urgent help needed

the-auctioneer

hi all

I have a problem......

I HAD an egg card, defaulted several years ago & was paying them a monthly DD. When they refused to freeze interest etc I stopped the DD. Since then I have moved.......

I have a Barclays current account that has laid dormant for the last 2 yrs, have just reactivated it.....put some cash in & hey presto....Barclays have taken my cash to set against the egg debt.

I didnt even know Barclays had taken over egg.......certainly not had any correspondence from egg/barclays about it....

Barclays say that I would have been notified at my old address last Nov, I moved in July last yr....

Can they do this?

Plxply

Yes a company can offset a debt with money held in your accounts. If you run into trouble it's a good idea to keep your current account separate from your credit card.

the-auctioneer

even though the original debt wasnt with barclays? ie, its a debt they have inherited by taking over egg?

YorkshireBoy

the-auctioneer wrote: »

I didnt even know Barclays had taken over egg.......certainly not had any correspondence from egg/barclays about it....

Egg, being an internet bank, sent the bulk of the pre-sale information by e-mail. However, I seem to remember receiving some information by post.

I'm surprised they (Egg) didn't sell the debt on, depending on exactly when you stopped paying of course. But if you only stopped fairly recently (ie just before the transfer concluded) then perhaps Barclays decided to simply 'lay in wait', gambling, successfully as it turns out, that you'd credit your Barclays current account?

YorkshireBoy

the-auctioneer wrote: »

even though the original debt wasnt with barclays? ie, its a debt they have inherited by taking over egg?

Yes........

clive12

they can also do this if you have accounts with other companys in the barclays group woolwich for example.

open an account with a separate bank and dont have any money going in or out of any barclays or associated companies.

giblet10

Halifax did this with me a few years ago - lesson learned - even though I never plan to get into that trouble again I will never bank with the same company I have my credit card with in the future..