barclaycard (i think!!)

sandraroffey

some advice here please.

a few years ago, i helped my son reclaim charges from his barclaycard. when the charges were taken off of the account, it left a balance of around £400.

we then contacted barclaycard to ask if he could make claim on the insurance to cover future payments as he was not working due to severe depression. they refused him, on the grounds that he had previously claimed for a period of one year and the gap between the end of the old claim and the start of the new one was less than a year. (does that make sense??)

we wrote and wrote and wrote, something like 8-10 letters asking them to explain fully why he couldnt reclaim (a lot of what they said just didnt sound correct and didnt make sense). but they didnt answer a single letter. not one. so when we couldnt get an answer out of them we realised we were going nowhere with it, and we thought okay, lets offer to make an agreement which we wrote to them about - again and again and again and yes, you've guessed it, they didnt answer a single letter.

at that point we gave up really, and sat and waited for barclaycard to write and say pay up or you're dead, or something similar, but nothing ever came!!! no letters (nothing new there then) and not even any statements.

until last week.

my son received an envelope addressed correctly to him. in the envelope was a small printed card from calder financial, who i see are part of mercers so it is here that i must assume that this contact is to do with barclaycard. the card itself gives no indication what it is to do with.

they say they have been trying to contact him without success (why? they clearly have his address). and will be calling on 19th october.

is that calling as in telephone (they dont have his number), or calling as in turning up on our doorstep??

do we wait for the 'call' or write to them today, and tell them just what we have been trying to arrange with no response from barclaycard?

any advice gratefully received.

bingy_burge

Try and ring them.

If it says they are calling normally means a visit from debt collector?

Has he made any payment on the account or just left it?

sandraroffey

it was just left because he couldnt pay it, he wasnt working and we tried to claim on the insurance but no one would give a clear coherent answer. we sat waiting for them (barclaycard) to write, so we could contact back using their letter as a ref. but nothing happened. he is actually in hospital now and I am happy to contact for him, dont know what to say to calder. its been two possibly three years since we gave up trying to talk to someone about this.

certainly dont want someone turning up on the doorstep.

and dont want to phone because it always says on here never phone, always in writing. dont want to be bullied by someone over the phone. or on my doorstep for that matter.

Moggles_2

They refused him, on the grounds that he had previously claimed for a period of one year and the gap between the end of the old claim and the start of the new one was less than a year. Does that make sense?

Yes, most insurance of this type operates that way.

During any dispute with a credit card company, it's advisable to keep up the minimum payments required (about £10 plus interest on a balance of £400), until agreement is reached and, if correspondence goes unanswered like this, raise a formal complaint.

Unfortunately, it sounds as though your son withheld payment entirely and took no further action.

Your post raises some other issues and you may want to post again on the *Debt-Free Wannabe* board. You'll get lots of advice and support there from users who have faced similar situations

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=76

sandraroffey

have posted on the other board as suggested. many thanks. got tokeep these devils away from my front door!!!xx

bingy_burge

Credit rating will have taken a kicking as he has probably defaulted.

Seems silly that he could not make his minimum payment while he off ill £10 or so a month would kept he out of the poo.

Its fine but getting credit in the future will be a blood out of stone affair.

sandraroffey

i know but we just went with the flow as it were. if they cant be bothered to answer what was a reasonable request, then hey ho. it was teh easy option at the time.

got to deal with it now though. cant understand why he didnt even get statements or a single letter for several years.

bingy_burge

Thats ok but its a 6 year black mark and getting any prime credit deals is out the window for 6 years!


If he can pay the balance in full maybe worth offering and saying a condition is they remove the default they mo go for it.

olly300

OP in future if you have a problem with an insurance company not paying out, make sure your letters have the title "formal complaint" on them and after 8 weeks if the situation isn't resolved raise a complaint with the financial ombudsman service.

Even then you do need to pay the minimum fee.

sandraroffey

he certainly cant pay the balance in full. and he has never had a letter about anything - including no mention of any defaults.

when i said we havent had anything from them, we really havent. not a single letter, statement,nothing. so defaults have never been mentioned.

i will write to them first thing tomorrow and ask for the terms and conditions etc of the the insurance. although they seemed insistent that because there had been a previous claim which had ended less than a year before, there wasnt a hope. incidentally, at that time, they told me to contact the insurance company and ask them the questions, not barclaycard, so i wrote to them. in dublin i believe?? and again, not a reply.

i shll also lodge a formal complaint and put the account in dispute. i am unsure how all this comes together - complaints, ombudsman, insurance company etc., when all this happened over two years ago. its all only all been thrown up again now because the debt collection agency has reared its head.

Gorgeous_George

He may well owe double the £400 initial debt by now. Add on costs for the debt collector and it could be four figures.

Good luck but I think it's time for him to face up to his debts and to resolve this matter quickly. Only then will the weight be taken off his shoulders. He'll feel better for it.

GG