Barclaycard and capitalone woes

crunched79

Hi,
I've got credit card debt and following advice from the CAB I wrote to all my creditors explaining my circumstances had changed and that I was in receipt of pension credit. I offered a token payment of £1 per month and attached a statement of my income and expenditure.
After a struggle the majority of creditors accepted my offer temporarily but barclaycard and capitalone are proving immovable.
Barclaycard have refused the offer and just ignore any letters I send. I get regular calls from the collections dept. asking for further payments even though I have set up the standing order as I have with all other creditors. They have now passed the debt onto Mercers who I understand are part of barclaycards set up. I've heard they are pretty nasty and issue all sorts of threats and go back on agreements as nothing gets put into writing.

Capitalone refuse to do anything until I send them my bank statements. I am not comfortable this as they already have a copy of confirmation from the DWP re my pension credit and my SOA listing I have an overdraft. I just get shunted back to the collections dept. when I try to discuss this with them as I don't want them trawling through my bank statement saying I shouldn't be spending money on this or that. Mind you with £558 coming in a month there isn't much room for manoeuvre.
It seems that the next step will be default notices from these two as it's been going on for 3 months now and am still being charged interest and default fees which they will never get back.

I have tried to get work but at my age no-one wants to know so I suppose I shall just have to see what transpires when the rest of my creditors awake from the temporary stay of execution.
I should say that up until the banking crisis I was pretty comfortable and had a share portfolio worth in excess of £150k which would have paid off my mortgage and other debts. Unfortunately the financial crisis shredded my portfolio putting some companies into admin with zero return for me and then followed by redundancy. Ironic that I am being aggressively chased for money by those who caused the downward spiral. Pity I can't do the same.

bottleofred

Hi,

They'll threaten you with all sorts of things, but they can't get blood out of a stone. Continue to send the token payments every month and send the letter below regarding the telephone calls. Also when they call, don't go through the security bit with them and tell them you only wish to be contacted in writing.
Dear Sirs,

Account No: XXXXXXXX

I am writing in relation to the quantity and frequency of telephone calls that I have received from your company, which I deem to be personally harassing. I have verbally requested that these stop, but I am still receiving calls and I now require all further correspondence from your company to be made in writing only. I am of the view that your continued harassment of me by telephone puts you in breach of Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

If you continue to harass me by telephone, you will also be in breach of the Communications Act (2003) s.127 and I will report you to OFCOM, Trading Standards and The Office of Fair Trading, meaning that you will be liable to a substantial fine. Be advised that any further telephone calls from your company may be recorded and used in evidence and I expect this harassment to cease immediately.

Yours faithfully

Hax

You may well find that they won't negotiate with you until after a default notice has been issued and the debt sold/passed on to a collection company. At this point, there should be more room for negotiations.

Have you contacted the CCCS? They can provide help and advice and even mediate with your creditors - and all of this is free.

Good luck!

crunched79

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

Jinx

I hope you have started making the token payments in line with what you can afford. If you pay them what you can genuinely afford regardless of what the letters say they will take the money, they will default you and ultimately they will accept the reduced offers.

You can only give what you have. And all creditors getting less than their minimum payments will default you. Dont provide bank statements if you arent happy to do that. I provided my own SOA to my creditors and nothing else.

crunched79

Just a quick update.
Relented and sent Capital one a copy of my bank statement with a revised SOA showing I had £27 per month left over. I had set up a standing order a few months back to cover my token payment and again asked them to freeze interest etc. Been away for a week visiting my brother in Wales so no mobile signal or internet..what bliss!! Got back yesterday to loads of missed calls from Capital one and Mercers aka Barclaycard. Also got letter from Capital one asking what arrangement plan I require i.e. short term or long term. I would have thought that was obvious if I am making a token payment! Anyway, answered call from Cap one and it was collections asking for another payment even though she told me I need to write in re choice of arrangement plan...they would then freeze account and interest. I said I would do that and she must therefore be aware my standing order is set for the 27th of each month. Said she needed payment before then to stop these calls so I said I would bring forward the SO and cancel the 27th one which satisfied her!
Question... how much should I offer on the payment plan bearing in mind my other creditors are getting token £1 payments only and my situation has worsened as the DWP have cut the amount of mortgage interest assistance by £35 per week meaning my SOA now shows a deficit of £9 per month? I was thinking of offering £1 only but this means i will have to live for over a thousand years to clear the debt and I don't think they will go for it somehow...can only try I suppose.

Barclaycard - wrote to them again asking why they seem to ignore my letters and just set Mercers on to me. Explained my other creditors accepted token payment so far and have frozen the interest and pointed out their reluctance could jeopardise these arrangements. Also sent a copy to Mercers for info. Got a letter today post marked Liverpool so was expecting another threat from Mercers but no, it was from Barclaycard Customer Relations in Northampton saying they are sorry to learn of my dissatisfaction and will deal with my complaint by 2nd November!! The mind boggles and I am beginning to seriously consider Bankruptcy. It's a wearing down process and stress levels are increasing. It's bad enough owing money without having it rammed down your throat every day ad nauseum.

winner12

Word of warning ref Capital One dont expesct them to set up a DMP or freeze interest and charges just because you sent your statement i plummed for long term plan got a letter back to say at this present time they were unable to offer a payment plan so hey ho I just pay them as per my own DMP and nothing else its been defaulted and passed between DCA ever since

crunched79

Hi all,
Thought I would update this thread now that things have escalated!

Barclaycard have at long last called off Mercers and are reluctantly accepting my token payment after serving a default notice and they have frozen the interest. No doubt there will be further stirrings as it's been a month!

Capital one have now set Fredrickson International (FI)on to me following notice of default. They first wrote to me on 21st Jan saying they had been instructed by Cap1 and demanding payment in full to themselves. I wrote back immediately saying that I was making a token payment to Cap1 and shall continue to do so until I receive written authority from Cap1 that I should now pay FI.
There then followed a number of phone calls which I ignored as I knew it was them and there are only so many times I can go over the same ground knowing that no-one listens to what I have to say. One Sunday night the auto call must have got stuck as it rang me 5 times in 6 minutes!
I eventually picked up the phone the on 1st Feb and refused to give the security details over the phone and told them I had written to them and would only deal with them in writing. They said they hadn't had the letter and when I asked if they had bought the debt they said I would have to give answers to the security questions first. I declined and they said they would await my letter.

Got a letter today which is dated 1st Feb saying I now have 7 days to pay the debt in full otherwise they will take immediate action. Should it be necessary to issue Court Court proceedings then further additional costs will be added to the outstanding balance ie. Interest of £1256.40, Court fees of £300 and Solicitors costs of £100. Nowhere in the letter do they say that they own the debt and they refer to Cap1 as their client in the Brand/Product heading.

Is this another scare tactic and are they allowed to charge so much interest on top of the interest Cap1 have added to the account these past 6 months?

I was thinking of writing back to FI saying I have no knowledge of the debt to them and unless they can prove I owe it to them then they must hand it back to Cap1.

As I said before I am on Pension credit which isn't how I expected to end up after 40 years of working for a living. Following advice from CAB I have offered and make the token payment which is all I can afford from what's coming in. Assistance with my housing costs (mortgage interest) will be reduced soon I and I shall have to find a further £50 per month from somewhere. They know I have a mortgage so I can only assume they hope I sell up and pay them off and rendering me homeless.