chrismc V's Barclays

chrismc · 28th May 2006, 12:22

I need a bit of guidance on this please. I used to have a Barclays Personal Current Acc, with a £3k overdraft, at the time I was spliting up with the ex things got bad, she dissappeared leaving me loads of problems etc and lots of debts. Barclays took me to court and got a CCJ against me, (approx 1-2 years ago) since which I have been paying their £3k debt monthly.

However, long before they took me to court, their fees, charges, penalties were escalating and increased to well over £1300.00 or more adding to the original £3k debt (don't know exact amount)

Questions:
1. Since they have taken me to court and obtained a Judgement will I still be able to go after them and claim back at least all the charges, fees, penalties etc even if it is only to reduce the debt that I am already paying?

2. If the answer is YES, has anyone successfully done this and have they any advice.

If it wasn't for the CCJ I would go straight after them,, but I am a bit confused as to whether the fact they have taken me to court and obtained a judgement would restrict me from doing this.

Thanks once again for your help and guidance.

Chrismc

lickthewallfatboy · 28th May 2006, 12:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrismc

I need a bit of guidance on this please. I used to have a Barclays Personal Current Acc, with a £3k overdraft, at the time I was spliting up with the ex things got bad, she dissappeared leaving me loads of problems etc and lots of debts. Barclays took me to court and got a CCJ against me, (approx 1-2 years ago) since which I have been paying their £3k debt monthly.

However, long before they took me to court, their fees, charges, penalties were escalating and increased to well over £1300.00 or more adding to the original £3k debt (don't know exact amount)

Questions:
1. Since they have taken me to court and obtained a Judgement will I still be able to go after them and claim back at least all the charges, fees, penalties etc even if it is only to reduce the debt that I am already paying?

2. If the answer is YES, has anyone successfully done this and have they any advice.

If it wasn't for the CCJ I would go straight after them,, but I am a bit confused as to whether the fact they have taken me to court and obtained a judgement would restrict me from doing this.

Thanks once again for your help and guidance.

Chrismc

Hi Chris
please make sure you take proper advice,but I would imagine question 1 would be incentive enough to get them nailed to the wall-you could possibly also claim that the fees compounded your debt ptoblem,resulting in tht CCJ in the first place-and that being the case you may be in a position to have the CCJ reversed.

But as my signature says,seek proper advice!!

chrismc · 28th May 2006, 13:09

Thanks for your comments, I will wait and see what others have to say also, or as you rightly say, take professional advice at some stage before I take any action.

chrismc · 28th May 2006, 21:18

Well thinking about it, I don't see as I have anything to loose by firing off a Data Protection Act anyway, they may argue but so what, if the charges they applied are in fact penalties then they surely should not have applied them in the first place and therefore may be clawed back?? or am I missing something?

I have been paying them back now for 2+ years the CCJ amount they claimed for which I have since checked just todaywas around £4800.00+ so £1700.00+ of that must be charges as far as I can tell.

So if I got that back it makes a hell of a difference, added to what I have paid and there may not be much left as a balance. Also what if I can prove the amount they claimed for through the court is in fact not actually owed and not correct, how does that stack up? maybe as lickthewallfatboy stated it compounded the debt and added to my problems, so all in all I think it is worth a shot across their bows and see what response I get.

Anyone got any comments, if not lets face it what more can they do to me, I don't bank with them anymore, unless someone has a good reason not too, I will be sending off a Data Protection Act on Tuesday to:-

FAO Sharon Caffery
Subject Access Officer
Barclays Bank plc - Data Protection
Radbroke Hall
Knutsford
Cheshire
WA16 9EU

Chris

chrismc · 29th May 2006, 16:39

Anymore advice anyone.....Data Protection Act going off tomorrow, if not!!

alanfromderby · 29th May 2006, 20:48

I would say that you are in a strong position as the charges are within the last six years - this means they should be included within the Data Protection Act.

Once you have the information you could give the county court a ring and see what the likelihood is of getting a set-aside on the basis that the original claim contained unlawful amounts - a fact that you have only now become aware.

If this does not work, and it is a long shot, you can then follow the usual process to get the charges reversed, and offset against the debt. Certainly, to answer your final question, the CCJ does not stop you from doing that.

chrismc · 29th May 2006, 20:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by alanfromderby

I would say that you are in a strong position as the charges are within the last six years - this means they should be included within the Data Protection Act.

Once you have the information you could give the county court a ring and see what the likelihood is of getting a set-aside on the basis that the original claim contained unlawful amounts - a fact that you have only now become aware.

If this does not work, and it is a long shot, you can then follow the usual process to get the charges reversed, and offset against the debt. Certainly, to answer your final question, the CCJ does not stop you from doing that.

Thanks Alan for you comments and advice, so I will send off the Data Protection Act tomorrow as planned then and see what happens.

chrismc · 31st May 2006, 17:28

Data Protection Act request letter sent 30th May 2006 Recorded Delivery with £10.00 fee.

chrismc · 2nd June 2006, 19:59

I received a reply from Peter Townsend at Barclays today, fairly standard letter I assume but a couple of paragraphs which I haven’t seen elsewhere, maybe someone could advise me.

Interestingly he sent my £10.00 cheque back but sort of asked for it back again later, is this just a delaying tactic or in fact a new guise??

Here is the start of the letter:

Quote:

I refer to your letter which was passed to me for comment due to your request for certain information under the terms of the Data Protection Act (“the Data Protection Act”)

Please be aware that the Bank is not under an obligation to present information to any particular format. Therefore, your request to assemble a schedule of charges is turned aside. You may of course obtain data from copy statements and these will be supplied to you shortly without charge on this occasion. As the Bank is providing the copy statements on a complimentary basis your cheque is returned herewith.

So far so good and fairly straightforward, now the next bit

Quote:

As regards your mention of “Manual Intervention”, the Data Protection Act does not oblige the Bank to comment about Internal Policies and procedures. Furthermore, in the context of managing day to day transactions arising from out of order accounts, the Bank does not hold the information you have requested in a form that would be covered by the DPA. Whilst aggregated information is retained for statistical purposes, this would not constitute “personal data” under DPA and therefore would not be covered by a s.7 DPA subject access request. For further avoidance of doubt, the fact that we do not generally record information in a way that is caught by the provisions of the DPA, is no way and admission that there was no such manual intervention.

Any comments anyone? Is this just standard jargon?

And now they ask for the £10 back, is this step necessary or is it just listed to confuse?

Quote:

Notwithstanding the above, the Bank is of course entirely willing to supply the general information that should be disclosed due to the Data Protection Act. To initiate the process Barclays will require payment of a £10.00 fee per individual which should be provided by cheque, payable to Barclays plc, directly to this department. Upon payment of the fee(s) the relevant information will be supplied as promptly as possible.

Yours etc etc

Do I just wait now for the Bank Statements or do I need the additional information??

Thanks for your help!

Chris

CrispDust · 2nd June 2006, 21:01

Get all the information that they hold on you - if your Data Protection Act was a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) then they should send every recorded piece of information that they hold on you. Its a stalling tactic. They won't give all of the information unless you really push for it, becasue there might possible be data in there that they would rather you not see or may help your case.
You have to remember that at all times your are dealing with a bunch of procrastinating sh*ts who really don't give a toss about you, the're just looking after their own personal interests in climbing the corporate ladder and keeping their annual bonus (not that I'm bitter an twisted...)

If you requested a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) then write back in the strongest possible terms requesting again the data that you want.

chrismc · 2nd June 2006, 21:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrispDust

Get all the information that they hold on you - if your Data Protection Act was a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) then they should send every recorded piece of information that they hold on you. Its a stalling tactic. They won't give all of the information unless you really push for it, becasue there might possible be data in there that they would rather you not see or may help your case.
You have to remember that at all times your are dealing with a bunch of procrastinating sh*ts who really don't give a toss about you, the're just looking after their own personal interests in climbing the corporate ladder and keeping their annual bonus (not that I'm bitter an twisted...)

If you requested a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) then write back in the strongest possible terms requesting again the data that you want.

Thanks CrispDust......That is what I thought, yes I sent in the Data Protection Act request letter template from here, exactly as told to do so word for word. I thought it must be a stalling tactic, but was a bit confused as I had not seen similarly worded letters anywhere else.

I will be replying to them tomorrow and sending my cheque back once again!!

chrismc · 2nd June 2006, 21:34

Ok I have my response ready to go, anything I need to add anyone?

Dear Mr Townsend,

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXXX
Data Protection Act 1998 Subject access request

Further to your letter dated 31st May and received today 2nd June 2006, I acknowledge the fact that you will be sending me all the bank statements from 21st December 2000 to date in due course.

I would also request you supply me with all other information and documentation the Bank holds and is therefore necessary to be disclosed under the terms of the Data Protection Act as stated in your letter dated 31st May 2006. Again I enclose the statutory fee of £10.00 as requested and would like to remind you that you have 40 days from 30th May 2006 in which to comply

I would be happy to collect the Data from my local branch.

Yours sincerely,

etc etc

I will of course be sending this Recorded Delivery again.

chrismc · 3rd June 2006, 17:59

Letter sent today recorded delivery, second Data Protection Act/S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) request due to Barclays delaying tactics.

Janet-M · 3rd June 2006, 21:51

keep us informed

chrismc · 3rd June 2006, 22:13

Thanks MJanet, as soon as I hear anymore I will post it.

chrismc · 8th June 2006, 20:14

Reply recieved today from Sharon Caffery agreeing to my Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act and will be provided within the 40 day period.

chrismc · 26th June 2006, 20:24

Whilst waiting for the Data Protection Act information I thought I would send off to the courts requesting they set aside the CCJ.

I sent a letter off to the courts on the 19th June and today I received a letter back from the court, apparantly they gave me the wrong form last time

so now it is going back again on the correct Form N244 with a £65.00 fee they have asked for.

The reason I have stated in Part C for the CCJ to be set aside is:

Quote:

The reason being that new evidence has come to light that the charges applied making up a significant portion of this debt were in fact unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations.

Additionally, it has now been confirmed that their particularly high level of penalties are considered to be unfair per se by the OFT who reported on the 5th April 2006 and are therefore presumed to be unlawful in the absence of specific proof to the contrary

Their concealment of the true nature of their charges has prevented me from asserting my right until now

There has been alot more discussion about set aside of CCJ's etc in the thread Trying to Build a Better Credit Rating specifically posts 20 - 33

Chris

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