£1.08 Overdrawn - First Time Offense in 10 Years - Barclays Refuses to Waive £22 Fee

Svenena

By all means open another account, but you should still pay off the money owed ASAP.

Otherwise she will end up owing more money, as it's £22 for every 5 working days you are in the personal reserve. Even if you're going to continue to try and contest it, you will be better to pay it off and then try and claim it back, rather than have the amount continue to increase every week.

KimYeovil

So she has £35 per week than most people on JSA. But she 'can't' afford to pay £22. Utter tosh. If you do not want to pay such charges then do not use cards to pay. Take the money out the bank and pay cash.

Incyder

To be honest I expect Barclays would like you to leave. They are making no money at all out of your mother as her income is so little it costs them more in envelopes/statements/stamps to keep the account running than they make on the tiny bit of money she has in there, and as soon as it's in she draws it out to spend !
This £22 fee is the first chance they have of clawing back some of the money her account costs to run and now you make a fuss about it.

You have spent ages today, posting here, visiting the bank and moaning at the nice manager, then more posting here. It's got you nowhere.

She still owes £22 plus interest and it'll be £22 more soon as Svenena has pointed out.

Pay up and learn a lesson with quiet dignity.

Annisele

The bank manager doesn't have the power to refund the charge, but the complaints department does. Whether it will or not is another matter; I agree with other posters that the charge is in the T&Cs, your mother did go overdrawn, and therefore she is liable for the fee. I also agree that she should pay it off asap (possibly with a loan from you or another friend/family member) before the charges snowball.

Contact details for Barclays' complaints department are here, but don't expect a quick resolution - the FSA's rules give it eight weeks. However, it's always worth your mother pointing out in her letter of complaint that she is in financial difficulty and hoping that Barclays are both kind and quick.

mclaren32

zppp wrote: »

If you believe that you would swing a branch manager's decision by taking the money out and putting it on the table and giving them an ultimatum then you are very niaeve.

I think it would make me think twice!!!!! Thankfully no one has done that to me.

mclaren32

Annisele wrote: »

The bank manager doesn't have the power to refund the charge, but the complaints department does. Whether it will or not is another matter; I agree with other posters that the charge is in the T&Cs, your mother did go overdrawn, and therefore she is liable for the fee. I also agree that she should pay it off asap (possibly with a loan from you or another friend/family member) before the charges snowball.

Contact details for Barclays' complaints department are here, but don't expect a quick resolution - the FSA's rules give it eight weeks. However, it's always worth your mother pointing out in her letter of complaint that she is in financial difficulty and hoping that Barclays are both kind and quick.

Thats terrible, im glad I dont work for them.

[Deleted User]

Annisele wrote: »

The bank manager doesn't have the power to refund the charge, but the complaints department does. Whether it will or not is another matter; I agree with other posters that the charge is in the T&Cs, your mother did go overdrawn, and therefore she is liable for the fee. I also agree that she should pay it off asap (possibly with a loan from you or another friend/family member) before the charges snowball.

Contact details for Barclays' complaints department are here, but don't expect a quick resolution - the FSA's rules give it eight weeks. However, it's always worth your mother pointing out in her letter of complaint that she is in financial difficulty and hoping that Barclays are both kind and quick.

customer relations also can do this
bit shocked this happened
i had been overdrawn 3 times and amazingly Santander waived the fee all 3 times considering the circumstances
Barclays should be able to do something! I try different managers until one can resolve it

dori2o

Do what I did.

Empty the account as soon as possible without leaving the £22 in there.

Open a new account with another bank and have all DD and JSA payments switched to the new account.

Pay barclays back at £1 per week.

They cannot add any further charges to the debit balance as the debit balance has been caused by their penalty.

SpudGunner

It is very tight nowadays regarding refunds, technically we are not allowed to do refunds unless bank error or fraud, although occasionaly I have made exceptions to this based on common sense, or have escalated to head office for review.

Staff are not allowed refunds either! I am a branch manager, went overdrawn in error and had to pay the £22 reserve fee myself as well! (and no I dont get massive bonuses before someone starts!)

The suggestion posted here about escalating a complaint is the way to go really.

Cmdr_Bond

I would just like to point outh that Lloyds have a £10 buffer - and twice in the last couple of years they have annuled charges on my wifes account caused by genuine errors on her part, when went in and asked nicely.