Banks - treating customers fairly

Oddjob

Not sure if this is the right place, if not, sorry, please move.

Around 2017/2018, out of the blue Lloyds wrote to me and said that at a time I was struggling, several years previously, I had asked them for help, ie, to freeze my bank charges etc so I could try to catch up.  At the time, they refused.  The letter they wrote, said that they realised they hadn't treated me fairly and they refunded me quite a large amount of money.

Soon after, they repaid me another amount due to me from a credit card I had with them.

I should say that the debts had been incurred because I was looking after my dad at the time, who had dementia, I had run my business right down to take care of him.  Most of the debt was not through spending but by charges and interest.  At the time when people were being encouraged to claim bank charges back, I could't face having to go through all the statements etc. so didn't make a claim.  That is why I was so surprised to get the letters. 

About a week or two back, I received a letter from Barclaycard, again saying the same thing, that they had been going back through historical accounts and realised I hadn't been treated fairly and again have issued me with a refund.  As far as I remember, I didn't ask for help at the time.

At the time I was struggling, I had a large overdraft with Barclays which I was having to live off.  I didn't tell Barclays I was struggling because I was worried at the time that they would cut this lifeline off and close my bank account.  At times, they were charging ridiculous amounts for the overdraft but I had no option but to carry on, I had no way of getting out of it.

Yesterday, I rang Barclays to ask if they were going to be looking at their dealings in the past regarding current accounts as my friend had said that she thought the FCA had told banks they must do that but the person who answered said they they knew they were doing it with Barclaycard accounts but had not heard anything about them going through current accounts.  I just wondered if it was something that they should be doing?

I would be unable to go for bank account charges now as I am not struggling anymore and again, I couldn't face having to go back through statements.  The time I was struggling is way more than 6 years ago anyway.

When I was struggling, I also went to Nat West and asked them if they could help me by stopping their charges so I had a chance to catch up, )I only had a current account with them, no credit card and I didn't have anymore bank accounts or debts).  The person I saw just told me to go to debt management and offered no further help.  Would it be worth writing to them and asking them if they are going to go through their old accounts?     

Sorry for the long post.

[Deleted User]

There's no need to write to them. Banks are working through any historic issues under TCF, and will contact you if there is any redress.

Oddjob

Deleted_User said:

There's no need to write to them. Banks are working through any historic issues under TCF, and will contact you if there is any redress.

Thank you, I just thought it was funny that the person that answered the phone yesterday said he knew Barclaycard were doing it but as far as he knew Barclays were not looking into bank accounts.

I hope they do as I am sure, even though I did not ask them for help, they will be able to see that I had to live on my overdraft for so long.  If fact, I only got out of it when I retired and got part of my pension as a lump sum and was able to pay it off.