Barclays driving me mad

intrigued_2

I'm hoping that a few people can give me an opinion on my situation before I manage to find a solicitor next week. This is quite a complex one but I'll try to keep it as short as possible!

Basically I was self employed for a while and had a business current account and business loan with barclays who I also do my personal banking with. I was a sole trader and not registered as a limited company so as far as I'm aware it is in effect a normal personal loan. Anyway things didn't work out and I ceased trading. I made sure I had funds in the business current account to pay off the loan and called the telephone banking people to tell them to do so. This is where it gets complicated!

They guy on the phone said they could clear it but they'd prefer it to be handled by the local business manager. I wasn't too happy at this as she seemed to be particularly incompetent on the occasions I had met her but agreed to let them do this. I checked the funds were sufficient to cover the loan which was confirmed to within £50 as there might be another days interest to apply. I told them if this was the case to take it from my personal account I held with them. The following day I had a call from the business manager checking that I actually wanted to clear the loan. I confirmed I did and she said she would obtain a settlement figure and do it for me. She then called again the next day to check again that I did want to clear the account which I confirmed. At this point I informed her that I was starting a new job and couldn't take calls during business hours so requested that all correspondance be by letter.

The following week in my new job I received a few voicemails from her saying she wanted to confirm I wanted to clear the loan again and to call her back. At this point I was getting frustrated. I sent her a letter confirming the loan be cleared and the account closed to avoid any further charges. She again tried to call and left voicemail messages. I sent a final letter advising that the loan be cleared and for anything further to be in writing. Following a few further voicemails I gave up and left it for her to sort out.

This part I admit is not great on my part but I basically took the attitude that they had the money to clear it off and it was up to them to do so. So for the last 3 years I've been receiving statements showing the loan outstanding on one account and payments taken out and charges applied to the current account. When the (useless) business manager was replaced by a new one he called to see how things were with the business. I told him I hadn't been trading since 2007 and that the loan should be cleared and account closed. He promised to look into it and get back to me. Naturally he never did. He then called again as another courtesy with the same outcome. I then explained the situation to the branch manager when he called regarding my personal account. He promised to get the business manager to look into it and get back to me, never heard from him.

This month we have finally reached the point where the funds in the current account are no longer enough to service the loan payments. All of a sudden they are interested in the situation. They claim that I now owe them about £7,000. I've put the story above to them and explained that they have had the money but never applied it to the loan so what's outstanding is all interest and bank charges. They have looked into it and said that as far as they are concerned I owe them the money as I had insufficient funds to clear the loan in 2007 which is why the then business manager was trying to call me. I explained that this was the first time I'd heard of this (apart from the £50) and why hadn't she put the fact in writing. After saying I wouldn't pay them anything else I offered to pay whatever shortfall they claimed existed in 2007 if they removed the rest of their interest to end the matter now. They claimed that they couldn't do this and anyway it was my fault for leaving it for 3 years.

So, where do I stand? Obviously I shouldn't have let things hang for this long but I'd put so much effort into trying to get this incompetent woman to do her job that I gave up. Incidentally she no longer works for Barclays and the current business manager basically admitted it was because she was useless.

Anybody know any good solicitors who could help me? I already have a lot a debt (~£25k) standing over me from my self employed times but made a commitment to pay them all off rather than try and get out of them through bankruptcy etc which I probably could have done. To be chased for the one account which should have been paid in full is really getting me down and really frustrating.

Anyway I'll stop rambling now.

Cheers

[Deleted User]

Sorry but i think deep down you already know the answer,when you first contacted the tele banking people they said they could do it for you but prefered not to(for whateber reason)after a week or so of faffing about with the business manager you should have gone back to the tele banking and told them to do it,.
I instead you have let this slide for 3 years and seem surprised that they have been adding charges/interest.
Unless you have written proof i suggest you save yourself money by not getting a solicitor on the job,but take it right to the top at barclays with a very clearly written letter

intrigued_2

I guess my thinking is that I have a statement for the current account showing the cleared funds and a statement for the loan showing they were sufficient to clear it. I also have a letter from Barclays acknowledging that I requested to clear the loan so surely any magistrate/judge would see that it's down to Barclays own failings why this amount is still outstanding?

[Deleted User]

but the question i would still ask is why you have let this situation continue for 3 years???

Mickyk

I would say if you have the letters proving that you requested the loan to be settled and showed sufficient funds to do so at the time, and the previous business manager is no longer an employee so cannot be contacted in dispute. Then they will probably dance around it but settle the matter in the finish. But here's hoping

intrigued_2

woodbine wrote: »

but the question i would still ask is why you have let this situation continue for 3 years???

Because no matter who I spoke to that said they would look into it they never sorted anything out so I gave up trying. I kind of thought that when we hit this point they'd sit up and realise they'd made a mistake and sort it. Very naive I now realise.

intrigued_2

Mickyk wrote: »

I would say if you have the letters proving that you requested the loan to be settled and showed sufficient funds to do so at the time, and the previous business manager is no longer an employee so cannot be contacted in dispute. Then they will probably dance around it but settle the matter in the finish. But here's hoping

This is what I'm hoping, I just don't want to have to let payments bounce etc as I've never had a late payment in my life and really don't want to mess my credit rating up.

Mickyk

I am with barclays myself, and last year i deposited a cheque for work rendered and went off for a nice break with the lady. When I got back I found the cheque had not cleared after all and had now actually left me about 500 into an unauthorised overdraft. The person responsible absconded. But arranged a repayment structure with Barclays and cleared it relatively quickly. And was expecting a nice wee charge at the finish for the hassle, but nothing, not a penny, they merely sent me a letter thanking me for clearing the amount, and said the amount charged for the overdraft was 0.00.

So they can be understanding when they know there is little you can do about a situation.

jen_br

Did you send any of the letters to them recorded? Hindsight taking a lunch break and going into the branch would be your best option to have sorted it out..

I saw you posted it on niddys thread but you realize if you go down that route you WILL be defaulted.

I would go into the branch speak to them FACE TO FACE, get something drawn up... show them the letters you have sent... Offer them a figure... You can't get blood from a stone.


Bring with you your income and expenses sheet and hopefully they can sort it out.