Barclays - partial success - advice please..

computer_says_no

Hi All,

I have been trying to claim back unpaid charges and unauthorised overdraft charges for a short while. I have had some partial success but would like some advice on how to finish the job please.. A brief history is below..

Held Woolwich acount for 4 years which turned to a Barclays acount for the last 2 years (6 years in total). I had around £6000 of charges at Woolwich and around £2400 at Barclays. After requesting and receiving a charge statement i decided it was only fair to ask for the Barclays charges back, not including interest, as Barclays had not owned woolwich for the previous four years and I had not paid interest on the charges so thought it fair to only claim for what is right.. the charge statement did not show all of the charges though - a bit naughty.. for instance I had several guaranteed payment charges that were not on the list.. Anyway, in total I went for £2400, a quarter of the total i could claim for..

Since then I have taken a 10% reduction at work, as have all the staff, due to the economy.

I wrote a letter to Barclays using the template on Money Saving Expert. I tool this to my local branch who faxed it to the head office along with a note on the internal computer system.

I received a letter from Barclays saying that they had received my complaint about reserve usage fees and that they could not take this any further as i knew what fees i would be charged when i took up the reserve.. I had not made a complaint about this.

I called the office to tell them that they had not read my letter, they agreed and said it would be a further week or two before anyone comes back. they came back, again saying they cannot pay reserved charges - I explained that, again, they had not read my letter the second time. Another few weeks went by..

Finally someone read my letter and sent me a budget statement form. i filled this in, very depressing to see minus figures everywhere. I sent this back right away.

Low and behold a couple of weeks later i had a letter saying that they had considered my claim and, i quote "having reviewed the information available, I confirm I HAVE ACCEPTED your claim of financial difficulty which will be paid as detailed below.. I confirm the sum of £590.00 will be transferred to your account xxxxxxxx today as a gesture of goodwill. I HAVE NOW CLOSED YOUR FINANCIAL DIFFUCULTY CLAIM"

It then goes on about speaking to debt advisors or reading the handy debt leaflet (very patronising leaflet and does not meniton once anythign about budgeting for daylight robbery bank charges). They realy think that people have bad finances out of choice?

anyway, further down the letter it goes on to say "your complaint regarding bank charges will be dealt with once the legal proceedings between the banks and the office of fair trading are concluded, your ref is xxxxxx. In the event that we are ordered whether by a court or regulatory body or otherwise to make any payment in respect of your complaint, such payment will be made net of the gesture of goodwill payment we are now making"

so, £590.00 sounds good right? yes it does, but, its not enough to get me out of debt, and its only a 25% of what I calimed for, bearing in mind i had already told the banks that my claim was indeed 25% of a larger amount that i could claim for, in the end £590.00 after admitting liability on something worth around a potential £8000 is not much at all..

What do i do now?

I called the bank to see if they can negotiate but they said their hands are tied, even though they closed the claim without consulting me, yet at the same time are saying it is still open and could be paid out. In my mind that fact that they said they admit liabilty means they should pay it all. Its not a gesture of goodwill, a gesture of goodwill is something you do when you are in the right and being kind, when you are in the wrong you pay back what you owe.

The bank wont help, they wont negotiate (I negotiate for a living, its what i do, and i tell you, they wont negotiate). I cant negotiate with a computer. I even asked if they can help me out, knowing that they have admitted I am in this state becuase of them.. Maybe give me an official reducing overdraft as I know these are dished out on the way the account is run,, beairng in mind mine is run badly as a result of a claim that Barclays have admitted liability on.. But no, "you can fill out a form sir and see what happens". I dont want a form, i want to talk to a person who can listen, understand and help, not someone who will daydream about what company car they are getting next when i talk as they know they are only going to turn around after and say "i know, yes, i understand, why don't you fill out this form and see what happens" and then watch me as i bang my head on the desk in disbelief. Is it too much to ask for an official overdraft from a company that has admitted they owe me more money than they have paid me?

The main point is though, frustrations and grievances aside - how do i get the rest, or even some more of this claim. they have admitted they are wrong, and yet they pay me 25% of my claim, which, again, is 25% of a possible higher amount.

How do i get them to listen, what is the magic word? Is it Ombudsman?

I was hoping to negotiate, even to meet 50/50 would be a result, but they wont even listen..

Surely it is in their interest too, as, if the banks are told to pay the claims in full, well, an eye for an eye, they want to give me as little as possible so i will take as much as possible and get the full 6 years back! I am trying to do them a favour as this will be more costly for them in the long run..

Anyway, ranting now and going off the track..

What do I do, what do I say, what is the magic word, how do i get more back from them knowing that they have admitted they are wrong and they owe me!

Seems crazy to even have to be asking this but then we live in a world now where being wrong makes you right. breaking the law gives you a better life style than those of the hard working poor, opting to lay about all day drinking gets you a fun, carefree lifestyle too and admitting you have wrongfully taken someones money gives you the right to not give it back.

Any ideas or experience is welcome.. Please..

many thanks for listening and sorry for any bad spelling or bad grammer, is the last thing in my mind at the moment.. Oh, and, just to make it clear, I have not ranted at the banks or staff and have been very polite, clear and courteous.. Unfortunately its you guys who have had to listen to the frustrations.. Sorry for that

Thanks in advance for your experience..
Mr B

natweststaffmember

Very long post(never good to do but ok in the morning cos I am not good in the evenings ).
Do you have priority debt arrears(mortgage/rent, council tax, utilities)?
How much does £590.00 clear?
Have you cancelled the Reserve?

They didn;t admit liability, btw, they gave a gesture of goodwill payment

computer_says_no

Hi there,

thank you for the reply and sorry for the long note :P got a bit carried away and tried to give as much info as possible.. I thought that them saying they had accepted the claim was an admission? like £10 to £100 is a good will gesture usually, £590 is a lot for a goodwill gesture?

Either way.. Yes I owe council tax and court payments. Purely as I cannot afford them after paying charges each month. without the charges I would be just about okay. £590 does not get me back level again, the thing is, each month my rent bounces as the fines go onto the account in one hit just before payday, all at once. this then bounces the rent. I then start to collect fines again at the start of each month ready to go on at the end. I have to get payday loans each month to cover the rent. First was £50, then after paying back £100 i then needed £150 the next month and so on and so forth. Not ideal but I dont have any other options. I know it is not great but a genuine overdraft would help me a lot, even a reducing one. But i cannot get one becuase of the fines on the account.. So in short the £590 got swallowed instantly paying everything back and i am back where i started.

reserve is still there, I am stuck with it. cant live with it, but at the same time cannot afford the loss i would have the month after I close it. Its the lesser of two evils. If i keep the reserve i get £150 minues £100 a month charges on it. If I close it i dont get the £100 charges but am £50 down for one month, not much but a lot when you are then £50 - £150 short for paying the bills and end up bouncing them again and starting the cycle again..

Really, really stuck here.. I live alone which does not help, would be nice to share the bills, then i would have around £500 or £600 a month spare..

Ideally money to clear the arrears and the monthly loans and the upcoming charges annnd the reserve would set me straight and enable me to close the reserve and start again on the level.. I am not doing this for profit, I just want to break even one month to start clean.

Thanks again (got long again, sorry)

Hippocampus

Can you not just open a basic account elsewhere and have all your income go into there?

Tell Barclays to gt take a flying, and if they want to chase you for charges, it will have to be in court? Where, of course, they will have no intention of going until after the test case is resolved.

It will maybe give you a breathing space, because quite frankly, pay day loans will cripple you for life if you don't break the cycle right now.

esmerellda

I agree with Hipopocampus in the main, open an account elsewhere and start afresh.

However I know the banks WILL try and take you to court because they count on court forms scaring poo out of people and they don't attend/defend, so I would ditch Barclays then if theres an overdraft sitting on it send them an in dispute letter but also offer to repay the debt at an affordable amount each month (like £10) and ask them to freeze interest and charges, until the end of the test case when you can sort out either them refunding the whole lot or a more formal repayment plan (should we lose). Just staves off hassle from DCAs and future court claims while the wait is on.

Avoid payday loans.

computer_says_no

Thank you to all of you for your replies and sorry for such a late reply on my behalf.

I would not feel right to open an account elsewhere as there would be a clause in my Barclay account that a certain amount of cash should enter it each month. if it does not enter then they may close it, which renders the claim void.

But, there is a query! I am in a state of genuine financial hardship, which the bank know ie: pay cut, well over £500 a year in charges and living off credit with interest.. I have heard that claims with financial hardship are not put on hold? If this is the case then why is mine on hold?

Any Ideas?? I am hoping that Natweststaffmember will read this, that's one very informed poster..

Many thanks to all

natweststaffmember

computer_says_no wrote: »

Thank you to all of you for your replies and sorry for such a late reply on my behalf.

I would not feel right to open an account elsewhere as there would be a clause in my Barclay account that a certain amount of cash should enter it each month. if it does not enter then they may close it, which renders the claim void
There is no such rule. Unless you opened the account on "special terms" ie you got interest at x% for paying in a certain amount each month then that is not right. The claim is only void if you stop doing it and does not affect it by the account being opened or closed. Don't let the size of the bank stop you from doing what in the long term will be the right thing for you. They have walked over you like a carpet for so long. I think it's time you stood up, right?

But, there is a query! I am in a state of genuine financial hardship, which the bank know ie: pay cut, well over £500 a year in charges and living off credit with interest.. I have heard that claims with financial hardship are not put on hold? If this is the case then why is mine on hold?
Banks assess claimants for financial hardship which normally means priority debt arrears (mortgage/rent, council tax, utilities) but even under financial hardship they do not have to refund even 1p of a claim.
Any Ideas?? I am hoping that Natweststaffmember will read this, that's one very informed poster..

Many thanks to all

Esmerellda is someone I know and trust as is hippocampus(now i have worked out who they are ). Normally where I don't post further, is usually because I may agree with the advice given and therefore means that they need to be listened to .
Keep you eye out for both of them and a few others I could mention but we could be here all night,