Can barclaycard do this?? Really confused over statement

headcrash27

My barclaycard has a direct debit set up to pay off the amount in full every month. Anyway this month i bought goods worth £300 on my barclaycard which i returned to the shop and the shop credited back my barclaycard. The statement showed that £300 would be taken by direct debit on the next payment date as when i got the statment the shop hadn't credited back the return by then. However on the barclaycard statement it states that "the amount will be reduced by any payments since your last statement" which i assumed to mean that as the £300 had been credited back it would be taken out. Anyway i've checked my bank today and they've taken the £300 which has made me overdrawn and means i will pay a fee at my bank and my barclaycard is now £300 in credit. Are they allowed to do this? Surely they can't take money that i don't owe them? Is there anything i can do and do you think the bank will negate the overdraft fee if i explain the situation to them?

Tixy

They can do it yes.
Not all banks will count the credit as a payment.
What date did the credit go back on your card? what date was the DD taken?

I would suggest contacting bcard and explain and saying you didn't realise the payment would still be taken and can they refund the £300 to you.
Then I'd try calling your bank and explain the confusion- if its the first time you've been overdrawn then they will often agree to waiver the fee as a goodwill gesture.

headcrash27

Tixy wrote: »

They can do it yes.
Not all banks will count the credit as a payment.
What date did the credit go back on your card? what date was the DD taken?

I would suggest contacting bcard and explain and saying you didn't realise the payment would still be taken and can they refund the £300 to you.
Then I'd try calling your bank and explain the confusion- if its the first time you've been overdrawn then they will often agree to waiver the fee as a goodwill gesture.

Hi, thanks for your reply. The credit went back on the 8th March and they took the payment on the 27th. I didn't realise that they did this, i am tempted to cancel my direct debit to prevent this happening again. When i say it made me overdrawn it's actually taken me into my agreed overdraft but there is a £5 charge + interest for doing so and i try not to go into it unless it's unavoidable. I just have it as a buffer really. So i don't know if they will refund that but i will give it a try.

lisyloo

and do you think the bank will negate the overdraft fee if i explain the situation to them?

Many banks are sympathetic to a "first offence". They will often waive the fee as a goodwill gesture.

"the amount will be reduced by any payments since your last statement"

A credit is not necessarily a payment.
I would make a complaint on-line with Barclaycard and see what they say.
If they say a refund is not a payment and your assumption was wrong then I'm not sure there is much you can do but worth a try.

Voyager2002

You are fortunate that your bank allowed the debit to go. Mine recently refused to pay a similar amount to Barclaycard by direct debit. (As soon as I found out about this, I paid the full amount by debit card from another account). Barclaycard was not aware of the problem until I had corrected it, yet charged me a twelve pound missed payment fee as well as a twelve pound failed direct debit fee (they refunded both of these charges when I asked them nicely), and six pounds in interest. My bank charged me fifteen pounds for not paying the direct debit.

lisyloo

I have recently closed my Barclaycard (it was originally Egg).
I have found them absolutely awful to deal with.
At one point I've had £125 awarded after a complaint, but still that's not enough to make me stay with them.

I actually pay Capital one £18 fee for my card, but I'd rather do that as I get decent service (they have paid out on 2 disputes for me).

headcrash27

Update: Rang Barclaycard and they are going to refund the payment although they insist that they were right to take it as they apparently don't count refunds to the account as payments. Also rang Lloyds to see if they would waive the charges and they refused! They said i would need to ask Barclaycard to pay the charges which i obviously can't do as they haven't technically done anything wrong. So i will just half to chalk that one down to experience.

chattychappy

The joys of DD! You really are giving up control by signing a DD.

BlueAngelCV

headcrash27 wrote: »

The credit went back on the 8th March and they took the payment on the 27th.

So you have a DD to pay the full amount each month. At the time of the statement (presumably shortly before 8 March) the balance was £300.00 but from 9 March it was £0.00 and they still took £300.00 on 27 March.

On the basis that the DD is for the full amount not a fixed sum I'm not convinced that they haven't done anything wrong. You authorised them to take money to pay the balance in full. They took more than this. If the dates were closer together I could understand but are they really suggesting that their records didn't update between 9 March and 27 March?

I agree that a credit is likely not classified as a payment but as the balance was £0 I don't see what difference that makes.

I have DD set up with various companies. If in between the statement and DD being taken I make a payment which means that I clear my balance I've never had them take the DD as well.

lisyloo

The joys of DD! You really are giving up control by signing a DD.

That is NOT true.
You get given the infomation.
Unfortunately the OP made a mistake by assuming that "refunds" or "credits" were counted as "payments". They are not a payment.
This is an understandeable mistake and I am not having a go, but ultimately it's the OP that was wrong not Barclays.
They have not surrendered control.
You can cancel a DD at any time and the information was corrected provided.

You can of course make payments yourself but for many people that's riskier so DD is a good system. You are in contral and can recall unauthorised payments after the event thought the DD guarantee.

but as the balance was £0 I don't see what difference that makes.

The statement balance ws £300.
The OP may need to check the wording and terms and conditions to see if there is a technicality here, but normally they are referring to a statement balance not a moving balance.

If I was in their position I'd check the Ts and Cs.
A formal complaint could be considered if it's not clear, but if it's clear that it means the statement balance (which I believe is what they mean) then there is no case to answer.

If in between the statement and DD being taken I make a payment which means that I clear my balance I've never had them take the DD as well.

Please don't assume all companies computer systems work the same. They simply don't.
Some have cut off dates e.g. if the payment is before 5 days it's included but if it's at the last minute and the DD demand has already been created then it won't be updated.
The theme running through my answers is that you need to read the terms and conditions or perhaps ask on here where people may know.

Ben8282

I don't recommend 'full balance' direct debits to credit cards. A 'mimimum payment' direct debit yes, an essential safety measure but not a full payment direct debit, no. If you do this you are essentially commiting yourself to using the credit card as a charge card and, as others have said, giving up control.

It is far better to have a minimum payment direct debit and pay the remaining balance as an additional payment.

You need to get to know your credit card especially their policy with regard to cancelling the direct debit when a payment has already been made.

I believe that it is unlikely that the refund would be considered a 'payment' in this sense (i.e that it would be accepted in lieu of a minimum paymenet.) If it was, it would be theoretically possible for everybody to make a purchase for an item costing slightly more than next month's anticipated minimum payment from a trusted store who give refunds without question, wait for the statement, refund the item and claim the refund to be the minimum payment.

Also your dd amount would have been based on your previous statement balance, not the current balance at the date the dd was due..