Warning about Barclays Bank

snackbar

I've been on the phone to a debt charity who have told me although Barclays is a Bankruptcy friendly bank, they aren't friendly when they find out you've had a previous account or credit card etc - And you owe them money, therefore there is a huge chance they will freeze the account I have just opened. :mad:

They've recommended Santander Basic Account who have kept nearly all the bankruptcy accounts open. Due to all this hassle luckily my local council will send me cheques for my housing benefit and DWP will provide a cash easy account where they give you a code and you give the code to a local shop to obtain your benefits. The good thing about Santander is you can set up an account over the phone but you only get a cash card.

What a hassle all this is!

egrescrimp

Interesting, I'm discharged (2 days ago) but just applied for a Santander account and was accepted

tigerfeet2006

Who ever told you that was WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!.

Barclays will be fine with you so don't panic. Santander are not BR friendly.

If I am wrong I am sure someone will correct me but I don't think I am.

snackbar

I've just called Santander Bankruptcy department they have stated they freeze for 1-5 days max, but once they find you've never had any accounts with them the freeze is removed instantly, or failing that a letter from Insolvency Service.

snackbar

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

Who ever told you that was WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!.

Barclays will be fine with you so don't panic. Santander are not BR friendly.

If I am wrong I am sure someone will correct me but I don't think I am.

I understand what you are saying and lots of conflicting and confusing information, everyone is saying things differently.

But how can Barclays Bank be BR friendly when they have you already on the system as owing money?

TheGardener

snackbar wrote: »

But how can Barclays Bank be BR friendly when they have you already on the system as owing money?

I agree with tigerfeet - The advice still holds (as far as I am aware) that the only High St banks that are BR tolerant are Barclays and the co-op - many a person has been caught out by poorly informed local branch bank staff.
If you had debts with Barclays, don't open your new basic account until after BR, otherwise do it before BR - if you prefer the co-op then do it before BR or you will have to wait until after AD.

I continue to put my faith in the tried and tested advice on bank accounts here on the forum rather than believe a call centre or local branch clerk on this subject - they rarely have any experience of BR at all

WattoS84

snackbar wrote: »

What a hassle all this is!

Can only imagine... guess its not just you its a hassle for

philnicandevan

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

Who ever told you that was WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!.

Barclays will be fine with you so don't panic. Santander are not BR friendly.

If I am wrong I am sure someone will correct me but I don't think I am.

unless this is something new...you are indeed correct

(barclays were my largest creditor and offered me a basic acc no questions asked)

dojoman

philnicandevan wrote: »

unless this is something new...you are indeed correct

(barclays were my largest creditor and offered me a basic acc no questions asked)

Same here Barclays opened an account for me despite me owing them money. Have you tried to open a Coop cashminder account?

fermi

Not seen or heard of it happening, but from the main StepChange thread.

StepChange_James wrote: »

2. What happens to a Barclays bank account when you go bankrupt with Barclays debts

Barclays are currently the only high-street bank that will offer bank accounts to undischarged bankrupts. They’ve told us recently that they’ll shut accounts down if the person going bankrupt had Barclays debts (including Barclaycard). In practice this might not happen in every case but if they know there are Barclays debts included in the bankruptcy they’re likely to close the account down.

So we’d recommend not relying on a Barclays Cashcard account staying open after bankruptcy if you’ve got Barclays debts.

Sorry if there was any confusion with the earlier messages, let me know if there’s anything that doesn’t make sense now.

Kind regards

James

fermi

Then again, they said this the other days as well, which was misguided advice.

So I would be inclined to take anything stepchange say in this with a small mountain of salt.

StepChange_Jen wrote: »

You should list your Barclays basic account on your forms. If it’s not associated with any debts, you should be allowed to keep it open however you should move into this account as soon as possible. The official receiver (OR) will still freeze the account so they can have a look at your transaction history. Once this is done, if the OR and Barclays are happy for you to continue using it then you will be allowed access again.