Mercers/Barclaycard

tomconfused

Hi i am new to this site and have read all about mercers and what a set of S*** weasels they seem to be. I apparently have a debt of £3300.00 with them but i have had no harassment or even contact from them. I know some people who are sick of them may find me complaining about this strange, but them not bothering me is making me more worried! I would be very interested in any ones opinion on this? Sorry its a bit long!

Basically i have a Barclaycard which had a balance of £2k and i went to work in Australia for a year. Before i left I went into Barclays bank and asked to have all of my accounts changed to a postal address i knew was safe for post to be sent to. I specifically asked if this would change the address on all products i had with Barclays and named my credit card, loan and current account individually. I was assured all would have the address changed.

I went away and evidently they didn’t change the card, which meant my current account which the monthly payment went out of didn’t match the address of the credit card so all payments were declined, and obviously they sent me letters saying this and i obviously didn’t get them.

Anyway when i got back i had a letter from mercers which had mysteriously found its way to the address that i had asked them to change the card to but hadn’t. The letter was the only one from Barclay card or mercers and was dated this November. So i phoned up to speak to mercers and said can you make sure you have all your addresses and phone numbers correct and they did.

They were very polite while doing this then the guy said he needed a payment there and then of £300. I explained why i thought £1300 of fines ect was ridiculous and why it was their fault not mine. He was quite s****y and said it was my fault and nothing to do with Barclaycard as Barclays and Barclaycard are totally different companies and have no connection so how could Barclays bank change my card address? So i told him i wasn’t making a payment and if he had a problem contact my solicitor. He then said this was nothing to do with solicitors and to keep them out of this. So i told him tough i know you are Barclaycard who are also Barclays im not buying it and then they threatened i would receive phone calls until i made a payment.

I simply said to him you can do what you like i will just refer you to my solicitor, do you want his number? That upset him and he said goodbye. Anyway i have heard nothing from mercers at all by post or phone and i have today received a new normal Barclaycard statement for the £2k asking for a min payment of £40. Confused.com? i think so?

[Deleted User]

I really do find solid blocks of text, with little punctuation and sentences that require regular oxygen breaks, incredibly difficult to follow.

But good luck with whatever the above is about.

tomconfused

hmmm, you dont work for mercers/other unscrupulous debt recover firm do you?

If not, you may soon be head hunted as i think you have the right personality.

MortgageChallenge2011

You say the address of your bank account and Barclaycard didn't match so payment got declined.... the address doesn't come into it. If it was a direct debit or standing order then you give the authority for your bank to pay Barclaycard £xx on x date. No address is needed. So there is something you are not telling us. To go away for a year and not check your bank statements is a bit unusual. You will have access to online banking anywhere in the world... normal people would log on and check balance and transactions etc..... something missing... yep, lets sort it out.

So basically you have c+++ed up somewhere.

Solution - 2 phone calls - one to Barclaycard... are you still running my account? If not then one to Mercers.

Mercers is Barclaycard's in house debt collection company but you maybe want to get your solicitor to deal with things for you.

Have you checked the date of the statement you have just had... make sure its not the one from last year
:rotfl:

KingElvis

Sounds like you legged it for a year and have come back to a mess.

tomconfused

Okay just to clear a few points up:
Barclaycard have told me they will not accept a payment unless the addresses on the account and credit card match. This is what has caused the issue, this has in their eyes never been in question. I have also been told this by mercers who agree with them.

They say this is for security reasons and I unfortunately have to believe them. As for a standing order of x per month I have not got any such agreement that I know of. But I am ignorant on the rules so I will ask them if what you have said is accurate.

All I know is that every month the minimum amount automatically went out, and this is the way it has been done for years. So from one month to the next the amounts are different depending on the due balance, so I am not sure if the agreement that you mention is the same in this case?
I agree that if it had been my loan for example, a set amount goes out each month in a set agreement and the address change would make any difference.

Also I have never used internet banking as I have never trusted it, but I have now switched to Santander and have taken up the offer.

Also i only use this bank account when in the uk and pay in double what my set outgoing are so did not see the need to check it.

King Elvis- I work internationally and am out of the uk for up to 12 months at a time. I think ‘legging it’ to Australia to avoid a £40 a month credit card bill would be a false economy of scale!
Thanks for the advice though elvis and mortgagechallenge. I appreciate the input and your views. Is there a legal framework you could advise on which says they are in the wrong as they are quite dismissive that this is a security procedure and won’t budge on it?
Thanks.

PNPSUKNET

yeah its called your credit agreement, you need to take responsability. The only fees that can be reclaimed are over £12.50 . Im not sure what your solicitor could do, apart from charge you for telling you to pay. Barclays / barclaycard although are the same group are run as seperate companys. They have never been able to update my details in branch

rizel23

Mercers are awful to deal with.

First port of call is when did you take out the card? If Prior to 2004/05 there there is a chance its not enforceable by law if they can not provide you with a Credit Card Agreement (the on you signed agreeing to such charges, interest rates ect)

Reading here;
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?20758-Creditors-and-DCAs-Letter-Templates-amp-Budget-Planner%281-Viewing%29-nbsp

Sounds like they have already started trashing your credit file already, but if not too bad get another credit card and loans now, as even without a Credit Card Agreement they will have no issues with registering a Default on your credit file.

I'm nearing my second year with unenforceable Barclaycard debt, rebuilding my credit file (luckily i have 2 other CC's that i pay off in full each month) i get the odd debt collection letter now and again, but just goes in a my file to use if i ever need to in the future.

They are all full of hot air and threats, if they have enough to take you to court and win you have to ask yourself why they don't ;-)

steve100508

I have just spent 6 months fighting Barclaycard/Mercers, and can say that only now i have sorted my debt issue, more of that later.......

I had an o/s debt of £1000 and lost my job blah blah blah, i entered into a Financial management plan, and barclaycard ignored all offers/letters etc, Mercers picked up the debt and this is when the fun began.

They sent me threatening letters, rang me 10 times a day, and refused all offers, from me and my plan manager. Mercers are basically an internal operation within barclaycard, a search on companies house reveal that Mercers debt collections Ltd are "Dormant, Non Trading", i duly contacted trading standards and the financial ombudsman to let them now, they are both now investigating. someone called at my house and tried to give me a phone to speak to someone, i advised him he has no legal right to enter my property (driveway) and that he should leave, otherwise i would call the police, which he duly did and was actually quite ok about it. All these tactics are aimed at inflating my debt from £1000 to £1500.

Mercers contacted me and i told them all the above, it seems to me that Mercers are a strong arm operation operating outside the law in the hope they scare people into making payments - DO NOT PAY THEM! THERE COMPANY IS DORMANT NON TRADING BE SURE TO TELL THEM THIS INFORMATION!! The next day i got a call from a legit company called Calders, who were mega nice, accepted my offer of repayment, and said they'd now taken over the debt. They even deal with refunds of interest and complaints etc. My advise would be to do what i did, it is stressful and annoying, but if you keep copies of letters/offers/earnings and everything you send to barclaycard/mercers, once your plan is up and running, contact the FSO and trading standards and threaten them with refunds of interest and mal-practice/illegal trading in the case of mercers, i'll keep everyone updated with my complaint and update!

post back any questions!