Barclay's Charges + Default on account

wonkeybong

Please advise me where possible - obviously there have been some delays, so this process may be quite difficult.

Recently I applied for a credit card that I could use whilst travelling, to have in addition to my current credit card. The payments on the first credit card have always been in time, and I have not paid a penny of interest thus far.

Before I took out the credit card I currently own, aged 19 (December 2008) I took £500 from my Barclay's bank account - it turns out it was some sort of personal reserve facility (that I had never requested on the account), that I had thought was an interest free perk and part of my upgrade to a student account. At the time I did not have the means to pay it back. By August 2009, I was receiving phone calls and letters (some of which threatened a personal visit) from Barclay's and their third party company to reclaim the debt. The interest charges (like with most of these banks) were Sky high, and some letters informed me that I had debts to pay of £850 +. I did not have this money available, and felt that these charges were incredibly unjust. All I had available to me at the time of one phone call, was £100. I agreed over the phone to use this money as a payment to 'smooth things over' for a while, and hoped that in the meantime I'd come up with a solution. After consulting with various forums as to whether or not these charges were fair, I sent Barclay's a subject action request letter and the debt collection agency a letter notifying them that the account was in dispute. Since sending those letters in December 2009, I received nothing back and (probably naively) assumed that Barclay's had given up on chasing the funds and that I was in the clear.

This now leads me back to the point made at the beginning of the post (regarding acquiring a credit card). I tried to take out a credit card with my current bank, but was told I had been denied. After accessing my credit history using Equifax (who are terrible by the way!!!) I noticed that I had a default by a payment due to Barclays of £662.

Please can a kind soul advise on what to do and where to go from here. I do not still have a transcript of the letter (it was written on an old laptop) or the proof of postage for the SAR letter, which was sent recorded with a £10 cheque for the request. All I do know is that since the letters were sent, I have heard nothing. I have still clearly heard nothing from the bank, and only know about this issue as I attempted to gain credit.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Wywth

wonkeybong wrote: »

Please advise me where possible - obviously there have been some delays, so this process may be quite difficult.

Recently I applied for a credit card that I could use whilst travelling, to have in addition to my current credit card. The payments on the first credit card have always been in time, and I have not paid a penny of interest thus far.

Before I took out the credit card I currently own, aged 19 (December 2008) I took £500 from my Barclay's bank account - it turns out it was some sort of personal reserve facility (that I had never requested on the account), that I had thought was an interest free perk and part of my upgrade to a student account. At the time I did not have the means to pay it back. By August 2009, I was receiving phone calls and letters (some of which threatened a personal visit) from Barclay's and their third party company to reclaim the debt. The interest charges (like with most of these banks) were Sky high, and some letters informed me that I had debts to pay of £850 +. I did not have this money available, and felt that these charges were incredibly unjust. All I had available to me at the time of one phone call, was £100. I agreed over the phone to use this money as a payment to 'smooth things over' for a while, and hoped that in the meantime I'd come up with a solution. After consulting with various forums as to whether or not these charges were fair, I sent Barclay's a subject action request letter and the debt collection agency a letter notifying them that the account was in dispute. Since sending those letters in December 2009, I received nothing back and (probably naively) assumed that Barclay's had given up on chasing the funds and that I was in the clear.

This now leads me back to the point made at the beginning of the post (regarding acquiring a credit card). I tried to take out a credit card with my current bank, but was told I had been denied. After accessing my credit history using Equifax (who are terrible by the way!!!) I noticed that I had a default by a payment due to Barclays of £662.

Please can a kind soul advise on what to do and where to go from here. I do not still have a transcript of the letter (it was written on an old laptop) or the proof of postage for the SAR letter, which was sent recorded with a £10 cheque for the request. All I do know is that since the letters were sent, I have heard nothing. I have still clearly heard nothing from the bank, and only know about this issue as I attempted to gain credit.

Thanks in advance for any help!

I suggest you contact the bank and come to an arrangement to pay back the money you apparently owe them.

As you say, it is naive to think a creditor will simply give up chasing a debt.

wonkeybong

Whilst I agree, I am fearful / wary that they will pursue the full amount, with charges that are an abomination. Therefore I would wish to reach a settlement, which would take into account the fact that my letter was not replied to (I'd imagine that this personal reserve fund can be considered missold, as it was not a facility on the account that I had requested) and the fact that I have already made one payment towards this sum.

DevCoder

The default will remain, that cannot be removed as it accurately represents what happened.

The charges are not an abomination according to the court case the banks won.

You might get a small gesture if your letter was not responded to (although you should have chased this after 8 weeks and then proceeded to the FOS). But it wont make a significant dent in what you owe.

wonkeybong

Well then is there any point me paying the money outstanding?

blue_sox

Your choices are:
[FONT=&quot]Contact your bank and offer a settlement, about 30% on the original outstanding amount pre charges. This is on condition they update your credit file to show the debt settled. The default will remain.

Pay nothing, it stays on your credit file for 6 years from the date of the default and then will disappear. You will receive chasing letters and threats but it is very unlikely to escalate as it is a small amount and not cost effective for the bank to proceed.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
Clearly your decision this depends on your circumstances[/FONT]

Wywth

wonkeybong wrote: »

Well then is there any point me paying the money outstanding?

Debts rarely just disappear by ignoring them, in fact the opposite is often the case, they just continue to grow (and perhaps start attracting huge collection/recovery charges :eek:)