Looking for advice/help/pointers

antispam246

Hi, I stumbled upon your forums about a week ago and it's inspired me to put an end to something, which I will now go on to explain in short, however, this'll most likely be a lengthy post of sorts as the issue at hand stems across the past 6 years.

I'm 25yrs and currently in full time employment (not something I want permanent). 6 years ago I started out at university, I'd moved out of home and was staying in student accomodation supported with a student loan and what little savings I had, I had no form of financial support from anywhere else.

When I started at Uni I went into a local Barclays Bank (near uni) to upgrade my current account to a student account, a simple thing, you'd think. This was the beginning of my biggest nightmare ever.

As I went through the upgrade process, all correspondance from Barclays was being sent to my home address, many miles away, simply because I didn't feel safe having personal mail delivered to my student accomodation for various reasons. After numerous hic ups and !!!!-ups by Barclays they finally got the balls rolling (at which point I was literally living on bread and water). I couldn't collect my student loan cheque as the inital payment required collection forms which I didn't have access to because my account was in a state of being upgraded, no card, no pin number and the old one was cancelled immediately despite the new one taking forever to turn up.

Looking past Barclays minor hic ups, back home where my new card and pin number were being sent, this is what was happening. My local postman, who delivered our mail was stealing our mail, my mail. He had intercepted everything from Barclays, taken my card, pin number, leaving me oblivious to what's going on until I start recieving statements first from Barclays, informing me my card may be being used fraudulently. Which it was. Now i'll leave out the major personal problems this caused for me over months and then years and cut to the point. The first time the card was stolen, Barclays simply reissued another one, both of us being unaware it was stolen, which again was intercepted. I felt like a prat on several occasions later when telling various barclays employees my card had been stolen twice.

After it seemed to clear up, the guy had been arrested I'd cleared everything with both Barclays and the Police over the matter. I'd been into the bank numerous times and they stated, in person, I'd be compensated for what was spent fraudulently from my account. I had asked about this more than once and had been told YES I would be compensated, more than once.

To this day I haven't been compensated a single penny of what was stolen from me. It get's worse. The postman had also intercepted SPAM mail, from BarclayCARD (note these are separate from Barclays as I later fround out). Now these "do you want a credit card" letters from barclaycard made it as easy as ticking a box to get them to send out a credit card in my name. You can guess what happened next. In short, a credit card is issued in my name, me again oblivious and large sums of money are being spent from it, which resulted in numerous letters from Barclaycard informing me my card may be being used fraudulently.

I had absolutely no idea what was going, as far as I was concerned, both Barclays and BarclayCard were the same. So i'm sitting here 6 years ago going through my one and only account (that I was aware of) trying to work out what sums were being spent and what I was owed, and of course nothing is adding up because someone has opened a credit card account, in my name and the transactions are coming from 2 different places. If that sounds ridiculous, it's naught but a fraction of the idiocy and sheer aggravation I've had to deal with over the past 6 years due to this problem.

Now sometime down the line later, whilst I'm struggling at uni, finacially, physically and mentally at this point I start recieving debt letters, literally THREATENING me that if I don't pay off xxx sum I'll be fined a further amount, my credit will be !!!!!!ed and i'll have bailiffs round. Here's me struggling with unmeasurable family problems, financial problems whilst trying to do a degree and I'm being shafted sideways for something I have absolutely no idea about. In the end I just had to clear it, it was just too much so I went into an overdraft, over my overdraft on my barclays account to pay of the barclaycard. It sounds stupid that I was paying myself off because I was unaware of the differences. As far as I was concerned BarclayCard was the form my account upgrade had taken.

Paying off the credit card put me in debt on my student account, which as time went on incurred numerous charges because I coudn't pay it off. In the end I opened another account, took an overdraft, to pay off barclays overdraft. I later went into debt on that account, having finally exhasuted all possible means of covering myself, being as I am, I cannot stand debt and I refused to take any means of a loan, open another account etc etc to pay this off. Especially as NONE of it was my fault. I was beyond frustrated but I just had too much s**t elsewhere to deal with to give myself a fleeting moment to sit down for a day and deal with this. I've literally not had a chance in 6 years until now, to deal with this, unbelievable but I exaggerate not.

To sum up briefly.

Barclays owe me around £500, money spent fraudulently which has not been compensated to this day despite being told it would be having gone into the bank and discussed it in detail. Barclays charged me ongoing interest on my debt which wouldn't be a debt had the money been restored, I had to pay all these charges.

Barclaycard charged me £300+ for a debt that wasn't mine, was there fault and brought about financial problems elsewhere for myself.

Another issue that comes into this is the Royalmail, I used to work part time for them over christmas to help pay my way through uni. They never paid me for a months work. Ironically it's a member of the royal mail who started all this. I had contacted them regarding the issue, they said it'd be resolved and I'd be paid, it never was.

This is a fraction of what actually went on, as you can imagine 6 years, there's alot more, alot of it is personal.

I have the time now to sort this out, I'm a fairly honest guy and I've never claimed for anything in my life even when I know i'm due it. This issue, which brought about 6 years worth of problems has quite honestly made my life a living nightmare. I had to pull out of uni because i couldn't pay tuition fees because i had to use the money to pay off debts that weren't mine. As far as I'm concerned Barclays, BarclayCard and The Royalmail have alot too answer for and what they've given to me over the past 6 years has been nothing. We the consumer, the customer, make a single mistake, miss a single payment and we get slaughtered for it and the companies involved will make sure of that and press it. What happens when they make the mistake?

Now what we have here is 3 major companies owing me money, due to faults brought about by themselves, each of which told me would resolve the issue, and never did. I know some of you will read this and pick on the point of me leaving it from 6 years, again, as ridiculous as it sounds, I really had no opportunity, and the opportunities I did have, and took, were broken down on behalf of each company because they failed to honour something they said they'd undertake.

I post this here for ANY advice possible. I have everything going back 6 years, I can proove everything too the letter. I have orignals and copies of every statments, letter, pay slip from all parties invovled. I also have, which I've worked on for 6 years when possible letters addressing all issues, pointing to copies of all the facts, basically the whole story in (almost) full glory.

It may sound like i have it all figured out, I have some of it, before I start these balls rolling I'd like to know what my options are, I've spoken to numerous people, informing some of more details than posted here, most have said too seek more than just compensation of what I'm rightly owed. For the first time in my life, I'm inclined to agree, it just unnerves me to think about "taking" on 3 major companies, with the possiblity of prolonging my own torment.

Any advice, pointers is more than appreciated. I can provide more information if you have a query as long as it isn't too personal.

Thanks in advance.

Hobble_2

:hello: antispam246.

Sounds like you've had a really rough time over the last few years. I can't believe you haven't been reimbursed for what has been taken from you.

As you are owed what has been stolen, you will not be 'taking on' 3 companies - this sounds v. scary! You will just be claiming what is rightfully yours.

My bank account had a fraudulent charge (only once thank goodness, and for a small amount), but the bank refunded immediately. Saying that, I am no expert in these matters, so I am hestitatant to advise. BUT, if I were in your position I would either go to the CAB or talk to a solicitor (one of the ones who offer a free 30/60 minute session). If you have documentary evidence of everything, then even better. But professional advice does seem to be the way forward, given that so far your efforts have been ignored.

One other thing, have you read Martin's advice on reclaiming bank charges? You mention that you have incurred charges due to all this - you can claim these back.

Best of luck in all this and I hope you get what you are owed,
Hobble

LookingAhead

Oh crikey. Feel for you!

I think if I was in your shoes and I had all the paperwork, my first port of call would be the Citizens Advice Bureau.

Good luck getting this all sorted.

As mentioned, people have "taken on" large financial organisations recently - and won - with reclaiming bank charges.

Don't let them being "big" stop you from taking the first few steps in getting this resolved.

If the CAB can't help they may well be able to point you in the right direction.

antispam246

Thanks. Ay, next stop will be CAB.
I have read about reclaiming bank charges, great information there. Again not sure how too approach it, in that it's probably easier for me to take it into account along with the rest o the money owed rather than separating the debts. Or atleast deal with the bigger picture then look towards claiming charges, as I know I have older charges within the 6 years that aren't related to this incident so may as well get those sorted together.

I'm still curious as to my rights. Obviously I have the right to claim back money owed. I'm unsure with my other bank account debt took out to help the Barclays one, rather than simply pay it off using my own money, as I'm referring to it in the case towards Barclays, pointing it out as, well basically, there fault, in part. Are they going to just laugh at me if I say "I've taken out an overdraft elsewhere to pay off this debt and I believe this is, in part, your responsibility, what are you going to do about it?"

I'm not looking to get Barclays to pay off some other random debt. This overdraft basically helped me get by whilst money was tied up in all this mess. As MY actual funds were being used to pay of debts that weren't mine and everything else that went with this deal, i.e. travelling. It got too the point I couldn't afford a bus on a couple of occasions and walked 3 hours just to get to Uni or access the branch I upgraded the account.

I know they could simply turn around and say "ok, here's the money owed, now you use that to pay off your other overdraft". That's fine and I'd settle for that, if it weren't for everyone telling me to push this and basically seek more. Are they right? What exactly are my rights? I'm guessing as replied above, I'd need to seek a solicitors advice on this. Thanks again

TTMCMschine

What an idiot that postman was. Stealing your mail to get your bank cards, applying for credit cards in your name, then delivering the letters telling you something was wrong.

Barclays did well to spot it after only £500.

It almost sounds unbelievable.

lynzpower

have you spoken with the FSA about this?

antispam246

That's the thing Barclays may have spotted it, but that's pretty much all they did. Infact, as more replies come in I can add more of the many details I've left out. The first time I recieved a letter from "Barclays" warning me about fraudulent transactions, they told me a hold would be put on my account to prevent any transactions taking place, I agreed. Nevertheless I continued to be robbed and I'm not talking about transactions that took place in a short period of time prior or during the "hold" on the account, i'm talking months afterwards. Basically they knew what was happening and althoguh they said they'd prevent further transactions, they didn't.

I haven't spoken to FSA I'm unfamiliar with them to be honest. Are you referring to the Barclays incident when referencing FSA? I appreciate the tip and i'll look into it. Shouldn't it be something to look into if Barclays fail to satisfy whatever my demands turn out to be? Or should I speak to them now as to help with whatever proposal I take to these companies?

Mizz_Pink

I would contact the FSA straightaway, not the CAB

There should be information on the FSA on documents from Barclays, maybe a leaflet or ask in the branch or on net.

I hope you get it sorted, what a nightmare for you. :grouphug:

antispam246

Thanks, I'll certainly add it too the list.

As I sit here and skim over all of this it occurs to me that the other account I opened to use an overdraft facility to help me by. At the end of it all I ended up going over my overdraft by.. not a lot, around £20. To this day this has resulted on various threatening letters demanding payment in the tune of.. £2xxx £1500 was my overdraft on which I don't pay interest of any sort. This overdraft was only taken out because of what happened. The best thing is, the reason I went over the overdraft, because of bank charges to the sum of atleast £60 because i was £20 over, now I haven't completely finished reading the "claim your bank charges back" but am I too understand that I'm entitled to that money back? and furthermore, I've yet again been shafted sideways as all that debt and threats has stemmed from a bank overcharging me?

I just can't get my head round this all, it's unbelievable to me too. Everytime I pick up and sift through 2 boxes full of this mess, it become more and more irritating. I'm seriously !!!!ed at all of this. On the one hand I just want it too end, I want simply what I'm owed, to clear my debts, on the other I'm beyond !!!!ed and feel I should seek an adequate pay out for my troubles, to put it lightly.