Barclaycard taken old debt direct from my account!!

Nipper78

Kev, your quite right, whether its imoral or not is possibly to an extent an individual view and this shouldnt go down that line for that reason. However to have had no contact with you over years to update as to what they want, whats going on, what the amount is, what the fees are, what it will be over time, to enable resolve, theres no excuse for that. So tbh I think it is imoral to just randomly take it from the account, with no warning at all years later its very dodgey and could have devastating effects on some people, all un-necessary.

Its quite simple, banks usually contact customers as soon as they go over there overdraft limits, and all sorts of things alike, thats a basic minimum thing they do, and here theyve had no contact over years, so how are you supposed to resolve, or begin to repay over time? Its ridiculous. If someone is saying this is ok, then theyre too opening the gates to banks not having to contact people at all when they face charges and things on theyre account, and that they can have no contact over years, then randomly after years of no contact and no warning, slam a huge fee, take a huge amount out of the account, do it when they please with an amount only they know. Thats an interesting, and somewhat controversial viewpoint.

queenbeeno1

Just wondered how many people writing on this thread work for banks? some seem a little biased towards them rather than us ordinary consumers. Reading the orginal thread it is clear that the bank should not have just taken this money. The money is not the banks it belongs to the account holder and the bank is holding it in safe keeping. Did some people forget this???? Yes Debts should be paid but just because the bank has lent money to you does not mean it has automatic right to start taking money out of other accounts you hold with them. How many people would be happy if their mortgage company decided just to take the full amount of their mortage out of their current or saving account. Not many I guess. Ok I am being a bit silly but the fact is a repayment schedule has to be agreed and this does not appear to have happened and that is not Legal or right. we should all be appalled by this and being new to this site I am shocked at how many people are standing on the side of the fat cat financial institutions. Kevin Phillips all good to you, you make sound sense to me.

chickmeistergeneral

HI everyone

Thanks for the constructive advice. Just to make things a little clearer. My mother did have intentions of paying the debt back. She contacted Barclays who said that Barclaycard where a different company so they could not help her with a query.

On contacting Barclaycard they told her as the debt had been 'sold on' that she could not pay them anything towards it.

She got in touch with a debt collector handling the debt who arranged a door payment weekly. The person never came back, and after a few weeks she called a number given to her by them, and they said they where no longer handling the case. She did try to pay, she didnt expect it to disapear, but its hard when barclaycard say they dont want the money, and the debt agency dont seem to have a clue. Also im sure a few people have let things slip when things are 'out of sight' so to speak, not everyone is perfect, and being a single mother of 4, this was not the first most important thing on her mind, although this is not ment as an excuse for letting the card go into default.

She had never arranged to pay the card through direct debit so there was never a mandate signed, and the thread title has not been changed.

My mother has tried to speak with barclays and barclaycard who are telling her there is no one to speak to until Tuesday and there is also no reference number on the transaction, just an inital and surname of the person who collected the money.

My mother is going to speak to the CAB to try and sort this out, as we are not confident that barclays or barclaycard will help, as they are just a little biased here.

A few people seem to think i was asking for some sort of moral response on whether the debt should of been paid or not, this wasnt an issue or a question. I just thought this forum would be good to find out if this was a new term or condition on credit cards, as we no longer have the original terms and conditions from 5 years ago to refer to as im sure they change over the years. We wgere extremely shocked that this has happened but i didnt know who else to ask if this was allowed or not.

Im i right in thinking that the terms and conditions my mother signed years ago are the only ones that she be held accountable for and not new ones put in place since? Im thinking this proceedure may be in place now, but was it 5 years ago?

Sorry for such a long response, but i thought it best to try and put some more information so people didnt have to assume.

Thanks for replying and thanks for the links, ill keep you posted on how this goes!



Thanks for the great advice from the majority of replies,

Alfie_E

Firstly, Barclaycard is not a separate company. Barclaycard is merely a trading name of Barclays Bank PLC. If they were two separate companies, it would need an explicit term in the T&Cs of the bank account to allow Barclaycard to set-off (take money) using the Barclays bank account. Any subsequent changes to the Barclaycard T&Cs aren’t really relevant as the Barclaycard account has been closed and the money was taken from your Barclays bank account.

It’s important that your mum find out what happened to the original debt. If the debt was sold on to a company that’s not part of Barclays, it seems that Barclays have acted illegally. Your mum should look to see if she still has any original paperwork from the debt collector. If the debt collector owns the debt, Barclays can’t take money on their behalf. And, why would they want to, as they already have all the money they are going to get when they sold the debt to the debt collector? It’s starting to look more like a cоck up by a Barclays employee, trying to correct a problem on an old account, without sufficient investigation. On Tuesday, I think your mum should insist Barclays immediately return of all the money. If they need time to investigate, she should insist on the money back while they do it.

chickmeistergeneral

Hi

I thought id give a brief update on whats happening.

My mother spoke to barclaycard this morning, they said they are well within their rights to do this. They first said they had tried to contact my mum by telephone, and left a message regarding this matter last year. After my mum basically calling him a liar as he didnt even have a telephone number on file, He then said he had just found a copy of the letter he had sent to her in Feb 2005. She never got a letter.

My mother spoke to barclays who said that they were allowed to transfer money over to barclaycard, and she has also spoken to 2 people from the CAB who are saying the same. The said they have heard of this happening quite a bit now.

My mother wants to disbute the charges but doesnt know how to go about this, because barclays and barclaycard are not listening to her complaint.

We are not sure where to go on this. CAB didnt give her much more assistance over this so its looking like there isnt any chance of her getting the money back while she disputes the charges.

Thanks for replying, if anyone feels they know of more we can do, please let me know.

I dont really need to hear any ' i told you so' comments from some of the 'few' board members who feel the need. Im sure the forum is not really about patronising people.

Thanks again!

The_Boss

I guess you need the ombudsman, but, without wanting to sound rude (and not in a 'told you so' kind of way), since this is within their terms and conditions and your mother was at fault, I'm not sure how much he could do for you. But give it a go.

xela_17

What the OP has been told by Barclays and the CAB is quite correct (that Barclays can pay off a Barclaycard by taking money from a Barclays current account). Over on the DFW Board there are lots of incidences of people saying this has happened to them (maybe do a search on there, OP for similar experiences). This is why when someone has debt problems and signs up with payplan or cccs, the first thing they do is tell you to close any accounts you have with your debters and open one with a different bank. It's unfortunate that this is not more widely known and the OP's mother has so been caught out.

Apple_2

chickmeistergeneral wrote:

Hi
My mother wants to disbute the charges but doesnt know how to go about this, because barclays and barclaycard are not listening to her complaint.

We are not sure where to go on this. CAB didnt give her much more assistance over this so its looking like there isnt any chance of her getting the money back while she disputes the charges.

Hi chick

Yes it is common. First rule of anyone dealing with debt is open an account which is not connected with the debtor because they will take the money out of any account they can access. Oh well, too late now.

Yes the initial debt will be increased by the many charges and interest they will have levied on it over the period it was outstanding. Go to : http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/ which is a site dedicated to the recovery of bank/credit card charges. It explains on a step by step basis how to get the charges back, starting with a DPA letter & £ 10 which FORCES the bank/credit card to disclose all info over a six year period. Have a read through - all it not lost ( though the actual 'real' debt your mum owed B/Card is dead/repaid ).

Josie64

chickmeistergeneral wrote:

Hi

I thought id give a brief update on whats happening.

My mother spoke to barclaycard this morning, they said they are well within their rights to do this. They first said they had tried to contact my mum by telephone, and left a message regarding this matter last year. After my mum basically calling him a liar as he didnt even have a telephone number on file, He then said he had just found a copy of the letter he had sent to her in Feb 2005. She never got a letter.

ask Barclaycard for another copy of the letter Feb 2005, which was supposedly sent by Barlcaycard , (they keep 'missing' out my statements and then send letters taking my c/card to a debt agency):mad:

I don't think most people are disputing the debt is owed just the way Barclaycard have gone about it!

chickmeistergeneral

Josie64 wrote:

if your bank account is overdrawn then it the banks money not yours, even though wages/ benefits etc might be paid in every week....

in the past when me and hubby have had a list of direct debits and not sure if they are still active, then we cancel them , then if the companies contact,you find out who you still owe money to!!

The account was not overdrawn, and it wasnt a direct debit. Have you read the posts???