Action against barclaycard

[maestro451]

Started my action today against barclaycard, ive worked out that they have charged me nearly £250 in late payment charges over the last 5 years.

In a way I feel that barclaycard are worse than banks in the fact that you dont even get an additional letter, the charge just appears on your next statement so the costs to them are literally the costs of the extra ink.

Been reading through the terms and conditions and under section 16.3

"We will charge you for any losses or costs we have to pay if you break this agreement, including if you do not make a minumum payment by the payment date, if your statement balance is over the credit limit, or if a direct debit, cheque or other item is not paid when first presented for settlement. We will also make a charge for certain additional services, the most common of which are included in teh tarriff of charges. We will advise you of any additonal charge at the time you request a service"

Then in the tarriff of charges

"Under conditions 16.3 of the barclaycard conditions we may charge the follow additional charges charges to compensate us for additional costs we incur if you break the barclaycard conditions"

£15 if you do not make the minimum payment by the payment date
£15 if your statement balance is over the credit limit
£15 if a direct debit, cheque or other item is not paid when first presented£

We may also charge you for additional services, these include:

£3 per statement"

This to me clearly states that if you do not make the repayement then you are breaking teh terms and conditions, the charge it to compensate them and isnt an additional service.

wish me luck!

	The Direct Debit Guarantee • The Guarantee is offered by all Banks and Building Societies that take part in the Direct Debit Scheme. The efficiency and security of the Scheme is monitored and protected by your own Bank or Building Society. • If the amounts to be paid or the payment dates change, we will notify you three working days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed. • If an error is made by us or by your Bank or Building Society, you are guaranteed a full and immediate refund from your branch of the amount paid. • You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by writing your Bank or Building Society. Please also send a copy of your letter to us. This is a term of your banking contract and you can sue on it.

[maestro451]

Received a standard reply from my first letter today, we are dealing with your enquiries and aim to resolve this matter by 25th Aprill! if I dont get a reply within 14 days shall I send the 2nd letter?

[Bookworm]

Yes.

You set the timetable now, not them.

[maestro451]

I started a new thread by mistake so moved the info to here.

Received this letter today about 7 days after I sent the letter before action from the library, seems like a new letter

"I understand that you would like a refund of the charges applied to your account over the last 5 years. I an not able to agree to this request as it is our position that when customers break the terms of their agreement with us we recover the costs.

When your barclaycard account was opened, you agreed to our terms and conditions and this included details of the charges. The information provided at application stage clearly explains our obligations to iur customers, as well as their obligations to us. If we make changes to the terms and conditions we provide details of these to our customers.

I apreciate this may not be the outcome you expected however I trust that the infromation provieded has clarified barclays position."

Im unsure what to do next, as they say it is purely a cost recovery charge and not an extra service should I ask for a breakdown of these costs? if they down agree then that wouldnt look good in court i imagine?

Should I ask for a full set of statements and if any manual intervention has taken place?, I didnt bother with this at first as I have 90% of the statements anway, its more the manual intervention that im worried about as I dont want to go the further step of going to court only for them to suddenly use this as a defence?

or should just proceed with the court claim? to be honest im a little unsure I want to do this, im currently recovering from an illness and to be honest im not sure the stress from maybe having to go to court is worth it for a couple of hundred £'s!, the lack of settled cases from barclays concerens me a bit but i certainly im not going to let them win without a fight, what a may do is put it on a backburner for a few months, or I could ive read submit written evidence, although this probably wouldnt be as good atleast it would call their bluff.

	Small Claims kit by Lawpack Sue your bank as many times as you like with just one Small Claims kit by Lawpack. Follow this link to read the review. The kit contains everything you need: instruction manual, templates, examples, forms and a comprehensive CDRom. Applies to England and Wales

[Bookworm]

If you're worried about going to court now, then don't do it. Are there any old charges that might fall beyond the 6 yrs limit? If not, then delaying won't make any difference. You can easily just hit them with Moneyclaim when you're good and ready.

I wouldn't worry too much about manual intervention at this point, especially if you're not going to pursue further just now.

[maestro451]

thanks bookworm, I think ill leave it for a couple of months till im fully fit and ready then ill put in a claim, I didnt open the account untill 2001 so theres no charges that will fall beyond 6 years I certainly dont intend to let it go at all, I suppose this also gives me a chance to see if others claims against barclaycard and what defence they might file.

[Tinkerbelle]

Bear in mind though that the "Statute of Limitation" or whatever it's called is meant to be changing from 6 years to 3 years - soon!

I read that on this forum here somewhere.

oh here it is Woman on a Mission - Halifax

[maestro451]

Does anyone know when the Statute of Limitation is likely to be changed?

[Tinkerbelle]

Well done! Looking forward to seeing how you get on.

[maestro451]

Just to update, what I did is play them at their own game, they said they only charge for teh cost incurred so I asked them for a breakdown of costs.

I received a crappy reply saying I can not help you with your charges, thats about it, what annoys me more than anything is that I spent 2-3 hours drafting a letter and they reply with one line, im sending a complaint to the ombudsman.

To be honest i expected this but I dont think it will be looked on favourably when it goes to court.

Im going to file a claim for £260 shortly

	The Financial Ombudsman Service For the most part, don't bother. The Ombudsman is an industry arranged service which is under-resourced, takes too long, lacks clear transparency. You have no idea what evidence the FOS has received from the bank or how your complain has really been handled. The FOS is the preferred complaints route for the banking industry. The county court is to be preferred by consumers for its speed, openness, the quality of its awards and also because it will award 8% interest on top of any damages won by you. The Ombudsman should normally be used to solving little technical difficulties or customer service problems which you have expereinced with your bank.

[TANZARELLI]

Originally Posted by maestro451

Started my action today against barclaycard, ive worked out that they have charged me nearly £250 in late payment charges over the last 5 years.

In a way I feel that barclaycard are worse than banks in the fact that you dont even get an additional letter, the charge just appears on your next statement so the costs to them are literally the costs of the extra ink.

Been reading through the terms and conditions and under section 16.3

"We will charge you for any losses or costs we have to pay if you break this agreement, including if you do not make a minumum payment by the payment date, if your statement balance is over the credit limit, or if a direct debit, cheque or other item is not paid when first presented for settlement. We will also make a charge for certain additional services, the most common of which are included in teh tarriff of charges. We will advise you of any additonal charge at the time you request a service"

Then in the tarriff of charges

"Under conditions 16.3 of the barclaycard conditions we may charge the follow additional charges charges to compensate us for additional costs we incur if you break the barclaycard conditions"

£15 if you do not make the minimum payment by the payment date
£15 if your statement balance is over the credit limit
£15 if a direct debit, cheque or other item is not paid when first presented£

We may also charge you for additional services, these include:

£3 per statement"

This to me clearly states that if you do not make the repayement then you are breaking teh terms and conditions, the charge it to compensate them and isnt an additional service.

wish me luck!

Do you have a scan of these Terms & Conditions and which year were they from?

	The Direct Debit Guarantee • The Guarantee is offered by all Banks and Building Societies that take part in the Direct Debit Scheme. The efficiency and security of the Scheme is monitored and protected by your own Bank or Building Society. • If the amounts to be paid or the payment dates change, we will notify you three working days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed. • If an error is made by us or by your Bank or Building Society, you are guaranteed a full and immediate refund from your branch of the amount paid. • You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by writing your Bank or Building Society. Please also send a copy of your letter to us. This is a term of your banking contract and you can sue on it.