronts then - you can't reclaim them as unfair, as you agreed to the fees and the ombudsman views them as fair charges PLUS as it's an agreed fee yoru personal banker can't waive them at their discretion if you talk to them. They've found a loophole by changing it from a charge to a pre-agreed fee for allowing you to be overdrawn to a set limit
Only a court can decide on a fair amount and the FOS are not a court of law. I assume this is the patter that Barclays have fed their staff. Ombudsman is not a court of law. Such crap from them.

For the future the best thing to do is to cancel the reserve fee and get an agreed overdraft on the accounts. If you do go overdrawn then you just have to pay the 17.9% APR on a daily bases rather than the set amount of £22. If you go into an unagreed overdraft then they currently change £8.00 but you can then try sweet-talking your personal banker to see if they'll remove the fee.

I do agree with that last paragraph, get rid of the reserve.

RGF1

In addition to and agreed overdraft of £400, the interest for which I am quite happy to pay I was given a £100 Personal Reserve. Last week through sheer oversight I exceeded this limit by £9.94 foe which I am being charged £22. A lengthy phone call where I indicated that I would seek legal advice claiming illegality resulted in nothing. Any advice please on how I can now rpoceed, Many thanks

natweststaffmember

RGF1 wrote: »

In addition to and agreed overdraft of £400, the interest for which I am quite happy to pay I was given a £100 Personal Reserve. Last week through sheer oversight I exceeded this limit by £9.94 foe which I am being charged £22. A lengthy phone call where I indicated that I would seek legal advice claiming illegality resulted in nothing. Any advice please on how I can now proceed, Many thanks

Start the process of reclaiming your charges and get rid of the personal reserve from your account, cos it will save you £22.