What to do, Barclaycard taking money from our bank account leaving us in red...

blue_monkey_2

I have posted here about this before but I need some further advice.

My husband has a debt with Barclay Mastercard, we have other debts with Barlcays and a loan as well, because of a change in our circumstances we are making much smaller monthly payments and we have informed them of every change we have and send statements out monthly without fail. Please, I have not come for a lecture about owing money to Barclays and they can take it back when they want, I know this and appreciate and understand this, but we need some advice. I understand we have an account with Barclays and we owe them money, I understand they can take it but I have further questions.

Basically, despite us sending us statements and the money each month they still call us, anything up to 3 times a day and they always call in the day. We share a house, we have asked them not to call as this is not our house and often other people are here but they still do. They never know what is going on from one person to another as they say they tell us they are calling for payment and that they are the account manager but we seem to have a different one each time they call, there are 2 companies calling us trying to get money now. My husband has tried to change bank accounts but he cannot get an account elsewhere so for now, we are stuck with this situation. He has a basic account with just a cashcard but we live in a village with no cashpoints so we cannot get cash if we need it for anything. All out other debtors are happy with the situation and our payments, we do keep on top of things, we even pay more than we have 'spare' each month as we do not want to be in this situation.

A few months back BM (Barclay Mastercard) took money from our account to pay off money on the account, we had no warning of this and then sent us a letter 5 days later to tell us they had exercised their right to do this. This month they have done the same, another £111 and 7 days later a letter arrives to tell us they have done this which will leave us in the red after our monthly direct debits come out and with bank charges and interest to pay (we have an overdraft with the Barclays account so no missed DD thank goodness).

Each month they call us telling us they are selling on the debt, my husband is said he is happy for that. Each month we get letters from both BM and also from Mercers, their collection agents. We have been told, by letter - and I have them here - that they are selling the debt within 48 hours, I think they have told us this by letter 4 times now. Each time they don't and the calls start again and then they take the money anyway. They took £111 on 4th Jan, this cleared our BM account as per the monthly statement. On 5th they sent another letter ssaying they wanted another £147.00 but the money they are taking from our bank account is the same as the statement so the £111 should have cleared the account but they are still asking for £147.00. I don't get it?

We are going round in circles here. Short of stripping the account each month so there is no money for them to take, what else can we do. They tell us they are selling the debt on but they never do and to be honest we would rather they did as we lose head and tail of who we have spoken to and who is dealing with it. One day we get one from BM, the next day it'll be Mercers, all saying different things. All in all after £300 of interest in the last 6 months we owe more than we started and this seems to be because they are getting payment so can still keep on adding the interest and late payment charges. We owe £1600 - £100 more than we did 6 months ago.

Please do not lecture us, I wan to ask for some help, as we are trying really hard to get organised but it just seems they are not interesed in our situation in the slightest and are not interested in helping us out. My husband lost his job through industrial asthma and is losing around 10k pa (around £14k with things like pension and the share schem he was on) - with 2 kids this is a lot of money to lose and has had an impact on everything in our life. Hopefully he will get some compensation and we can pay everyone off and be able to start again. But, for now, he has explained all of this, we kept them informed with letters throughout, even when he was on the DSS, the other Barclays ones are fine but these people are just taking the money and making the threats without anything coming of it except us losing money.

We have an overdraft and I am tempted to pay this BM off and then pay off the overdraft slowly as the chrges are a lot less all round, especially with my hubbies salary going on as it'll go down towards the start of the month and slowly up again so we won't be paying anything like the interest they are charging. The problem then being that if we do that the other Barclays people are going to want the money for their debt as they would know it has been paid off. It is a vicious circle in't it. Anyone else we could get away with but I don't think we would be ale to do this with this particular debt.

Please give me some advice on what I do, what letters to send (not that it makes any difference), shall I use the OD and pay it. I am at the point of not even bothering to make the monthly payment we have been sending as they take money anyway so what is the point - someone else might as well have the money that appreciates we are making the effort. Please can someone point me in the right direction as I am going round in circles trying to work out what is the right thing to do.

Is an IVA the right solution for us? We do not own our own home and owe around £36k in total but we only have problems with this one company. Everyone else is happy with the situation as it is. This is the only creditor we have a problem with but the problem is costing us money that we could be using to pay our other debts off than paying dead interest. The OD solution seems best but then where from here?

Thank you for any help.

lynzpower

you are in good company here, lets face it most of us have been in the same situation

we cant really advise you until weve seen an SOA, have you done one before?

System

Blue

Stacks of issues here to address and get advice on. A few months back BM (Barclay Mastercard) took money from our account to pay off money on the account, we had no warning of this and then sent us a letter 5 days later to tell us they had exercised their right to do this. This month they have done the same, another £111 and 7 days later a letter arrives to tell us they have done this which will leave us in the red after our monthly direct debits come out and with bank charges and interest to pay (we have an overdraft with the Barclays account so no missed DD thank goodness).

That's terrible that they have taken the money it so underhand whether it is their money or not I know it doesnt but it should breach some kind of privacy law. I know that DMP companies advise that a new bank account should be opened that has no association with their creditors as the creditors may be able to seize the money.

Lenny

CLAPTON

firstly and most importantly you need to move all your income to a new bank a/c. if you already have one (even if only a basic a/c) surely the inconvenience of having to plan your cash requirements must be better than all this hassle with your Barclays a/c.

Once you have moved all you income and DD to the other a/c, then you will be in a must stronger situation dealing with barclays.


to advise about IVA etc you need to post a SOA with full details of income, spending and debts

blue_monkey_2

Thanks for posting back, no I have not posted SOA before. To be fair I have not got time to do it today (The main bulk of my business is on eBay and it is 10p listing day so I have to get on with that) plus I have to ask hubby, would not do it withour asking him as the debts are in his name and he might not want me doing it which is fair enough, I just thought I would ask some advice. I do not actually earn anything myelf yet, everything I do is reinvested back into buying more stock so it is my husband and the debts are mainly in his name. I am not sure he would want me posting them so I'll check with him. We cut down everything we possibly can.

My husband was reluctant to leave Barclays for good as it means he will never get a 'proper' bank account again. He has had his basic account for 4-5 years and they would not even upgrade him to an Electron card so we can use it for shopping etc... and then we cannot even pay our debts as he has no chequebook and that leaves postal orders which you have to pay extra for and it takes about an hour holding up the post office queue which is just daft, we tried this before and only have one counter in the village. The whole thing is a vicious circle, everything is going well except this one company and we are at a loss on what to do with the situation and we can and cannot quote to them.

The thing is, Barclays would have their money back quicker if they were not taking it needlessly anyway. I have to confess, I am not surpsied more people are optn or IVA's if just to stop the creditors knocking and taking lots of interest. That is our main reasoning behind it to be fair, that eventually all of this will stop.

Because my husband lost his job he got a lump sum payment, we paid off a lot of the current debts we had, car, catalogue, smaller debts, etc... We also used our Clubcard points to pay for a holiday and we saved a lump sum for spending money as we won't get a holiday again. Anyway, they told my husband tht he had xxx amount of money go into his account over the last 12 months and that he should have paid the debt off. He asked them if they had noted what the money had paid for? They had no comment and also that there was no money in the account now but they were not interested in that. What has messed us up in this respect is that I have my business account with Barclays as well (because it is his debt I am not sure they can touch this) and if I needed stock I would use his overdraft to buy it (I would have to pay for my overdraft whether using it or not so this saved money) and then when the stock is sold I pay him the money back to the penny so it was an in/out transaction. Of course, each time we have done this has put another xx amount of cash into the account and this is all they have seen and this is why they said we have to pay it back. I don't get it as they can see what we pay out each month, bills and grocerys, the odd cinema visit with the kids, we don't even get cash payments out of the hole in the wall, they just see that XX has gone into his account and they want their money. This is where the problem lies. So, we stopped doing that in the hope that next year they get a better idea of the fact that we have no money!!

CLAPTON

in the end, only you can say if the advantages of staying with barclays outways these problems.

how is you credit ratings? can you get a bank a/c with another bank and then he can get his money paid into your a/c

and/or can he open another basic bank a/c that provide an electron or solo card
natwest and first direct give solo cards and co-op give electron.

if payment is your chief difficulty can you ask your creditors for their a/c details so you can pay by Standing Order or BACS transfer (which can be done from a basic account)

mh1923

Your husband doesn't have to close his Barclay's account in order to use another one for day to day living. Right now, Barclay's is the only creditor that has access to your banking history, and also the only one that is giving you grief. To me, that suggests a link, and perhaps if they didn't have that hold over you, they'd shut up and accept their monthly payments like your other creditors are.

blue_monkey_2

Thanks, yes, you are all probably right. I'll speak to him again about the bank account. It does make perfect sense to be fair. If I coul pay them tomorrow then I would as I could do without snapping at the kids about it all and getting stressed. Still, we live another day and have to do each and every one as it comes.

Many thanks for your advice, it does to me make perfect sense - I just have to convince him indoors!!

mummyemma

Hi

There are a few basic bank accounts that now do a electron card, which would help you re paying for things. Mine is with the co-op bank, but i think that HSBC, nationwide and Natwest all do one.

Might be worth looking into then at least you wont have to reply on going to a cash point

hth
Emma

madduck

Halifax/BofS also offer an electron card with their basic bank account now. You simply have to move any funds going in to another account. Whilst money is going into your Barclays account, there is nothing to stop them taking first dibs and they don't need to accept your payment proposals.

The other thing that you have to take in mind is who your other creditors are - either directly or indirectly. You don't want to open another account and find yourself in the same position with them.

Phoenix79_2

mummyemma wrote:

Hi

There are a few basic bank accounts that now do a electron card, which would help you re paying for things. Mine is with the co-op bank, but i think that HSBC, nationwide and Natwest all do one.

Might be worth looking into then at least you wont have to reply on going to a cash point

hth
Emma

Natwest and HSBC don't offer electron. They offer solo which is practically the same