I took on Barclays and won!

[jonny glenn]

Thought I'd share my Barclays experience as might give some encouragement to others currently wrestling with them:

Some time ago, a morally-deficient postman intercepted a cheque book I had neither requested nor expected. He proceeded to spend extravagantly from my account, using cheques to pay for mail order. You might not have thought it would matter, since the signature on the cheques wouldn't have been mine - you'd be WRONG! Since my finances have generally been something of a trapeze act (with very frayed ropes), I clocked the withdrawals quickly and reported the fraud to Barclays.

Barclays response was to shut down my account (so that nobody, including me) could access my money. Several phone calls bounced me all over the place and I was told that this could easily happen since signatures are NOT verified on cheques under the value of £5000! (I've since had this confirmed by 2 ex-Barclays employees.) As I complained about sloppy security, I was put on hold - except that I wasn't put on hold and could hear the bank's internal password for that day. Clearly, I wasn't inclined, after this, to accept Barclays' assurances on security.

Being unable to access my own money, I had to dip into other accounts in the meantime, with the consequence that bills, etc. then couldn't be paid from the other accounts. Charges piled up, bills went unpaid and so was triggered a downward spiral in my finances. Adding insult to injury, Barclays then took the view that, since they had refunded the fraudulent withdrawals, and furthermore how DARE I cast aspersions about their security procedures, that they were not at fault.

My dander was up: I was a victim of fraud here, and yet I and my family were suffering continued hardship as a direct consequence of Barclays' mishandling of my account. I fought long & hard on this one. Several letters later, Barclays still weren't budging. They started applying charges to my account (you'll recall that this downward spiral was set off by them!) and slapping a further £20 for each letter they sent me. When I told them that I would never pay these charges, they began to pursue my ex-wife!

I continued to fight, and the replies to my letters grew somewhat terse in tone until they eventually stopped replying. So, I began to send copies of every letter to their head office. I also told Barclays that I would levy a £20 charge for each letter I had written (I got away with this one - I appreciate that this is not a recommended tactic).

It took over 2 years to resolve this one, but I had to make absolutely clear to them that there was no way in this lifetime or any other that I would pay them a single penny over what I owed them before this whole sorry episode began. Finally, they gave in: all the charges were written off, including all the interest, charges for letters, etc. In fact, thanks to the charges I had applied to them, they wiped out my whole debt - just to get rid of me! I told them that I would close down any and all dealings I had with them, and dance as I left the branch. One to keep my promises wherever possible, I did indeed perform a little happy-dance as I left Barclays, and I haven't set foot in one of their branches since.

So, to anyone who is currently wrangling with them, I suppose the message is: stand your ground! If you're right, you're right. They will try to fob you off and get away with it - but why should they?

(On the back of this experience, I was going to set up website. Never did, so I'm delighted to find this one. Keep up the sterling work!)

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	Hardship By and large the "harship" provision in the FSA waiver is a myth which is intended to create a sense that the banking industry is sufficiently well-intentioned to act fairly towards its customers even though their right of access to the courts has been blocked. In fact there are very few guidelines as to procedure and very little definition of "hardship". One unfortunate spin off is that many people in difficulty get their hopes up and go to considerable lengths to plead hardship to their bank in order to get a refund or partial refund of their bank charges only to be refused. Neither the courts nor the FOS have the power to order a bank to make a charges refund on the basis of hardship. We hear of some people obtaining a partial refund quite easily. Others have obtained money by being very persistent - but mostly we hear that people are refused. Even benefits claimants do not automatically receive hardship refunds. By all means try to get a bank charges refund on the basis of hardship - but don't bank on it!

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

[icefall]

good for you, it does just go to show, keep at it, as you say!