Barclays Bank Hassle

Ro2124

Been trying to deal with Barclays Bank which has been a total nightmare
Somehow they seem to have lost thousands of my money and I have been trying to find out
what happened to it but dealing with Barclays is like dealing with imbeciles.
Either you get ignored or get completely useless information.
Bit of a long story but problem probably occurred,because I moved around a lot abroad.
Originally the account, an ISA was opened with Woolwich Building Society in UK.
While I was on my travels abroad, it seems the account was moved to Barclays, which I
didn't bloody ask for, but apparently they can do that without asking you.
So I suddenly found myself with Barclays. I was living in Holland by then and after I moved
from there to Caribbean told Barclays,do not to send any further mail to that Holland
address.
However apparently they kept doing that and the person living there complained about
continuously receiving my mail, after I had moved, so I had to contact them again to stop
sending statements and letters, which they then eventually managed to do.
So stayed in Caribbean for another long period thinking my money was safe with Barclays...
I should have known better.
So eventually I went to live in Germany and then tried to close the Barclays account to
move to a German one I had opened.
I could not believe it when they told me the account was closed some years ago in 2013
and cheque had been sent, which was bloody news to me.
So I told them I never received the cheque or cashed it, so I wanted further details, which so
far they have not provided they just said, we sent you the cheque the matter is closed.
I was quite outraged by this, I asked them specifically who requested to close account, to
which address did you send cheque, at which bank was it cashed at, etc.
But again silence, took three more attempts before they replied , but again not the
information I asked for.
I told them look, cheques and money just dont disappear into thin air.
So it again waiting for reply, which will probably take several months, this whole thing is
been going on for nearly a year
Anyway with the money apparently missing,I have to consider the possibility that a fraud
may have been committed, but with their refusal so far,to give me the information asked for,
it's difficult to deal with.
Been considering several scenarios, one possibility I thought of, as they kept sending me
statements to the Holland address, where I was not living anymore, despite being told not to
do so, maybe someone got hold of these statements and used the details to cash the
cheque somehow.
I don't know what to do any more,dealing with these imbeciles and I'm getting nowhere with
nearly 7 grand missing.
I know the Ombudsman would be the last resort, but that apparently could take years.

eskbanker

Ro2124 wrote: »

Originally the account, an ISA was opened with Woolwich Building Society in UK.
While I was on my travels abroad, it seems the account was moved to Barclays, which I didn't bloody ask for, but apparently they can do that without asking you.

Barclays bought Woolwich in 2000 and moved all the non-mortgage accounts to their own brand twelve years ago in 2007. Surely you wouldn't expect them only to do so with your express permission?!

Anyway, assuming you've logged it as a formal complaint, they have eight weeks to resolve it, as per https://www.barclays.co.uk/help/making-a-complaint/how-do-i-make-a-complaint-/. If they've already taken that long, or if they've provided you with a final response that you're unhappy with, then you can escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

If you've been asking for information but not getting it, you could also make a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act, which obliges them to supply you with copies of the data they hold about you and your account, within 30 days (usually, although up to 90 by exception): https://www.apply.barclays.co.uk/forms/gdpr?execution=e1s1

[Deleted User]

Maybe you should have thought about all this before moving around so much.

Like closing your UK accounts (since most UK banks don’t allow you to hold a UK account when not living in the UK).

If they sent you a cheque then the account will be closed or dormant somewhere

colsten

!!! wrote: »

Like closing your UK accounts (since most UK banks don’t allow you to hold a UK account when not living in the UK).

You are allowed to keep an existing ISA if you move abroad. You just cannot normally add new funds to it whilst abroad (exceptions apply to people out of the country on government business).

You are also allowed to leave your ISA money languishing in accounts that have derisory interest rates. Equally, you are allowed to transfer to accounts with better rates, which usually appear in late March / early April every year. If the OP had chosen the latter, they'd have noticed 5 or 6 years ago that something untoward had happened to their money. The late discovery is obviously no excuse for the disappearance of the money but Barclays don't appear to be the only careless ones here. I'd love to hear Barclays' account of what happened.

All the OP can do now is to calmly follow the formal complaints procedure, as already detailed by eskbanker. It doesn't take years to complete the complaints process but it could perhaps be slowed down if the complainant is to pushy and emotional.

Ro2124

@GDexter
Oh dear how inconsiderate of me to move around, you dont know the reasons why people move around, could be personal, business,etc.
Not to mention the fact you dont know what youre talking about, your comment about people outside UK not being allowed to have account is rubbish.
This applies to new accounts, yes but this wasn't.
I also had an account with Lloyds Bank originally and kept it going for about 8 years after living abroad.
So try getting your facts right before commenting.

Ro2124

@colston
Well, yeah I take your point about not totally Barclays fault, but you must understand being abroad it was difficult to get mail, which often took months to get there and sometimes did not arrive at all, so it was a bit of a difficult situation.
And I definitely think it was their fault to send bank statements to an address, which they had been informed on more than one occasion, is not valid anymore
Those statements contain account numbers etc which is not safe.
Which is why I have to consider possibilty of fraud and dont think its unreasonable Barclays should send details of the cheque they sent, which they have so far not done.

Anyway as you said probably best to follow eskbankers advice and see how it turns out.

Socajam

As someone who have lived abroad for over 20, some of the fault lies with you and yes banks do prefer for you to have an UK address - this is what I did.
I kept my bank, BS and credit card accounts, also M&S and they are all up to date. My reason for this was that if for some reason I had to return to the UK, I did not want to go through the trouble of having to open accounts and with not having any employment history etc
I also had a Woolwich account and was able to receive all my money once I realized that the account was transferred to Barclays and place in a dormant acct.
I would suggest that you do a search on Woolwich dormant accounts and see where that takes you.
If I find the time I will look through my papers and see if I can find the address/phone number and post it on here.
It's a long process, and I wish you luck and hope you have a happy outcome.

[Deleted User]

Ro2124 wrote: »

@GDexter
Oh dear how inconsiderate of me to move around, you dont know the reasons why people move around, could be personal, business,etc.
Not to mention the fact you dont know what youre talking about, your comment about people outside UK not being allowed to have account is rubbish.
This applies to new accounts, yes but this wasn't.
I also had an account with Lloyds Bank originally and kept it going for about 8 years after living abroad.
So try getting your facts right before commenting.

Actually there are many accounts that don't allow you to hold UK accounts whilst living abroad.

Maybe you're talking rubbish?

Uxb1

Barclaycard closed many expat accounts compulsorily unless they had a confirmed verified UK residential address last year: and not just one of a random family member they can use in absentia
Those that escaped the cull were in countries where Barclays did business: aka their core regions of interest in marketing speak
See https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-5974335/Thousands-expat-Barclaycard-customers-accounts-shut.html

Ro2124

@GDexter
Perhaps some don't, I can only comment on my situation..and as another commenter pointed out having an ISA account while abroad is allowed! .... and as stated had no problems keeping Lloyds bank account open for several years

Ro2124

@socajam
Yes of course UK address would have been preferable, but that's not always possible for everyone, in my case it wasn't.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention there was actually another account transferred from Woolwich to Barclays. They managed to trace that with no problems and I got the cheque few weeks ago.
There's just the question of the account that apparently was closed and cheque sent,which was news to me.

Of course there is another final possibility which in theory could have happened, given the amount of time passed , which would make me look like a complete dork. Perhaps I did close the account and just forgot after all this time but I'm sure I would have remembered that amount of money.
I don't think it's too much to ask for the bank to tell me what happened to that cheque, especially as they kept sending statements to an invalid address, which they were told several times not to.
Which of course leaves it open to fraud.

Anyway I'll just keep plodding on until I get an answer and also thanks for your good wishes