DMP - Barclaycard wrong again for hiking the APR

miss_lisalou

Just thought I'd post this for anybody who has had their credit card APR increased whilst on a DMP.

I've been on a DMP for 2 and half years, at the start of which my APR with Barclaycard was 6.8% (from back when I had a good credit score!). A year into the DMP they hiked it up to 12.9% with no letter in advance to advise me. I wrote to them, they apologised, refunded the extra interest plus £50 for my inconvenience and went back down to 6.8%. Last Sept, exactly a year on, surprise surprise they did the same thing! Again I wrote to them, similar format to my previous letter, however this time they refused to reduce the APR or refund the extra in interest.

I took my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman after a bit of research (see the following link http://www.theukcardsassociation.org.uk/best_practices/-/page/681/

And today, The Ombudsman has advised me that Barclaycard have responded to them that they are reducing my APR back to 6.8%, refunding me the additional interest and again giving me £50 for my troubles.

Anybody who finds themselves in this situation, please check out the above website and highlight to your credit card company which of these criteria apply to you. I know this matter comes up regularly and I was first directed to the above commitments from another user on this forum, but it's worth a reminder and the half hour writing a letter for anyone in this situation. :money:

sickasachip13

Hi

Well done you for fighting them. I'm fortunately not in the same situation, but I think it's great when people take on the giant creditors and win :-)

Thanks for sharing the excellent advice and info.

SAAC

harrywillsucceed

Good advice, thanks. I have, two Barclaycards on my DMP so I'll check the interest rates on both. All of my other credit card companies charge no interest on the DMP but Barclaycards have always been greedy :-(

eyeopener2

Ammunition - thank you so much for this.

E2

miss_lisalou

No problem, I hope it helps you get the same result. If you want a copy of the letter, PM me and I'll cut + paste it

bradibaby

Thats great news i will definetly be writing to them recorded delivery and one to FOC if they don't respond this time

mines is a similar story to your's

i was on a repayment plan for a couple of years then in august last year .when i recieved carers allowance for looking after my dad CAB did a new I&E

..my payments to barclaycard increased from £10 a month to £46
Barclaycard wacked on the interest at 12-9 % without notice ((roughly about £22-50 a month )

..CAB tried on the phone to have it removed they said NO WAY and she put it on speaker phone so i could hear i had to pay .....

before i went on repayment plan & according to an old statement it was only 6.8% ) ...i wrote to them as well stating this and they didnt rely .. and also stated that they did not give me the 30 days notice that interest was now to be added

if possible could i please have a copy of the letter you sent to them

bradibaby

Thanks for your help ...got a phonecall from Barclaycard today ( who claim they sent me a letter last July ) but success for the time being ..they are reducing payments and also set interest at 0% for a further year and refunding the interest paid on previous 3 month payments
they also said any reduced payment on a DMP over £15 automatically gets interest added at 1% which works out at 12-9%

bradibaby

argggh thought i had it sorted .. statement came in today and added charges & interest because i didn't pay full minimum payment as per Feb statement
had already phoned them up as letter i recieved from them after the phoncal from customer relations
...wanted £46 and 1% interest

she assured me it had been reduced to £15 with no interest ..........and to top it still waiting on confirmation of phonecall chat and copy of credit agreement ..they have cashed the psotal order as £1 was showing on statement

another letter getting sent recorded delivery asking what they are playing at

Lostallmycreditcaards

Hello
Found this thread and would be very interested to see the link you put in your posting theukcardsassociation.org page 681 however, when I try to open it, I get "page not found" has it been removed I wonder? I too am in the position of being on a DMP with Barclaycard who are increasing interest without notice. However, my other creditor Halifax is worse. I am paying £2,500 off at £37.00 a month. £30.00 is taken in interest and only £7 goes towards the debt, so it will take about 29 years to pay off at this rate - I'll be long gone to the grave by then. I am about to report them to the FOS. Could you post the link again if you can find the page please.
Many thanks

sickasachip13

Hi lostallmycreditcards
I don't know where it is, but I know this matter has been discussed on the DMP Mutual Support Thread a few times, so you might find something there (as well as lots of other good advice for, and from, us DMPers)
SAAC

DS4215

Does anyone know if this advice works for overdrafts? - Santander started by charging me £7.50 a month, but I recently increased my payment from £30 to £40 a month and shortly afterwards they increased the charges to £20. Its currently taking me twice as long to pay it back as it would without the charges