Barclays refuses to abide by ombudsman's settlement terms-what now?

Havelaar · 29 July 2015 at 10:23AM

I am appealing for advice in this case in which Barclays has failed over a 2 year period to put right errors on my mortgage account and now refuses to abide by the binding settlement terms.

To confuse matters, the Ombudsman provided misleading information which led to me agreeing the terms and the complaint being closed while the issues are unresolved.

Ombudsman has now washed its hands of the case and told me I need to sue Barclays.
The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000) makes an Ombudsman’s decision legally enforceable in court, but I can find no solicitor to take on my case on a no-win-no-fee basis and I am not in a position to incur legal fees. It is an obvious winner with loads of political mileage for any law firm.

I assume I need to sue once for the statement which they were supposed to provide under the settlement terms and then again later for my losses- which I can only work out once I see the statement.

The complaint relates to Barclays’ failure to credit my account with several thousand pounds of overpayments, even claiming the balance had INCREASED after said overpayments. This was my 3rd consecutive complaint regarding Barclays’ mismanagement of the same account.
Under the settlement terms finalised 2 June 15 by the Financial Services Ombudsman, Barclays was to provide “a full breakdown of my (mortgage) account from June 13, showing when each overpayment was applied and a clear and accurate explanation for any amendments made to the account”.

Barclays has failed to provide the above documentation, but not before lying to the Ombudsman claiming it had!

A misleading letter from the Ombudsman claimed the account was now in order (Dec 14) and I thus agreed the settlement terms, which included a nominal payment (which the bank has made).

However, the documentation that Barclays was to provide is obviously central to the complaint, particularly since I now have documentary evidence proving the anomalies on the account have NOT been corrected by Barclays. This may be why the bank now refuses to provide the documentation.

This documentation was only made available to me by the Ombudsman AFTER I had agreed the settlement terms, believing the account to be correct, and AFTER Barclays had failed to comply.

The Ombudsman provided me with documentation the bank provided to it during the course of the investigation, including a calculation (not a statement) which states “this calculation has been provided to assist with the resolution of the complaint”.

This documentation does not tally with an independent audit of the account I was obliged to fund. The document makes it clear NO remedial action has been taken, ie it contains a heading “steps required to rectify the account” as opposed to “steps taken to rectify the account”.

Nevertheless the Ombudsman told me in writing the account had been corrected!
The document is virtually impossible for a layperson to understand and abruptly ends March 14, giving no clues to the current balance and states “the balances shown on this calculator do not represent the actual balance on the account”, so the information is of little use, hence the instruction from the Ombudsman that Barclays provide me with “a full breakdown of the account from June 13, showing when each overpayment was applied and a clear and accurate explanation for any amendments made to the account”.

So I have no idea how much interest I have been and continue to be overcharged by the bank on the incorrect balance

I was a diligent overpayer until Barclays mismanaged the account. Based on my previous pattern of overpayments, I have been prevented from overpaying at least 10k to date.

I have written to John McFarlane CEO asking him to ensure his staff provide the documentation as per the binding settlement terms, to clearly show how much interest I have been overcharged, what steps have been taken to correct the account, and what the correct current balance is, however, it is highly unlikely I will receive a response based on the bank’s attitude thus far.

The FCA said they could not assist. I wrote my MP who says he has written to them but won’t show me a copy of the letter. I made a formal complaint about the Ombudsman, but that won’t rectify the account issues. I contacted BBC watchdog and various consumer columns and got no reply. I guess no one dares take on the establishment.

I have posted on Barclays FB page and would now like to post the above letter online – any ideas as to where and how would be appreciated. Also any advice on where to find a law firm to represent me on a no win no fee basis would be appreciated.

tomtontom · 29 July 2015 at 11:55AM

Do you not receive an annual mortgage statement?

agrinnall · 29 July 2015 at 12:22PM

John McFarlane is not the CEO, he's the Executive Chairman. Barclays currently do not have a CEO while they search for a replacement for Antony Jenkins.

susancs · 29 July 2015 at 12:44PM

It sounds a very complicated case as I expect you need to be able to know how much interest you should have been charged over the period of time with variable interest rates, at different points and then how much the overpayment would have taken off interest payments on a repayment mortgage.

I assume the audit you paid for was carried out by a qualified chartered accountant and if you believe that to be correct, have you used that as evidence to gain the outcome you want? I personally always believe in making things simple in regard to complaints. Doing a full audit of your account and providing a lay person's statment will probably take a lot of time and effort involving several more senior bank employees time (especially as most banks operate automated systems) and they may well just accept your figures if done by a credible person such as a qualified chartered accountant to save extra time and money. To that end I would have sent a short letter to the CEO stating, please see attached statement from my chartered accountant showing my mortgage account balance should be X on X date, due to the overcharges made on the account, which was upheld by the FSO ruling on x date. I would like this matter corrected within 28 days or I will have no alternative to pursue this matter via the court under the The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000) at which point I will also be seeking to recover any extra costs on top of the orginal sum.

If you do a google there are several law firms who seem to take on no win, no fee cases against banks. However you probably need to consider that if it is not a large sum (although sure, it is to you), it may not be cost effective for them to take on the case.

THE CEO for Barclays Mortgages seems to be Steve Weston. The email format seems to be first name. surname @ barclays.com. Obviously you do not want to put your personal mortgage account details and finances in an email, but you could send an email without the full details warning them you are sending a recorded letter regarding the issue and will be following up by email, phonecalls etc until it is resolved to your satisfaction, which may be followed up by phonecalls etc to discuss the issue. Just keep any emails, correspondence etc very short and to the point.
http://www.jobs.barclays.co.uk/connect-with-us/barclays-mortgages-are-going-digital/