Account In Debt But Hasnt Gone To Collections Yet...

swaterhouse

My basic account is now £660 overdrawn, and doesnt even have an overdraft. It hasnt yet gone to collections, but interest is gathering and i want to stop all of this and offer them payments each month before it gets higher and higher and before it gets sent to collections...

I have gone ontp national debtline website and downloaded th Budget Summary sheet to send them, and also the Ask Your Creditors To Accept Pro Ratta Offers sheet.

Since the account hasnt been forwarded to collections, where do i send these filled out sheets? Can i take them directly into the barclays branch? Or am i going to have to wait?

The problem is, my brother fraudulently used my card over christmas and i reported it and claimed back the money, not knowing he did this, so then phoned them when he admited it to me telling them about it, now theyve debited my account bringing me into minus figures! I am not currently working, AND am now currently bankrupt, and he is not working so i have no way of paying this back any time soon..

Advice please

honey10

If your brother used your card without your knowledge, why have they debited the money back, surely it's still fraud?

swaterhouse

It is but i said i didn't want any further action as he is a family member. He said he will pay me as and when, and has only so far given me £40, so i can see this going on forever.

LunaLady

Did your brother have the pin code?

swaterhouse

yes, therefor its gone down as my responsibilty

honey10

I know it probably isn't something that you will consider, but depending on the amount of money, have you considered taking him to small claims court?
Have you spoken to the bank about your financial situation, they have people whose job it is to help you deal with things like this.

swaterhouse

Yes, it was the fraud aftercare team i spoke to, after speaking to someone from an asian call centre, i explained everything to him and said is there anything you can do and he replied quite bluntley "no". i phoned back again, hoping to speak to someone from an english call centre who i thought might understand me better but i got through to asian call centre again and they said "no" too. i dont think they can understand me properly, sometimes i think its like talking to trained robots. :-/

I really dont know what the best thing to do. I cant take them to small claims court, as its gone down as my responsibility.

honey10

I meant take your brother to small claims court. The bank consider it your responsibility because you didn't protect your personal information the way that you should have, however, a court may see that its your brother that is at fault. it won't change the banks position, but you could then recover money from your brother.

The bank will have debt advisors. They have the ability to freeze interest on what you owe and allow you to pay back at a monthly rate you can afford. Which bank are you with?

Firstly, do you have a new basic bank account with a different bank? Get that sorted first so that you still have access to any money/benefits.
I would suggest contacting the banks customer services, explain that you are concerned about the charges that the unplanned overdraft will attract and ask to speak to a debt advisor. There is no point in talking to the fraud team, as the bank don't see a fraud has been committed.

There is a good chance that they will turn it into a planned overdraft and it will then reduce by a certain amount each month.
Thats what HSBC did for me when I had a similar case of misuse by a family member.

swaterhouse

thanks, good idea

swaterhouse

I'm in the process of trying to open a new account with co-op.
In the mean time, ive wrote a letter to Barclays asking them to completely clear the debt taking into account my financial situations. Who shall i give this to, my local branch? If so shall i take it directly into the branch to the cashiers, or shall i post it??

honey10

I think posting it to Barclays customer service would be the better idea, the branch staff don't really have any power.
Mark it for the attention of the debt team, they have the most power, hower, i do think it's unlikely that they will write the debt off totally