Barclays bank / Barclaycard issuing account default due to their own errors
BrandonCoop
Forumite 3 Posts
Hi all,
So, i've got a very long and probably boring post for you all, my experience with Barclays/Barclaycard since November 2020.
In November 2020 i sold a vehicle belonging to my Dad who moved to Cyprus in August 2020. During the sale of the vehicle the buyer was paying me in obscure amounts, £1,500,£3,450,£,1750 for example. All of these payments were also coming from different accounts. It was all very odd and so i contacted Barclays to express concerns. To which i was told if i have the money in my account then why am i worrying, it must be fine. I was unsure but did as instructed.
A few more days of payments go by and i phone Barclays again to speak to the fraud team. Who just like last time told me i had nothing to worry about. So, i seel the vehicle after receiving the full amount and the buyer drives off. I begin sending part payment to my parents (Who'm couldn't have sold it themselves as they were actually stuck in Cyprus at this point) We manage to send the majority of the funds and then my Barclays account is closed down. So during this period i began using my barclaycard to pay for ym day to day things which was all fine, until this was also then closed.
After this had begun due to the account being frozen Barclays prevented any payments leaving my account, for example my mortgage payments were missed, car tax, spotify and a number of other things. This then meant i was getting lots of letters through the post regarding missed payments, not only that but Barclays withheld even my wages for over a month. Finally, they gave me my wages but refused to give me the remaining funds in the acocunt until i could prove they were mine. All proof was shown instantly, with photographs, signed documents, parents Cypriut residency etc, there was no question at all that the funds were legitimate and owed to me.
While i was under a fraud investigation Barclays employees in two seperate branches had both informed me that i was not to pay the Barclaycard bill as this would be sorted at the end. During this time i wasn't happy with this route and still messaged Barclays/Barclaycard on a number of occasions asking for a total to pay and how to pay. I received no response and yet again in branch they told me to just wait.
I continue to wait as i am told, the investigation is then finished. I ring to explain to Barclaycard that their is a fraud claim on the account for some tools which were ordered from America and never arrived. Barclaycard investigate and accept this is correct, deducting the amount off my card and actually withdrawing all interest accrued on the account over the time of the investigation, things are loking up i think. I ask Barclaycard how much i owe and cannot for months get a figure out of them (bare in mind i have a business to run as well so cannot dedicate 24/7 attention to this) They sent me over 2 sets of account statements with absolutely nothing on them, no figures etc, just a blank letterhead. It is only after a bit of telephone agruing that one person tells me an amount, to which i get it paid as i told them i would.
I have formally complained on a number of occasions to Barclays about their actions in saying they will rectify my credit file but now the investigation is finished they do not want to even help me at all. my case handled called and explained that she had thoroughly read my case but the answer was no, they're not going to help me. Being annoyed on the phone i start firing over some questions asking why, to which she replied she "didn't know" about all the points i have made above, but apparently they had fully investigted the case. After all this, the point still stands and they refuse to rectify my credit file.
I am now looking at my mortgage and really struggling to get any offers, i have also received a number of fines for payments that Barclays wouldn't llow to leave my account during their investigation. Due to Barclays also giving me a fraud marker i couldn't open a high street bank account. I managed to open a Monzo but this isn't an account thats allowed to have direct debits taken form it, thus each and every month i would phone all my usual direct debits to make payment, which again is another large inconvenience.
Really, i'm at my wits end and nobody is willing to help/listen so i'm hoping sombody has been in the same situation with experience or can help, i have submitted a complaint to the financial ombudsmen today and await their response. My credti file has been flawless my whole life and have never missed a single payment on anything prior to this situation... And, just to add icing to the cake Barclays after their investigation phoned apologising that they can see the whole situation is nothing to do with me and it's not my fault at all but i'm not welcome to bank with them or use their barclaycard service ever again!!!
Thanks for reading if you've made it this far!
Brandon
So, i've got a very long and probably boring post for you all, my experience with Barclays/Barclaycard since November 2020.
In November 2020 i sold a vehicle belonging to my Dad who moved to Cyprus in August 2020. During the sale of the vehicle the buyer was paying me in obscure amounts, £1,500,£3,450,£,1750 for example. All of these payments were also coming from different accounts. It was all very odd and so i contacted Barclays to express concerns. To which i was told if i have the money in my account then why am i worrying, it must be fine. I was unsure but did as instructed.
A few more days of payments go by and i phone Barclays again to speak to the fraud team. Who just like last time told me i had nothing to worry about. So, i seel the vehicle after receiving the full amount and the buyer drives off. I begin sending part payment to my parents (Who'm couldn't have sold it themselves as they were actually stuck in Cyprus at this point) We manage to send the majority of the funds and then my Barclays account is closed down. So during this period i began using my barclaycard to pay for ym day to day things which was all fine, until this was also then closed.
After this had begun due to the account being frozen Barclays prevented any payments leaving my account, for example my mortgage payments were missed, car tax, spotify and a number of other things. This then meant i was getting lots of letters through the post regarding missed payments, not only that but Barclays withheld even my wages for over a month. Finally, they gave me my wages but refused to give me the remaining funds in the acocunt until i could prove they were mine. All proof was shown instantly, with photographs, signed documents, parents Cypriut residency etc, there was no question at all that the funds were legitimate and owed to me.
While i was under a fraud investigation Barclays employees in two seperate branches had both informed me that i was not to pay the Barclaycard bill as this would be sorted at the end. During this time i wasn't happy with this route and still messaged Barclays/Barclaycard on a number of occasions asking for a total to pay and how to pay. I received no response and yet again in branch they told me to just wait.
I continue to wait as i am told, the investigation is then finished. I ring to explain to Barclaycard that their is a fraud claim on the account for some tools which were ordered from America and never arrived. Barclaycard investigate and accept this is correct, deducting the amount off my card and actually withdrawing all interest accrued on the account over the time of the investigation, things are loking up i think. I ask Barclaycard how much i owe and cannot for months get a figure out of them (bare in mind i have a business to run as well so cannot dedicate 24/7 attention to this) They sent me over 2 sets of account statements with absolutely nothing on them, no figures etc, just a blank letterhead. It is only after a bit of telephone agruing that one person tells me an amount, to which i get it paid as i told them i would.
I have formally complained on a number of occasions to Barclays about their actions in saying they will rectify my credit file but now the investigation is finished they do not want to even help me at all. my case handled called and explained that she had thoroughly read my case but the answer was no, they're not going to help me. Being annoyed on the phone i start firing over some questions asking why, to which she replied she "didn't know" about all the points i have made above, but apparently they had fully investigted the case. After all this, the point still stands and they refuse to rectify my credit file.
I am now looking at my mortgage and really struggling to get any offers, i have also received a number of fines for payments that Barclays wouldn't llow to leave my account during their investigation. Due to Barclays also giving me a fraud marker i couldn't open a high street bank account. I managed to open a Monzo but this isn't an account thats allowed to have direct debits taken form it, thus each and every month i would phone all my usual direct debits to make payment, which again is another large inconvenience.
Really, i'm at my wits end and nobody is willing to help/listen so i'm hoping sombody has been in the same situation with experience or can help, i have submitted a complaint to the financial ombudsmen today and await their response. My credti file has been flawless my whole life and have never missed a single payment on anything prior to this situation... And, just to add icing to the cake Barclays after their investigation phoned apologising that they can see the whole situation is nothing to do with me and it's not my fault at all but i'm not welcome to bank with them or use their barclaycard service ever again!!!
Thanks for reading if you've made it this far!
Brandon
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Replies
With regard to them not wanting to deal with you ever again they are within their rights to do that, that is a point not worth arguing about.
Submit a statutory request to the three CRAs asking for a copy of your file, do the same for CIFAS and National Hunter. Once you have the information on your credit files and fraud prevention registers you can work out if any of it is inaccurate, if any is then you can ask for it to be corrected, you can then take that to the ombudsman if the result is not satisfactory. Information reported/held on file has to be factually correct, you can take it to the ICO if it is not, but that is the limit of their intervention.
Thanks for info on CRA's, that will be my next thing to do and i will email them now to try and learn something more!
Thank you!
If the funds were being withheld by Barclays, how were you going to make the payment?
If you don't persuade Barclays to remove the fraud marker for those dodgy / fraudulent car payments you will end up having to open a pre paid basic account with a credit union.
Monzo do accept DDs, they're a proper bank. And Monzo will also shut your bank accounts down fairly soon when the discover the CIFAS marker.
Have you told your parents you sold their car to a fraudster?