Barclays & Bank fraud - advice please!

dantheman78

Barclays Fraud – Advice needed
If anyone knows where I stand with this it would be a great help!

I have a Barclays current account as a hangover from my student days, The overdraft was £1925. I continued to use this account as my main account even when I started working. Paying in my wages and essentially always living in my overdraft. I decided to get a new account to help with my day to day expenses but kept the old account going by contributing a small amount of money and paying any fees I accrued. One day the bank called me to ask why I was so incredibly over my limit, (£9000) obviously I was shocked! I checked my statements and someone using a cheque had paid in a large sum of money and a day or two later taken in out again (I can’t remember the exact amount but have statements at home). Once all the funds had been transferred and taken out again I was left in pretty much the same situation i.e. £1925 overdrawn (with a few fees added for the fraud)
I called Barclays to have them investigate this clear case of fraud and was told “we can’t touch this”,(maybe MC Hammer now works for Barclays...) and refused a disclaimer form to report the fraud. This was quickly followed by a demand from debt collectors for the full amount. I told the debt collectors I was awaiting Barclays to investigate the fraud and would not pay a penny until they had.
All went quiet for six months (I viewed this as a happy situation as we reached a stalemate and I didn’t have to pay anything)
Once again Barclays have sent the debt collectors (i.e. their own false in house ones) demanding full repayment.
I’m not too worried about having to pay this in instalments and I’m aware of the limitations that debt collectors have legally. However, does anyone know where I stand in this situation? Even though the fraud involved someone paying into my account and then taking out again over a week or so- What are my rights?
If anyone has an legal background and could let me know where I stand – I would be extremely grateful.

I just called Barclays again and informed them they need to investigate the form, she hasn’t rung me back yet as to the next step

Dan

10past6

You need to raise a "Formal Complaint" with Barclays and ask for an explanation why they refuse to acknowledge your allegation that fraud activity has occurred on your account.

Give them 14 days to acknowledge your complaint which must state “This is our final response to your complaint” before moving onto the next stage.

pinkneonmartini

I was in the exact same boat this time last year! I had a Barclays student account that i was paying off in dribs and drabs to try and clear my £1500 overdraft. But all hell broke loose! :rolleyes:

I had been living in Portsmouth as a student and when i finished my degree I moved back to my family home in Manchester. I went into my local branch and asked them to change my correspondance address back to my home address, and to delete my student address as I would never be returning to it. I also requested new online log-ins and passwords as I had locked myself out of my ineternet banking. But my new requests were never fulfilled. :mad:

I made countless phone calls enquiring as to where my statements were but they could only confirm that they had been sent out, but not where to. The phone calls themselves were a nightmare as I never spoke to anyone who spoke proficient enough english to understand me. I made dozens of visits to my local branch who couldn't give me any answers, saying that they had my home address.

Eventually through sheer frustration I spoke to a manager, who asked me to confirm my details, and to my horror he read out my Portsmouth address! An address that I had not lived in for 18 months!!! An address that I had asked in person, in that very branch, to have deleted, which I had been reassured would never be used again! I couldn't believe my ears! :eek::mad:

The Manager was completely useless and essentially blamed me for not speaking to him sooner :eek: and suggested I put a request in writing for my bank statements to be forwarded to me.

Several weeks later and after FOUR letters, I receieved not my bank statements but a smudged print out of my account activity, covered in codes and reference numbers. I couldn't understand anything on it, so I took it with me to see m personal bank manager at LLoyds who had been a god send on previous occasions, and as I refused point blank to have any further dealing with Barclays!

She explained the reference numbers and showed me where to find the transactions, and it emerged I had suffered ID theft!!! But completely at the hands of Barclays!!! :mad::mad::mad:

Barclays had sent TWO debit cards, pin numbers, new internet banking login information and 18 months worth of statements to my student address in Portsmouth! :mad::mad::mad:

It took three months to sort out, and around 20 letters. I went into my branch and asked why this had happened when I had come in, in person when I came home after finishing uni, and had asked for that address to be deleted. They couldn't answer me...

After 3 months I finally got a payment back of £277, when the amount taken from my account was £850 and the interest and charges for exceeding my overdraft limit was another £100. When I contested the refunded payment enquiring as to where the other £700 was, they said I'd failed to provide sufficient evidence of fruad. :eek:

Me? I had failed to provide evidence of fraud! :mad: They never accepted responsibility for the fraud, never made any attempt to compensate me for my loss, and their gross incompetance, and they never fully repaid what was stolen. They essentially handed out access to my account in as many ways as they physically could and then had the bare faced cheek to blame me when all my money went walk-about!


I hate to say it but based on my experience with Barclays "Fraud Intervention" department i don't think you have a leg to stand on They will do what they want, and expect you to accept it, and unless you're prepared to take your case to a solicitor i don't know what more you can do! They are evil!

Broken_hearted

Oh dear! I had all this 11 years ago as a student. Barclaycard sent the card and pin number to my previous address. The people there were thrilled and promtly went out and spent the card up to its limit. Evertime I phoned to say where is my card I got told there was a delay, till I asked what details they had and oh yes the cards gone out and you have spent on it. Nope its fraud, Barclaycard were useless so I went to the police who sorted it and prosecuted the people who stole the money. I had loads of paperwork to do going through all the transaction to make sure there were none I had done, erm hello I have not had the card you sent it to the wrong address.
Loads of hassle not what you need in your student days when you are broke anyway.

dantheman78

10past6

Thanks for your reply, the woman at barclays has now raised a complaint for me and told me I will receive a letter soon - no doubt one that tells me I'm completely in the wrong!

This issue is where do I stand with unauthorised people paying INTO my account, what the hell else have they been able to do in my name?

I suspect they don't want o investigate the fraud because on one day according to my statements I had thousands of pounds in my account and the next day I didn't even though it was nothing to do with me?

Bloody criminals....

dantheman78

pinkneonmartini,

thanks for your reply, however my case has nothing to do with address problems - just fraud & fraud where money is essentially laundered through my account without my permission

I need to know if I can tell them to stick there bogus account!!

It's nice to know Barclays are well known as completely useless though :-)

determinedtodothis

I remember an article about 2 years ago - didn't their CEO (John?) get his own Barclays credit card cloned or something?

Perhaps you should remind them that their systems are obviously prone to fraud and they should be a little more supportive!!

dancingfairy

Surely you should have reported it to the police? NOt sure if it's too late now but I would try and report it anyway - then you can give the bank the crime reference number and also write an official complaint to them (the bank). If they still don't play nicely then you will need to contact the Ombudsman.
df

dantheman78

Dancingfairy -

The first time I did report it to the police and they said they didn't handle matters of this nature anymore!

The ombudsmen is a promising suggestion, I'll see what claptrap they come back with in their letter first....