Barclays defaulted my account without warning (credit card)

*Kat*

I've had my credit card for 10 years. I missed 2 payments and asked if I could have a reduced payment plan (this was 50% than the usual amount I paid) for a couple of months until my payrise and bonus which was due in July. They agreed to this over the phone (I'm sure they'll have records of my calls to them). I then received an email end of May from PRA group telling me that Barclays had sold my debt to them. I was not informed that this was considered me defaulting my account and at no point did they inform me this was the case. I just thought this was part of the reduced payment plan agreement. 

I only found out my looking at my credit report earlier today that said I now have a default. This is really really poor as I was planning on paying off this entire debt and looking to start saving for my new home this year with a look to buy next year. 

Does anyone have any advice please? 

fatbelly

I believe you should have received an arrears notice followed by a default notice, sent through the post.

You are correct that the default will show on your credit files for 6 years.

You could complain about this.

On the other hand your account is now owned by someone who bought it for peanuts, and would probably be open to a settlement deal.

peteuk

When did you miss two payments?
Did you receive any letters from Barclays?
When did you agree the reduced payments and when where they for?

Your future plans to pay it off is irrelevant, even if you told them the plan it wouldn’t have changed anything.

You could complain to them but having missed two payments they have taken action in accordance with the terms and conditions.  The default will remain on your credit file for 6 years. (Edited as corrected by Fatbelly.)

*Kat*

peteuk said:

When did you miss two payments?
Did you receive any letters from Barclays?
When did you agree the reduced payments and when where they for?

Your future plans to pay it off is irrelevant, even if you told them the plan it wouldn’t have changed anything.

You could complain to them but having missed two payments they have taken action in accordance with the terms and conditions.  The default will remain on your credit file for 6 years (England) or 5 years (Scotland) regardless of if you pay it in full as planned.

I've just checked my bank statement, I was up to date until January 2022***, I missed February only! (1 payment!!!) I then started paying the reduced amount 7th March, which I have paid monthly to Barclays until 4th April, and then to PRA group May - Aug. 

So I've actually only missed one payment and then called them to ask for a plan. 

*Kat*

fatbelly said:

I believe you should have received an arrears notice followed by a default notice, sent through the post.

You are correct that the default will show on your credit files for 6 years.

You could complain about this.

On the other hand your account is now owned by someone who bought it for peanuts, and would probably be open to a settlement deal.

I haven't received a single notification from Barclaycard regarding this. I've only received the email from PRA group about it, nothing else. I'm so disheartened, I thought telling them I was having issues would give me a little bit of breathing space

peteuk

Sorry just to check.
MIssed Feb 2021
Reduced amount from March 2021 and has this continued till April 2022.  So you may find you didn’t have a payment plan set or they have noticed it isn’t short term and so defaulted and passed/sold it on.

fatbelly

Raise a formal complaint with Barclays. I'm sorry that I can't find a template.

Let us know what they come back with.

sourcrates

They can actually sell your debt on at any time of their choosing, its all contained in the terms and conditions of your account with them.

What they cannot do, or should not do, is default your account after only one missed payment, and no official warning has been issued, including the issuing of a default notice, under section 87 CCA.

As fatbelly suggest, you should make a formal written complaint about that, the sooner the better.

*Kat*

peteuk said:

Sorry just to check.
MIssed Feb 2021
Reduced amount from March 2021 and has this continued till April 2022.  So you may find you didn’t have a payment plan set or they have noticed it isn’t short term and so defaulted and passed/sold it on.

So sorry, January 2022 was my last in full payment I guess, I missed Feb, then reduced payment from 7th March 2022. I received email from PRA group end May 2022. So that was 3 payments. I didn't receive any comms from them at all in this time. 

I'll complain but not entirely sure what I'm going to be saying!

Rob5342

Barclaycard were quick to default my account and sell it to PRA when I started a dmp, but they did issue a proper default notice givinge a date to pay the arrears by.

Graham1982

Hello:

Can't really comment specifically on your issue and perhaps what I am about to say is therefore pointless. However, I had a Barclaycard with about a 7K limit. I had about 2k on it and was paying it off but not in full each month (but certainly more than minimum payments). Completely unbeknownst to me an old store card was used without my consent by a relative and I had three missed payments. I rectified this as soon as I saw this reporting to my credit file - i.e. I paid off the arrears and secured the account.. At around the same time, Barclaycard reduced my available balance to 3.8K citing me not using the balance as a reason (I believe). However, I think this was direct response to missed payments elsewhere.

Thus in summary, I think they are quick to react but then equally, I have also been refunded PPI and other fees from historic usage without any prompting.

Thanks

Graham