Barclaycard refund and account in default

wantamortgage

Hi,
I posted sometime ago about my credit file and how its been impacted by a default to a barclay credit card 3 years ago but as a brief synopsis:

• Defaulted in april 2017 last balance at £5290
• Defaulted due to losing job, gaining a new one 2 months after but had used for food, rent etc and was in too much on interest every month I could only afford min payment
• Got into a spiral of depression and very nearly took my life but got pulled back by GP and other support agencies
• No other debt in my life in the past or now, this is the only debt I have
• Complained early this year to FCA/FOS about - Auto Credit limit increase - Causing distress with debt chase letters - Bad advice from phone agent - continuing to offer me more money even after default and spoken to them - General running of account to make money from interest and not account for my circumstances (FCA conduct review on the way they keep customers in persistant debt). Complaint thrown out by FCA/FOS, some allegations unfounded and on the persistant debt I was told I am holding them account to something that was ruled on later then when my account closed so they couldnt consider it.
• Was advised by phone agent to just default and will go in 6 years - no mention of the severe impact to credit file

Since posting on here it seems some gave the advice to wait until sent to "bottom feeder" debt agency as may reduce total, wait till 6 years is up or engage and try to make some payments.
I have though just recieved a letter from them - They have recently reviewed their handling of customer credit limits and can see that the limit they gave me was higher than it should have been (one of my arguments to FCA) and they are offering £40.28 basic refund to come of account sum and £75 in compensation - What the hell man! this was one of my major complaints to the FCA but they threw it out, now they want to give me compenstation. It looks like a standard template style letter as its on that sort of glossy paper but still this is just a micky take. I have actually always wanted to pay, i would have liked them to turn it into a loan and set up payment plan but they refused.
Question's to the more enlightented than me:

• Do I now engage and refuse compensation and ask to set up payment plan (with this as first installment maybe)
• Do I continue to wait it out (2yrs 5 mnths left by my reckoning)
• Do I take the compensation and leave the communication
• Do I try to reopen or start new FCA/FOS complaint

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated, any trolling is fine as well as you cant make me feel any worse anyway. 
Cheers for any help

[Deleted User]

Take the compensation.  It's a good results and FOS won't reopen the same complaint.

Set up a payment plan if you can't repay in full.

wantamortgage

Deleted_User said:

Take the compensation.  It's a good results and FOS won't reopen the same complaint.

Set up a payment plan if you can't repay in full.

Would they look at a new complaint given the admittance of some error?

D3xt3r5L4b

Take what’s been offered. You’re due nothing more as you failed to comply with your credit agreement. Be grateful they’ve offered you anything. 

wantamortgage

D3xt3r5L4b said:

Take what’s been offered. You’re due nothing more as you failed to comply with your credit agreement. Be grateful they’ve offered you anything. 

Yep, you are right there. 

abc.xyz

wantamortgage said:

• Complained early this year to FCA/FOS about - Auto Credit limit increase - Causing distress with debt chase letters - Bad advice from phone agent - continuing to offer me more money even after default and spoken to them - General running of account to make money from interest and not account for my circumstances (FCA conduct review on the way they keep customers in persistant debt). Complaint thrown out by FCA/FOS, some allegations unfounded and on the persistant debt I was told I am holding them account to something that was ruled on later then when my account closed so they couldnt consider it.

When you opened the account, did they not ask you to choose one of the following?

• Credit limit increases will only be offered where the customer asks for it
• Credit limit increases will be offered and, unless the customer declines, they will automatically be applied after XX days

wantamortgage

abc.xyz said:

wantamortgage said:

• Complained early this year to FCA/FOS about - Auto Credit limit increase - Causing distress with debt chase letters - Bad advice from phone agent - continuing to offer me more money even after default and spoken to them - General running of account to make money from interest and not account for my circumstances (FCA conduct review on the way they keep customers in persistant debt). Complaint thrown out by FCA/FOS, some allegations unfounded and on the persistant debt I was told I am holding them account to something that was ruled on later then when my account closed so they couldnt consider it.

When you opened the account, did they not ask you to choose one of the following?

• Credit limit increases will only be offered where the customer asks for it
• Credit limit increases will be offered and, unless the customer declines, they will automatically be applied after XX days

Most likely, my issue was with increases at a time when I told them I was struggling due to loss of job. In fact it was 2 weeks after I phoned them to say I was struggling that my credit was increased by £2000. Now we can argue about the agreement etc that I signed however to me this was a sign of keeping a customer in persistent debt, something the FCA also issued guidence on in 2018 as it was a recognised issue with lenders. 

"Under the FCA’s new rules, firms must help the customer by proposing ways of repaying more quickly over a reasonable period, usually between three and four years. This might mean transferring the balance on the credit card to a lower-interest personal loan, or waiving outstanding fees and charges."

However, if you are eluding to the fact I signed an agreement and I then am complaining about that agreement so I should shut up and go away. then you have a fair point. 

This recent letter from them seems to suggest they have aknowledged an error in issuing me a higher limit, they have not offered to transfer to a personal loan or waive the interest and fees. But the FCA ruled that because the account went into default before this guidence then they cant issue a ruling on it.

But point acknowledged.   

wantamortgage

abc.xyz said:

wantamortgage said:

• Complained early this year to FCA/FOS about - Auto Credit limit increase - Causing distress with debt chase letters - Bad advice from phone agent - continuing to offer me more money even after default and spoken to them - General running of account to make money from interest and not account for my circumstances (FCA conduct review on the way they keep customers in persistant debt). Complaint thrown out by FCA/FOS, some allegations unfounded and on the persistant debt I was told I am holding them account to something that was ruled on later then when my account closed so they couldnt consider it.

When you opened the account, did they not ask you to choose one of the following?

• Credit limit increases will only be offered where the customer asks for it
• Credit limit increases will be offered and, unless the customer declines, they will automatically be applied after XX days

Sorry, actually missed your point I think.
Irony of this situation is I only had the card in the first place because of the 2008 recession. I was self employed and lost 8 months worht of work in 2 weeks, i struggled on for a few months in the hope it would pick up and used up all my savings doing this.
I then went and got a PAYE job for RBS at the time working in insurance, never done an admin/phone role, but they messed up my first months Pay and RBS (who i had banked with as a business for years) refused to give me an overdraft so I had to get a credit card to cover that first month until I got paid.
So the agreement was made in 2008 and I'm afraid i have lost all details relating to the set up of the account. 
O, and i had operated very well for 9/10 years before this happened

abc.xyz

wantamortgage said:

Sorry, actually missed your point I think.
Irony of this situation is I only had the card in the first place because of the 2008 recession. I was self employed and lost 8 months worht of work in 2 weeks, i struggled on for a few months in the hope it would pick up and used up all my savings doing this.
I then went and got a PAYE job for RBS at the time working in insurance, never done an admin/phone role, but they messed up my first months Pay and RBS (who i had banked with as a business for years) refused to give me an overdraft so I had to get a credit card to cover that first month until I got paid.
So the agreement was made in 2008 and I'm afraid i have lost all details relating to the set up of the account. 
O, and i had operated very well for 9/10 years before this happened

Yes, I wasn't asking as in "you chose the second option so deal with it". But more so, id they didn't ask then they should have.

born_again

wantamortgage said:

• Do I now engage and refuse compensation and ask to set up payment plan (with this as first installment maybe)
• Do I continue to wait it out (2yrs 5 mnths left by my reckoning)
• Do I take the compensation and leave the communication
• Do I try to reopen or start new FCA/FOS complaint

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated, any trolling is fine as well as you cant make me feel any worse anyway. 
Cheers for any help

Could well be a internal review and not something that FCA/FOS asked them to look at. Or a general reminder that went out to all banks over persistent debt & general lending.
Not sure if FOS would revisit or open a new one, given that Barclaycard have contacted you, and many others. FOS may feel that as they have taken action that is enough.
Can you afford to start paying it back? 
You could try asking what amount they would be prepared to take to wipe the debt off, but would still show on your file.
A point to note is that even when you get passed the 6 years statute. They will still keep sending letters on a regular basis asking for payment.

ManyWays

I wonder if you could reopen the FOS/FCA complaint if BarclayCard denied increasing your limit too high and now they admit they did???
Or just go back and say 40 quid is a joke after all the problems they caused you and you want a fair amount of the interest you paid back.