Old Barclaycard and Interest

rubyjam

Deleted post.

Monkeyballs

Hi,

So this card is being paid through the DMP and the interest they are charging is more than SC is sending them right?

1) How long has it been on the DMP?
2) Have you had confirmation that they have had details and an offer from SC?

I lurrrrve BC as they're really friendly, helpful and professional in their approach to everything *cough*bo££ocks*cough*

My first suspicion is that either they never received the initial contact... Or, that it's been a year since they agreed?

MB

Standingtall

Hi Rubyjam

I have managed to get interest and charges frozen with Barcalycard but what I have not managed is to get them to default me even though I was paying a tiny monthly amount. Lots of other people on the forums appear to be having the same problem unfortunately.

I also suspect that they will start charging interest again soon as I am now paying more than the minimum payment would have been - big sigh.

Good luck and keep trying is the best advice I can give.

Regards
ST

fatbelly

rubyjam wrote: »

We are in a DMP with Stepchange.

Recently, Barclaycard have started charging interest on one of OH's cards which is more that the actual payment we make. As a result this debt is going up not down. If this carries on much longer we will owe millions (slight exageration!)

It is the second largest of our debts and we pay quite a large chunk of our monthly payment to it. They haven't defaulted it yet. It doesn't appear on any the credit reference agency's so I can't check it but I definitely haven't received any default notices in the post. OH contacted Equifax they said it was because it was a very old account and they can't put old accounts on their system.

I have written to Barclaycard and they insist all charges are correct. We are both beginning to feel that we are banging our head against a brick wall for this one. It is really worrying me because all our other debts are slowly going down, yet this one just keeps on getting higher and higher.

Some of our other debts have been defaulted and sold on and they no longer charge us interest so I was thinking of trying to force a default by paying them miniumum payment each month. But Stepchange say if I didn't pay Barclaycard the agreed amount they would take him to court.

Is there anything else we can do to get them to reduce the interest?

If it's not appearing on the CRA reports, then it probably was defaulted more than 6 years ago. Otherwise it would appear.

They would not necessarily take court action if you stopped payment. The more likely outcome would be that they would sell it. However, if they did take court action, the balance would almost certainly be frozen.

Omitting them from the dmp would probably also mean leaving stepchange as they are compliant with this. So for now

1. Formal complaint to Barclaycard requiring a response within 8 weeks that you can refer to FOS. You may already be at this point.

2. Refer to FOS.

Stewart_78

You need to search this forum for 'CCA request'. If they don't have a proper credit agreement, they can't enforce the debt through the courts. If you formally request a copy of the agreement and they don't comply within a given time, I believe the account is then in dispute and they cannot charge you interest.

They are bullying you and probably don't have a leg to stand on which is what BC do best.

CCA them and if they don't come up with the goods (a proper signed agreement, not a heads of terms or some re-hashed nonsense), politely tell them that you will start paying again once they have fulfilled their legal obligations.

fatbelly

Remember Barclaycard are subscribers to The Lending Code, which has just been updated.

224. Subscribers should consider reducing or stopping interest and charges when a customer evidences that they are in financial difficulties. Such reduction/suspension decision should be based upon an income and expenditure statement indicating that they are unable to make repayments sufficient to meet contractual terms. Where a customer is able to make only token payments, their debt should not increase as a result of interest and charges levied. The assessment should reflect the customer’s lack of ability to pay rather than the stage an account has reached in the arrears cycle or whether they are using free sources of debt advice. Where a firm declines to allow concessions, they should be prepared to explain why to the customer or their adviser if requested to do so.

225. It is inappropriate for interest and charges to continue to be taken where the result would be that the repayment period for the customer becomes excessive. In forming a judgement on what might be excessive, a subscriber should take into account the type of product and the individual circumstances of the borrower.