Help!! Discovered "dormant" account £1800 charges

uncle_silver

HELP!

I just received a random text from Barclays Bank saying:

"The monthly fee for your tech pack will increase next month to £12....."

I switched bank accounts from Barclays to Santander around 8 years ago so this concerned me. I called the Barclays number, remembered my old sort number and account number then it told me i was £1800 overdrawn!!!!!!

Spoke to someone in the call centre, they said the account fee for a tech pack had continued after i had switched. Creating big overdraft with overdraft fees as well as this tech pack i didn't even know i had.

This account hasn't had any payments in or out of it for years. Why wouldn't it go dormant??

I left the address associated with the account years ago, so if they had sent any letters i haven't received them. I have had the same phone number and email all this time but I have not had any kind of contact from barclays regarding this.

The woman on the other end of the phone put me on hold, came back saying i was liable for the charges, i said i wanted to put in a dispute. I am waiting for a manager to call.

I obviously should have cancelled this account all that time ago when i switched but didn't. I just hope there wasn't a small amount of money overdrawn on the account that i forgot about.

Any advice on what to do with this?? I'm freaking out.

Thanks
Dan

ceh209

As it was 8 years ago that was before the current account switching service started, so I presume this was just a manual 'set up a new bank account myself' switch? And you never requested to close the old account?

What the hell is a tech pack anyway? And did you have/use this when you were using the account?

uncle_silver

I seem to remember Santander handling the switching of all my direct debits etc. I must have never requested to close the barclays account for some reason. I just hope to god i wasn't stupid leaving some kind of overdraft on it.

The tech pack is an account fee where you get phone insurance etc. I do remember having it years ago. Again, i should have know better that this was still active but apparently not.

Say for example the account was at 0. Then they were charging me £10 a month for this phone insurance, a over draft fee gets applied and it snowballs.

I just hope they can reason with me and accept some blame for not marking the account inactive in 8 years or contacting me via another method than post.

uncle_silver

I am unable to post a link to the article i was just reading as i am a new user.

I am reading about Statute Barred Debt. After 6 years they are unable to reclaim the debt, they are unable to reclaim through court. The debt exists but is unenforceable.

Does anyone have experience or knowledge of this?

Carrot007

uncle_silver wrote: »

I am unable to post a link to the article i was just reading as i am a new user.

I am reading about Statute Barred Debt. After 6 years they are unable to reclaim the debt, they are unable to reclaim through court. The debt exists but is unenforceable.

Does anyone have experience or knowledge of this?

Yes if you have not acknowledged it for 6 years it will not be enforcable in court. Your new acknowledgement does not change this.

However. Expect never to have any account connected with Barclays ever again (they are one of the worst for never forgiving).

Also do have a look on your credit reports to see if anything has been recorded. I assume probably not as they have probably not been aware of it either. As such I would expect them to default you very shortly if you do not pay and then you will have to argue with them to try and get them to backdate it so it is removed. They are also going to be a pain here.

So your choice. You admit you did not close the account or cancel the thing with the fees.

jonesMUFCforever

So Op you NEVER got a closing Barclays statement?

You never once received a bank statement from them?
or you NEVER got any letters about this - pull the other one (cue response that you moved addresses at the same time and didn't want to pay for redirection.


Lots of posts from newbies that have been registered for years on these boards last few days.
Is it half term?

uncle_silver

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

So Op you NEVER got a closing Barclays statement?

You never once received a bank statement from them?
or you NEVER got any letters about this - pull the other one (cue response that you moved addresses at the same time and didn't want to pay for redirection.


Lots of posts from newbies that have been registered for years on these boards last few days.
Is it half term?

Unfortunately I’ve found myself in a position when I need some advice, I’m so glad people like you with your prolific wisdom of this forum take time not to read the thread and comment.

Thanks to all the other posters that took the time to read my post and advise

wizzywig27

uncle_silver wrote: »

Unfortunately I’ve found myself in a position when I need some advice, I’m so glad people like you with your prolific wisdom of this forum take time not to read the thread and comment.

Thanks to all the other posters that took the time to read my post and advise

Don’t worry, he’s always like that!

jonesMUFCforever

uncle_silver wrote: »

Unfortunately I’ve found myself in a position when I need some advice, I’m so glad people like you with your prolific wisdom of this forum take time not to read the thread and comment.

Thanks to all the other posters that took the time to read my post and advise

I notice you did NOT disagree with what I wrote.

Mrs_Ryan

I dont want to give you false hope but is there any chance you did actually ask Barclays to close it and it was never actioned?
The reason I ask is that I had a basic account with them that I opened in 2001. I closed it, or thought I did, a little while later because at that time it had no facilities for standing orders and I needed to use one to pay my rent. I formally requested it was closed, it had a zero balance and I received a letter to say that was done.
7 years later, in 2008, I received a letter from them (god only knows how they found me as I had changed my name by then and moved countless times) to say that an error meant they had identified a large number of accounts that had never been closed when requested, mine being one of them. I was given the option to have it formally closed or I could chose to keep it, and they would issue me with a new debit card and PIN. (I still have the account, it has its uses as I am able to say I have a 17 year banking history even though its just a spare account now and I have a student account with them which is my main account now)
It maybe worth your while double checking. Chances are probably slim but it is not impossible!

Yorkshire_Pud

If you kept the account open and it had a chargeable service attached to it I would think the liability for charges is yours not Barclays?

Its your responsibility to manage the account and you neglected it.

If you chose to have the service but now claim you never used it is that Barclays fault?

I wouldn't like to pay that charge but that's how these things work, a reason to be thorough with account management. If they should have been in touch then they may share some liability but why no statements? Everyone else gets statements either online or through the post. If you move address you have to tell the bank. They still had your number to send you the text. Registered for alerts? No?

Personal resposibility. Good luck sorting it!