barclays guaranteed transaction fee

willo65

chrisguy wrote: »

ive edited you post

Ok, It sounds like barclays have ear mrked the money for the pizza store and then it has been made available to g/f again when they didn't claim within a set time period. Your gf didn't realise this and inadvertently spend the money again so when it was claimed there was no funds available hence the charge.

Extant

never-in-doubt wrote: »

Maybe the bank should be efficient enough to send the ruddy letters in the first place!

We are, but it's not our fault if people don't read them or throw them away.

chrisguy_2

no she dont touch the money that has been marked for the pizza yet she still gets charged

novagirl

I think your girlfriend needs to speak to bank to see what is going on then if that is the case. Hard to see what is going on without seeing the statement in front of you but any member of staff will be able to help her with sorting the problem out.

chrisguy_2

all the bank says is its a guaranteed fee and it cant be refunded its like talking to a brick wall

StAnToN_2

chrisguy wrote: »

all the bank says is its a guaranteed fee and it cant be refunded its like talking to a brick wall

Why should Barclays refund a fee for a service that you have used?

chrisguy_2

StAnToN wrote: »

Why should Barclays refund a fee for a service that you have used?

EXAMPLE

SHE HAS £40 IN ACCOUNT BUYS STUFF FOR £10 THEN SPENDS £8 THEN SPENDS £10 THEN SPENDS £12 BALANCE IS THEN £0
THEN GETS LETTER SAYING THAT SHE HAS GOT 3 £8 CHARGES WHICH = £24 YET MONEY WAS THERE FOR WHAT SHE BROUGHT

THE STATMENT I HAVE DOES NOT SHOW THE BALANCE GOING IN THE RED OR ANY OTHER REASON WHY THEY SHOULD CHARGE £8

ALL BARCLAYS SAYS IS ITS A GUARANTEED TRANSACTION FEE EVEN THOU THE MONEY IS IN THERE THEY STILL TAKE £8
LAST MONTH THEY TOOK £40 THIS MONTH THEY WANT TO TAKE £64

SHE BUYS STUFF WITH HER CARD THEY FLAG IT THEN DEFLAG IT THEN CHARGE HER £8 EVEN THOU SHE DONT TOUCH THAT MONEY I HAVE TRYED TO TALK TO THEM BUT IT IS LIKE BANGING MY HEAD AGAINST A BRICK WALL :mad::mad:

willo65

chrisguy could you ask them to explain why the charges have occured(sp)? It could be if you have a cheque thats been paid in but hasn't cleared at the time of the transactions?

Mightyowl

I recieved a letter from Barclays saying the same thing, i paid for something online a couple of weeks ago and for some reason the transaction when processed created something called a phantom payment, so Barclays took the amount from my account and put it aside as a pending transaction which put me overdrawn. I rang Barclays and asked what the hell is happening to which i got a reply from 3 Barclays employees saying we don't know why this has happened.

I then recieved the letter a week later stating they would be taking £8 for the guaranteed transaction, do i still have to pay this as Barclays have now placed the amount back into my account?

philoz14

I've had this exact same problem. I did get an explanation from Barclays and, once they had explained, I could see how the charges had come about ... however, I still think the way they are calculated is very confusing and almost DESIGNED to cause confusion so that they can make more charges.

This is quite a long account but I'm putting it here because I'm hoping it will help some people understand how the charges are calculated and help you to avoid making the same mistake I did!

Mine went something like this:

On 5th January I had £63.27 in my account.

On that same day three separate bill payments were cleared for Carphone Warehouse: £31.85, 123-reg.co.uk: £7.03 and HostingZoom: £16.06 totalling £54.94 ... now when I say cleared I mean they had been "earmarked" but the money hadn't actually been taken. I also bought something on Paypal that day for 96p so my actual balance was showing as £62.31 but my CLEARED balance (after deducting the earmarked money) was £7.37.

Now the next day, 6th January, I paid my gas, water and electric and did some shopping in the COOP (£47.51) and in the Spar (£12.29) ... this meant my actual balance was £2.51 ... but my CLEARED balance was -£52.43 and I only have an overdraft of £50 so I got charged £8.00 for the payment to Spar.

Next day, 7th January, two of the original payments, Carphone Warehouse and 123-reg.co.uk, were finally taken, but the £16.06 for HostingZoom was still "earmarked" and I only had £2.51 in the bank, which means my actual balance was -£36.37 (within my £50 overdraft) but my CLEARED balance was still -£52.43 and I got charged another £8.00 for the payment to 123-reg.co.uk which was the one that took my cleared balance over the limit.

Yes, that's right, my cleared balance did not change between 6th January and 7th January, it was still exactly the same at -£52.43, but the Carphone Warehouse and 123-reg.co.uk payments had both changed status from just being "earmarked" payments to being actual payments. So for the purposes of calculated the "Guaranteed Transaction Fees" they were like new payments against the account and the second one was counted as taking me over my sufficient cleared funds and incurred the £8.00 charge.

Finally, on 8th January, I bought a bus pass online for £4 which took my actual balance further into my overdraft at -£40.37 so when the HostingZoom payment was finally taken (after being earmarked since the 5th!) it took my ACTUAL balance to -£56.37 incurring an additional £8.00 fee.

Now by the close of business on 8th January I had £400 wages paid into my account bringing the actual balance back up to £343.63 ... so looking at the ACTUAL balance at CLOSE OF BUSINESS for each day I never once went over my overdraft limit ... but because of the system of earmarking and clearing amounts without actually taking them out of your account, and because they clear payments against LAST NIGHT'S cleared balance, not what you have at the close of business tonight, my CLEARED balance showed insufficient cleared funds for 3 days running and incurred me those £8.00 charges.

This is where I can SEE how they've calculated it ... it would be very difficult for me to argue it or to claim back the charges ... but I still believe it to inherently be incredibly unfair, illogical and just another way for the bank to screw you over for every penny you've got ... and it's also taught me that I need to pay a lot more attention to the difference between my BALANCE and my CLEARED BALANCE!

I always thought the charges were not incurred until your actual balance went over it's limit and so, I wouldn't have been happy, but I would have put up with paying one £8.00 fee for the HostingZoom payment on the 8th January. However, now that I understand that the fees are incurred when your CLEARED FUNDS go over your limit I realise I need to keep a much closer eye on things. I don't believe this was ever fully explained to me and could be my one chance of reclaiming the charges!