Barclays offer me £300.00

Tatteredgown

Hi new here could do with some advise, I received a cheque from Barclays this morning for £300. With the following letter well the opening lines.


"We're writing to apologise to you as we've made an error in the way we have reported information about your account to credit reference agencies. We would like to assure you that we have now corrected this reporting error and updated your current data with the following credit reference agencies that we subscribe to: Experian, Equifax and Call Credit....

It is important that we highlight to you that the error may have affected how other financial organisations made their lending decisions............


To apologise for this error and compensate you we would like to offer an cheque for £300 enclosed in this letter......"
My dilemma is if Barclays are offering this amount for any inconvenience caused, should l refuse this amount and ask for more ?

PeacefulWaters

Try your luck and tell us how you get on.

chanz4

and the proof for the extra is..

Tatteredgown

No proof for extra....but just knowing how The Bank Robbers operate thought they might just be offering a minimum payment. At this point l have not tried for any loans or credit so not too sure as too the damage done by them. I wondered if anyone else has had this experience or am l a one off ? :cool:

YorkshireBoy

Tatteredgown wrote: »

I wondered if anyone else has had this experience or am l a one off ? :cool:

Google is your friend. Indeed, one of the hits from the first page of results points back to this site...

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5108592

If you ask for more they'll ask you to justify your claim. And you can't, based on the fact you can't claim for could have/would have/should have situations.

They'll be familiar with the FOS's stance on distress and inconvenience awards, and that's why they've given you (in my opinion) a generous £300 goodwill gesture.

Finally, if you decide to pursue it with the FOS I understand they have the power to overturn the bank's initial offer and make a lower award, ie it's a dangerous game you're contemplating.

lee111s

I'd bite their hand off and put it to bed.

Herbalus

I'd be more alarmed that there have been errors that the bank feel is worth paying you £300 out of the blue for. I'd contact the bank and find out exactly what errors have taken place before doing anything else.

You can't base a decision on a letter that broadly states "there's been a problem" because you don't know if it's a serious problem or just a simple mistake that hasn't affected you and has now been rectified. Only then will you know if £300 is a good amount.

If you asked for more, what would be your response to their questions "can you tell us why you think that?"

pmduk

If they hadn't told you about it, you'd never have known as it hasn't had an effect on you. Think of it as a bonus and don't be greedy

robatwork

How on earth do we know the inconvenience caused?

This could have been something very minor that no longer even appears on your credit history, and the £300 is very generous.

Or it could be something really bad like a CIFAS marker that hasn't been removed properly and would cause you serious issues; maybe £300 is paltry.

Have you actually got your credit reports from those agencies to see what they say?

JKSandy

Herbalus wrote: »

I'd be more alarmed that there have been errors that the bank feel is worth paying you £300 out of the blue for. I'd contact the bank and find out exactly what errors have taken place before doing anything else.

You can't base a decision on a letter that broadly states "there's been a problem" because you don't know if it's a serious problem or just a simple mistake that hasn't affected you and has now been rectified. Only then will you know if £300 is a good amount.

If you asked for more, what would be your response to their questions "can you tell us why you think that?"

THIS!

I think it would be important to find out exactly what the problem is/was and I would check my credit files.

jjlandlord

The £300 are not a goodwill gesture, they are by their own admission a compensation offer.
If you accept you won't have further recourse, which is what they hope for.

If you refuse, they will logically try to play hardball and ask you to justify.
At that point both parties would think about the extra trouble and the expected result.