Advice Needed. Old Debt, new collector

jenand8285

Hi, I am looking for some advice as to what to do with some old debt of my OH's. It may be an essay but here is the situation.

In October 2004 my OH puchased a car radio for £750 on a 12 months interest free BNPL (Barclays Partner Finance). In September 2005, as he had not paid for it the direct debit payment stated. The first two payments were £37.50 but then the direct debit amounts kept getting lower (by Barclays request). Anyway the interest carried on building up each month and in March 2007 he defaulted on his payment and in the month and on the statement it says 'default sum L1' £22.50 in March and a unpaid charge of £20.00. The April D/D goes through OK but on the statement there is 3 default sums of £22.50 in April. Then the May goes through but still 2 default sums of £22.50 each. On the statement the default sums L1 & L2 are continually applied to the account despite the payments being made. Therefore the debt is never getting paid as he is only paying on average £25.00 but around £50 is applied each month!. The Default sums are there every month, then in Novemeber 2007 he defaults again and this is were I noticed the amount outstanding as being £786.49 and phoned them for a statement of account as I though it did not add up, anyway they kept messing around, never sending the statement and then eventually passed it to a debt management company with the balance owing then being £1161.76. In June 2009 Barclays wrote off the debt (according to the statement) and that was the last we heard until we got a letter from Cabot Financial trying to recover the debt.
I tried to talk to Barclays in 2008 (when we finally got a statement) and asked them why the default sum has been applied every month despite the payment clearly going through, and they just said they would look into it but the obviously passed it on.
Please help, has anyone had a similar case????

jenand8285

If possible, I am willing to upload the statement (deleting any personal info, of course) so someone can have a look and see how many charges have been applied. I think they are wrong but would like another opinion.

dancingfairy

It sounds like you have 2 issues:
1) with Barclays partner finance who you claim reduced the DD and
2) with Barclays for failing to respond to your queries and resolve things and have sold the debt on.

I think your best bet may be to complain to Barclays that you account has been mismanaged by them and dispite your best efforts it took x months to get a statement and when you queried it you got no response. Furthermore you were under the impression that the debt had been written off.
Request that the debt collectors are called off until your complaint is properly resolved.
See what they come back with.
Once you have exhausted Barclays complaint procedure you have the right to take it to the Ombudsman but give Barclays the chance to sort it all first.
df

jenand8285

Thank you for your response. My major issue is that they have applied two default charges of £22.50 each, every month despite them receiving payment, therefore the outstanding balance has gone up and then of course the interest amount that has been applied each month was higher. In the past when I have tried to talk to Barclays they have said now it has been passed on I have to wait for the collection agency to get in touch and try to resolve the problem with them.

Which is the best way to start the complaints with Barclays? Phone or mail? A total of £775.60 has alreay been paid and still they claim there is £1167.76 outstanding on an original borrowed amount of £750!

Should I call Cabot and let them know I am going back to complain to Barclays? Never done anything like this so I do not have a clue.

jenand8285

Please can someone look at the statement and tell me if they agree that the charges do seem to have been applied wrong.

I really have no idea where to go from here as I have no experience with dealing with debts. We are in a position to repay the debt in full but I do not want to pay these charges. To me there seems to be over £300 of wrong charges.
I thought we was debt free and after receiving this I feel like my head is going to blow off!! :eek:

jenand8285

Statement: 20110912_204121.pdf

afletcher30

You need to write to BPF and ask them what they believe the Default Sum L1 and L2 relate to. It is clear from the statement that they shouldn't have been applied as payments continue to be made. I can understand a charge when the DD and Cheque got returned, but the amount they have charged is unreasonably high and I would suspect can also be challenged.

Write to them asking for an explanation. If you don't get it then write to them again asking for their complaints procedure. If you still get no-where then start a case with the Ombudsman, they are very helpful.

In my experience BPF are difficult and obstructive and are looking for people to just roll over and play dead for them. However it would appear you have a good case for complaint so pursue it.....but please be prepared for a l-o-n-g fight, just don't give up.