Barclaycard destroying Credit

Ruskie12

2 yrs ago I had perfect credit, in the late 900's. My husband had an illness and stopped work my parents transferred over £7000 to my santander account  to help us - I transferred it straight back. Shortly after circa £7000 was added to my Barclaycard - I contacted Barclaycard to ask where the money had come from - they responded someone with my full details had gone into a branch and paid it in and laughed at me when I asked for confirmation this money was actually mine. They then confirmed no errors were made by Barclaycard and it was my money. I asked them to investigate / check, even to check cctv to see if it was my mother and left the money in the account for a month before calling back. They confirmed again this was my cash, no errors had been made in branch and also ask I remove it as it was a creditcard account not a bank account. I transferred the cash over to my personal account and used some to pay bills, etc. Over a month later my Barclaycard was put into a 7000 minus, I called Barclaycard straight away and they said basically oh yes we made a mistake you need to give us back the money and were quite rude and defensive. I confirmed with parents if they had transfeered the money and they hadnt so I rang barclaycard and said no problem I am happy to pay this back, can I pay in installments and since it was there mistake I do not expect to pay interest.

They agreed 0% interest, I could pay back monthly,thanked me and even took a small amount of money off as way of an apology for the mistakes they had made.

All fine with me and I began paying them off. I then noticed my credit score had gone done and I checked my report Barclaycard had registered I was 500% over my agreed credit limit making it impossible for me to get a mortgage, credit, anything. I contact BC they acknoloedged they had destroyed my credit and refused to remove/ do anything.

I contacted Which? who contacted them on my behalf it appeared they were going to remove the negative credit then BC just refused. Which recommended i seek legal advice.

This was all very stressful husband ill, kids, work, etc so I just carried on paying and bc back.

A few months later i went to transfer my business account from Handels over to Barclays,which was a healthy young business at the time and had in fact been approached by Barclays with a strong deal, all was due to be opened when I get a call saying something has come up - the bc issue - I explain what happened and Barclays say no problem. They then contact BC who say this is incorrect, in fact I did not pay my card so they lowered the limit and I am untrustworthy - in writing which barclays sent me a copy of. All a complete lie. I had already given notice of closing my account with Handels and now did not have a new account eventually I got one with a new internet bank but without an overdraft / lending which we use against invoices normally and with low interest, basically a bad deal.

I complain to Barclays and explain this is an absolute lie, then go to pay my BC and cannot login to make a payment - I change passwords still cannot login, I contact BC call center and complain after being on the phone for ages they cannot resolve and I put in a complaint, nothing for weeks a second payment is due again I call and then email after the useless call center , they cannot resolve and cannot take payment - systems are down internally apparently, same the next day when I call to make payment.

I notice they have removed the zero interest - by not paying I lost this according to BC and they have also logged missed payments on my credit file.

This is months ago - I gave up chasing and the hours of being on hold daily, fell in to a bit of a depression as this was actually taking over and ruining my life. I cannot afford legal fees and felt incredible helpless as they just destroyed my life and business it all got too much.

I recently had coronavirus and a lucky to be home and well again, now I want this dealt with and refuse to be a victim to BC here. Not sure what to do citizens advice are unable to help - they do not cover my location, Which? tried and couldnt but I am hopeful someone can!

[Deleted User]

Can you summarise that into a few bullet points please.

Thanks.

Willing2Learn

Why did you spend money if you knew for a fact that it was not yours?  How much did you spend and how much of it is left over?  (I am assuming there is something left as used it to "pay some bills etc")

If a complaint handled by Which has been unsuccessful, why would you think anyone here could help?  Surely you should approach your councillor or MP.

Personally, I think you should accept what has happened.  Pay it back and take the six year punishment.   Just don't let it cause you any more stress...impact on your mental health...


Alternatively, you start a game of letter tennis by way of an official written complaint.

D3xt3r5L4b

Is the long and short of this your credit “score” has dropped from the 900’s to something lower and you think it’s bad?

Thrugelmir

More holes in the story than a sieve. 

xlnc99

Need to explain story again properly. In particular the first part about the 7k going in, going out, being paid in cash to barclaycard then they refunding you etc seems lot in translation. 

I understand your parents lent you 7k you refused it and gave it back to them (through pride) - which is fair enough.
They then paid 7k into your barclaycard. How did they do this in branch and by cash? Cant be done
Barclays confirmed it was you and you asked them to transfer it to your bank account from your credit card
They then transferred it back your bank account from your credit card and you spent it.

At this point you didnt know where the money had come from as your parents confirmed it was not them but decided to spend the money anyway thinking you got away with a free 7k. Barclays then confirmed it was an error and want the money back but you spent it.

So you were to prideful to take a loan from your parents of 7k but more then happy to fraudulently spend the banks 7k when they gave it you.....

sourcrates

Why did you not escalate the matter to the (FOS) financial ombudsman service ?

They are the go to complaints resoloution service for all financial complaints.

Did you actually make a formal written complaint to barclaycard ?.

Were your rights not explained to you ?

The company have 8 weeks to look into your complaint, and then to provide you with a final response, if you remain unhappy at this stage, you can then involve the FOS.

RelievedSheff

If you have spent the money knowing full well it wasn't yours then you have to pay it back.

It isn't Barclaycard who are destroying your made up credit score it is your financial history and spending money that you knew was not yours.

Ruskie12

Deleted_User said:

Can you summarise that into a few bullet points please.

Thanks.

Sure - money appeared in my BC account - I contacted BC saying it was a mistake - they came back with 100% not a mistake someone, on your behalf came into a Barclays branch with all of your credit card details and paid this money in at the counter.

I asked they check again- they did and confirmed the same as above. I asked if they could escalate, they did and again confirmed the above. Multiple times over 6 weeks

-Parents had been trying to give me money through other means, which they denied but we could see the account they used to transfer so we always returned it.

-Then a similar amount showed up on my birthday in my BC account and after 6 weeks of confirmations from BC, BC asked me to remove everything over my credit card limit from my credit card account as it was not a bank account and was apparently negative to my credit by being in the account. They again confirmed it was 100% my money and laughed at me for questioning it so many times, said they hsd checked with the branch it was paid in and no error had been made.

- I removed the excess above my limit -

-Another month or so went by then I noticed my BC was in a large deficit

I called BC to ask what happened - they responded it was an error their end- I went through the whole I asked for confirmation etc

-They took full responsibility, apologised and asked if I would consider paying it back

-I said absolutely, they said we will freeze your account, add zero interest and you can pay back in instalments instead of all at once.

-I agreed, no problem. Checked with parents who confirmed they had not paid the money in

-Issues began here - BC did not just freeze the account, they lowered the credit amount so on my credit file it states BC 500% over credit limit

This makes me not eligible for any credit whatsoever - not even a bank overdraft or mobile phone.

-I contacted BC explained what had happened and the issues it caused. the call centre went through complaints and ultimately said they could but basically said not their problem so wont. The complaints handler was actually very rude

-So I contacted which? who spoke to BC and said yes they admit they are at fault and are looking at adjusting the credit file entries - then which? came back and said the original complaint handler had said actually they dont have to so wont.

- Which? advised I seek legal and ombudsman

-The ombudsman requested the phonecalls in which BC admit fault and the calls I made requesting they check.

-Firstly BC denied the calls until I showed email correspondence refiring to the calls from them to me directly and that they had sent to Which?.

-BC then needed 2 extensions with the ombudsman on delivering the calls and responses due to people being on holiday and finally refused to release the calls stating when I was on hold on the calls private bank things had been discussed which meant by law they did not have to share the calls.

-Ombudsman stated until they had the calls they could not proceed and for me to go legal if I wanted to go further

-I explained to BC this was ridiculous that I would have to go legal.

This is the point I stopped doing anything as it was taking hours each day and very stressful, the whole time I had been making the payments they had requested all I asked was they fix the negative credit issue.

I then went to make the next payment and was locked out online, so I rang and the call centre could not take payment. I rang back the next day, hours on to the call centre but again unable to take a payment.

I emailed BC complaints around taking payment - no response for 2 weeks so I call BC again hours on the phone at which point they said someone has taken another £5000 from your account today.

explained this wasnt possible as the account was frozen. 5hours later they confirmed it was another error they had made and they would get back to me to take payment.  No callback

- I then noticed they had removed the zero percent interest and also logged mispayments on my credit file even though I had clearly been trying to pay.

- At the same time we were Barclays bank had approached the limited business I am a director of to move our business account over, great deal so we went ahead.

-A day before the transfer date our Barclays account manager contacted us to say they could not open the account as BC had denied the reason for the 500% issue on credit file, that I was a liar who hadn't paid bills my cc bills, therefore, they had to lower my credit amount- all totally untrue

- that is where I stepped away the legal fees quoted were huge, everything is a big mess really and unsure what other options I have

Does that make more sense?

onlyfoolsandparking

Makes no sense at all???? Wish I could give a more positive reply but I hope you get it sorted

[Deleted User]

Could you summarise it into a few less bullet points please.

Your summary was longer than the original, which is quite an achievement.