Barclays - Reserve Usage Fees - Can I reclaim these?

Delboy24

Barclays have charged me a lot in reserve usage fees £22 per time, as I have never been out of my overdraft for 2 years I was told it would be more cost effective to have it when it first came into existence..!!! I have since been told I would have no choice to leave it and not cancel it as I was over my limit of agreed overdraft anyway so would not be allowed unless I cleared the difference to bring it back in line with my agreed overdraft - monies I dont have!

This was all some months ago, have decided to claim all charges back under hardship as now on a dmp so think i would qualify - can i reclaim these "reserve usage fees" or have barclays found some legal workaround to not have these included?

Barclays as a note are included in my DMP.

Thanks

natweststaffmember

Delboy24 wrote: »

Barclays have charged me a lot in reserve usage fees £22 per time, as I have never been out of my overdraft for 2 years I was told it would be more cost effective to have it when it first came into existence..!!! I have since been told I would have no choice to leave it and not cancel it as I was over my limit of agreed overdraft anyway so would not be allowed unless I cleared the difference to bring it back in line with my agreed overdraft - monies I dont have!

This was all some months ago, have decided to claim all charges back under hardship as now on a dmp so think i would qualify - can i reclaim these "reserve usage fees" or have barclays found some legal workaround to not have these included?

Barclays as a note are included in my DMP.

Thanks

The answer is yes you can claim these back in spite of what they might say to the contrary. Furthermore, I would ask them to remove the reserve from your account. Be firm with them on that.

Delboy24

Thanks appreciate the advice. Would you know what type of "additional" charges should I expect in comparrison to not having the additional reserve there?

natweststaffmember

Delboy24 wrote: »

Thanks appreciate the advice. Would you know what type of "additional" charges should I expect in comparrison to not having the additional reserve there?

£8 for returned items without the additional £22 charges.

Trogglodyfae

I also have a problem with the reserve usage charges. I have lived in Spain for 10 years and did not keep much money in the Barclays account but often transferred money from my mothers Barclays account into my own so I could withdrawn money for her from the ATM. I was not made aware of the reserve usage charges as I used online banking, and had applied for the pin sentry and they managed to send the pin sentry machine to my old address in the UK which should have been changed on their records some 8 years before. This effectively blocked me out of the online banking whilst they corrected their error and sent the machine to my registered address in Spain

The upshot of this was I was not aware that I had been allowed to become overdrawn by £1.48 some months previously and the reserve usage charges had been applied. They have continued to apply these despite the fact I have been writing stating my case, asking them to remove the reserve usuage facility and the charges as I would never have elected to have this on my account. I have not paid the charges and they are threatening to take me to court, and obviously this will greatly damage my credit rating when I return to the UK in September.

Sorry this is a bit long winded but I would really appreciate some advice as to how to proceed with this, as my account has never been overdrawn in all the years I have had it.

TIA

natweststaffmember

have you received a response yet?

kickintheteeth

natweststaffmember wrote: »

£8 for returned items without the additional £22 charges.

at the moment allaince & leister are doing a great deal if you switch to them. you get 0% on overdrafts for the first 12 months + you also pay no fees for the first 12 months as well.
you must switch your direct debits over and pay in a minimum of £500 per month (it dosn't matter the whole of this amount is payed out by bills)
after the 12 months you will be charged a max of £5 a month for being overdrawn (not sure if this is if you go over your overdraft limit or on any amount of overdraft) so before the 12 months is up it might be wise to see if you can switch again.

natweststaffmember

kickintheteeth wrote: »

at the moment allaince & leister are doing a great deal if you switch to them. you get 0% on overdrafts for the first 12 months + you also pay no fees for the first 12 months as well.
you must switch your direct debits over and pay in a minimum of £500 per month (it dosn't matter the whole of this amount is payed out by bills)
after the 12 months you will be charged a max of £5 a month for being overdrawn (not sure if this is if you go over your overdraft limit or on any amount of overdraft) so before the 12 months is up it might be wise to see if you can switch again.

Have you got a link to their terms and conditions on this one as I would be interested to read them?

kickintheteeth

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Have you got a link to their terms and conditions on this one as I would be interested to read them?

no but it is the premier current account, you can look it up on the website.
i didn't close my account with barclays, just incase they start charging me on my agreed £100 overdraft when the 12 months 0% is up.:A

kickintheteeth

kickintheteeth wrote: »

no but it is the premier current account, you can look it up on the website.
i didn't close my account with barclays, just incase they start charging me on my agreed £100 overdraft when the 12 months 0% is up.:A

and at the time that i joined, as long as i paid £500 into my account by the 11 week (and every month after that) i get £100 cashback.

unfortunatly this offer has stopped now.

natweststaffmember

kickintheteeth wrote: »

and at the time that i joined, as long as i paid £500 into my account by the 11 week (and every month after that) i get £100 cashback.

unfortunatly this offer has stopped now.

We are not talking about arranged overdrafts since the Reserve Useage Fee to quote the correct terminology Barclays use is for an excess on the account. Misread perhaps?