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Barclaycard
izools
Posts: 7,513 Forumite
in Credit cards
Hi!
My mother has held a Barclaycard in an Arrangement to Pay for seven years. The account was closed in September 2003 and placed on a reduced payment plan without interest since then.
The account has not defaulted and is reported as being paid on time and up to date on her credit files with an "Arrangement" special instruction indicator.
She recently took out a Creation Mastercard to clear some off and the balance has dropped from £3,900 to £2,100 (ish).
With that she has written to Barclaycard requesting they take the account out of an arrangement to pay, reduce the "limit" to £2,400 (from £6,400 being reported on her credit file) and start charging interest again. They have refused to do so.
Any advice? This is the letter send to them:
They have refused to action all and any of the points on the letter. Like I say, the account has not defaulted and she has received and paid standard Barclaycard statements for the last <insert seemingly endless timeframe here>
Any ideas?
My mother has held a Barclaycard in an Arrangement to Pay for seven years. The account was closed in September 2003 and placed on a reduced payment plan without interest since then.
The account has not defaulted and is reported as being paid on time and up to date on her credit files with an "Arrangement" special instruction indicator.
She recently took out a Creation Mastercard to clear some off and the balance has dropped from £3,900 to £2,100 (ish).
With that she has written to Barclaycard requesting they take the account out of an arrangement to pay, reduce the "limit" to £2,400 (from £6,400 being reported on her credit file) and start charging interest again. They have refused to do so.
Any advice? This is the letter send to them:
I am writing to you today in regard to my account with yourselves.
I have held this account in an informal Arrangement to Pay for seven years now. Please let me take this opportunity to thank you for helping me through tough financial times and allowing me to repay the balance interest free whilst I was suffering from financial hardship. This has been a great help to me and as you can see the balance has plummeted since entering into the agreement with you.
I am now happy to say that my period of financial hardship has come to a close, and as such I have made a £1,800 payment into my account (this should be with you in the next five to seven working days). I request that you, with immediate effect, remove the arrangement marker from my account and re-instate it so that I am paying interest on the balance. Please also ensure to remove the “Arrangement to Pay” marker from my credit files held with Experian, Equifax, and Call Credit with immediate effect.
I also request that you amend the credit limit on my account. Whilst I understand that in reality my available credit on this account is £0 due to the fact I closed it in 2003, my credit files still show a limit of £6,400, and as such any 3rd party creditor who searches my files, sees an active Barclaycard account with a hefty amount of available credit.
This is having an adverse effect in so much as it appears to said 3rd party creditors that I may have difficulty affording extra borrowing atop the limit on this account.
As such, I require you to reduce the credit limit that appears on my credit files to 10% above the current outstanding balance on the account. Once again, this is to take immediate effect and be reported to Experian, Equifax, and Call Credit post haste.
Please note the APR present on my account when I requested it be closed seven years ago. Please also take note of the government’s best-practice initiative with regard to interest rates and a customers ability to opt out of any increase of APR on their account. The main point being:
You can close the account and repay at current rates
"These will always include the option to close the account and repay the remaining balance at the existing rate of interest, within a reasonable period, having regard to the existing level of minimum payments and the customer’s financial situation. Where we offer alternative lending products, we may also provide the option to transfer the balance to such a product at the existing (or lower) interest rate."
Taking into account this best practice guideline that you are bound to comply with, the APR set on the account, as it is now being taken out of an informal repayment agreement, must not be higher than the APR set when I closed the account seven years ago.
In summary – with immediate effect, ensure that:
• The account is taken out of an informal reduced repayment agreement
• Reinstate the account to an interest charging repayment account
• Leave the account closed ensuring the APR is at a rate equal to or lower than what it was in April 2003
• Update my credit files with Experian, Equifax, and Call Credit reflecting no arrangement in place
• Update my account and credit files reflecting a Credit Limit of ~10% higher than my outstanding balance
They have refused to action all and any of the points on the letter. Like I say, the account has not defaulted and she has received and paid standard Barclaycard statements for the last <insert seemingly endless timeframe here>
Any ideas?
Cashback Earned ¦ Nectar Points £68 ¦ Natoinwide Select £62 ¦ Aqua Reward £100 ¦ Amex Platinum £48
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Comments
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Why don't your mother stop applying for credit cards,and apply for a loan instead,and then with the loan pay off barclaycard and then you wont have to worry about letters to barclays..
Creation do loans as she has just been accepted for a creation card will stand her in good shape for one of their loans..0 -
Why don't your mother stop applying for credit cards,and apply for a loan instead,and then with the loan pay off barclaycard and then you wont have to worry about letters to barclays..
Creation do loans as she has just been accepted for a creation card will stand her in good shape for one of their loans..
That's not the point. No one will offer her a loan of under 20% APR with the AP marker on her account. Creation said no, her bank said 22.9%, so 0% cards seems the only way to get some of the balance away from Barclaycard at present. But even Creation wouldn't give her a high enough limit on her Creation card given that Barclaycard have refused to reduce her limit on that account (freeing up more for other credit agreements).
So obviously the question still stands.
The goal is to remortgage as she has 65% equity available in her house and her mortgage with Birmingham Midshires is up to be cleared within the next 18 months or they will want the house (coming to the end of a 25 year term along a mis-sold endowment policy that is near worthless) but no mortgage lender will touch her until the AP marker is gone - and has been gone for a good 6~12 months.
I suppose I could ask how much her endowment policy is worth as last I recall it was "made up as paid up" value of around £2,000 or thereabouts (really useful for a £58K mortgage...) She could cash that in, pay of Barclaycard, wait for the account to show as settled, and get her remortgage from the bank... Pondering...Cashback Earned ¦ Nectar Points £68 ¦ Natoinwide Select £62 ¦ Aqua Reward £100 ¦ Amex Platinum £48
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There are more options then re-mortgage which is a good thing your mum cant re-mortgage,if i was her i would get a loan for over 20% then,its only £2000 she owe's,why don't you try for a loan for her..0
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There are more options then re-mortgage which is a good thing your mum cant re-mortgage,if i was her i would get a loan for over 20% then,its only £2000 she owe's,why don't you try for a loan for her..
She won't take out a loan for anything over 12.9%. Just won't. Black and white won't. Besides, the bank won't remortgage her for what she needs if she has an outstanding loan.
She needs to remortgage, it's not an option, as her 25 year mortgage with B&M is coming to an end so if she doesn't she'll have to sell the house or let B&M auction it off.
The whole point of this exercise is to get her the remortgage she so desperately needs to keep a roof over her head and get away from B&M's awful tracker which is charging an SVR of 3.79% - bonkers with the base rate so low.
I don't see how not being able to remortgage is a good thing in this instance.
So back on topic - needing tips to get Barclaycard to fulfil the requests laid out in the above letter. Any ideas?Cashback Earned ¦ Nectar Points £68 ¦ Natoinwide Select £62 ¦ Aqua Reward £100 ¦ Amex Platinum £48
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She won't take out a loan for anything over 12.9%. Just won't. Black and white won't.
She needs to remortgage, it's not an option, as her 25 year mortgage with B&M is coming to an end so if she doesn't she'll have to sell the house or let B&M auction it off.
The whole point of this exercise is to get her the reportgage she so desperately needs to keep a roof over her head and get away from B&M's awful tracker which is charging an SVR of 3.79% - bonkers with the base rate so low.
I don't see how not being able to remortgage is a good thing in this instance.
Yeah understand what your saying,but your mother has to understand until that AP comes off her file she can't pick and choose what APR she wants..0 -
Yeah understand what your saying,but your mother has to understand until that AP comes off her file she can't pick and choose what APR she wants..
Yes round in circles we go hence the letter to barclaycard... *Sigh*
She doesn't need a loan or another credit card, she needs a remortgage.
The question is are Barclaycard within their rights to refuse to action the letter (I think no) and what else can be done with Barclaycard?
It seems barmy to me that a credit card company would willingly flatly refuse to start charging a customer interest again...Cashback Earned ¦ Nectar Points £68 ¦ Natoinwide Select £62 ¦ Aqua Reward £100 ¦ Amex Platinum £48
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Yes round in circles we go hence the letter to barclaycard... *Sigh*
She doesn't need a loan or another credit card, she needs a remortgage.
The question is are Barclaycard within their rights to refuse to action the letter (I think no) and what else can be done with Barclaycard?
It seems barmy to me that a credit card company would willingly flatly refuse to start charging a customer interest again...
I ain't having a go but why should barclays start charging her interest again,they don't want her as a customer as far as they are concerned soon as the AP is settled its goodbye from barclays for your mum..
As for re-mortgage think you might just have to wait until the AP drops off..0 -
Thanks. Really helpful.Cashback Earned ¦ Nectar Points £68 ¦ Natoinwide Select £62 ¦ Aqua Reward £100 ¦ Amex Platinum £48
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Ah it's OK mother has just come around and we're on the phone to them now. They've done it
APR is now 13.9% like it was in 2003.
Good
Cashback Earned ¦ Nectar Points £68 ¦ Natoinwide Select £62 ¦ Aqua Reward £100 ¦ Amex Platinum £48
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