Help needed with bank error!!!

[tezl]

hi,
other side of coin and in no way dissagreeing with slick.depends greatly on how desparate you need dosh.
sounds like you need 1050 now.
that offer was for your claim up to around feb 2007.?
dont want to sound pessimistic.
in view of the fact no one knows what outcome of oft will be,ie,what percentage will be refunded,and how long it will take.
i am in buisness and sometimes £1000 now is better than a promise of £1800 further down line.
if that money helps to keep buisness on level footing then
i would take their offer for that claim.i think a lot of people would have took partial offer if they could see what was going to happen.re oft.and stays.
then start new claim for new charges .
you wont be able to pursue rest of charges for first claim,because you will be signing letter to that effect.
you say their letter says"complaint with barclays",check that its for ongoing case as opposed to all claims you may have for charges.
again not contradicting slick,but as he would agree every ones circumstances are different.
there you have the 2 options i think.
tez

[lizzy40]

Slick132 & Tezl thank you both....

Slick132 You make it sound so easy! Wish I was brave!

So if I refuse the offer go ahead with the LBA for the full claim it will be a gamble what way it will go? It could work out better in the long run but nobody has the answer to that knowing my luck if will be stayed. I must admit I would prefer to take that option. But my circumstances my have to take preference.

If I go ahead with the LBA will I be able to stop recovery action on my account - could they close my account?

If I have to wait until the OFT case is resolved I might be out of business by then.

Tezl I would and need to take this offer and there is a but!

The wording on the customer acknowledgement form
does say "in full and final settlement of my complaint with Barclays"

This sounds like I wouldn't be able to make a second claim for the new charges? Also as I have new charges already applied to my account part of this refund will be paying that its like a vicious circle....

If I don't sign it and just send a letter excepting this offer, whether they would agree to that I don't know?

I feel like I'm being pushed into a tight corner.

Wish someone had a magic wand!

On the other hand I musn't be ungrateful at least I got an offer....

[tezl]

hiya,
god,how many phrases are there to exsplain where they have you,lets be polite and say "rock and a hard place".
if you have included, complaining about new charges in letters to bs,then it looks like they have been very devious in their wording and look like they are trying to cover everything.
in the past claimants crossed out bs wording and inserted their own wording
ie,i except the offer as full and final settlement of this claim. thus leaving door open for another claim.
if you do use own letter and wording,put amount of original claim and what your excepting,this may separate it from other claims.if you do that and they enquire,tell them you lost original.reading your posts i think you would settle for this outcome.

the one thing that keeps bugging me is the fact that they have kept to original offer,obviously because they cocked up about adress.
which says to me they know they have cocked up and thats the only reason they are still offering.not from goodness of heart.

bear with me,personal exsperiance.make it short as poss.

inlaws had policy £2300 garranteed on first death.
mum in law died,sent of policy.
cheque came £800.......what.
complained.
they said they wrote to them 5 years ago saying premiums would have to increase, if they did not pay, policy amount would reduce.
they moved in with us ,so letter went to wrong address and they did not receive it.
we went to fos anyway we got full amount back for dad inlaw.

the big thing was that the insurance company did not make sufficient effort to make contact with them.so we won.

sound familiar,
i know its clouding water,but if you could prove new charges would not have happened if you had excepted offer that went to wrong address,,then new charges are bs fault for not making effort to find you and rectify their mistake.
have you already threatened with fos.?
ask slick about lba thing.
tez

[slick132]

Hi Lizzy,

Slick132 You make it sound so easy! Wish I was brave! - It IS easy for me because I can look at your thread objectively and voice MY opinions. YOU are the one who must be brave, take decisions, and live with the consequenses of your actions.

If I go ahead with the LBA will I be able to stop recovery action on my account - could they close my account? Once you put your claim back on track with LBA, including all chgs to date, you will have protection under OFT Debt Collection Guidelines which bank has to (or at least they should) abide by. Barclays are not known for retaliatory a/c closure and they risk being reported if they do this after you send LBA.

If I have to wait until the OFT case is resolved I might be out of business by then. - If taking their offer now prevents your business failing, you must do what you think is best. You CAN accept their offer on your terms by saying, "Your offer is accepted in full and final settl't of bank chgs made against my a/c up to (date of the last chge claimed in your Prelim letter)".

We can help you do this. You will remain free to reclaim all subsequent chgs made to your a/c after that date.

This sounds like I wouldn't be able to make a second claim for the new charges? Also as I have new charges already applied to my account part of this refund will be paying that its like a vicious circle.... - No - see my last comment.

Wish someone had a magic wand! - Don't we all, but until then, you have to take on the banks as 1,000's of others have done successfuly, and beat them by reclaiming what is rightfully yours.

I feel like I'm being pushed into a tight corner. - Of course you do, and the banks have been used to peeps backing down for too long. This site is about empowering peeps to stand up for themselves.

We on this site can't make the hard decisions for you - that is for you to do. However, we can and will back you up whether you decide to fight for some or all of your charges.

Slick

[tezl]

n 1 slick

[slick132]

Thanks Tez and I appreciate your input.

There are at least 2 sides to any coin and Lizzy's probably bored of hearing just MY opinions.

[tezl]

you cant get bored of good advice and help

[lizzy40]

Thank you so much guys I really do appreciate everything you have both contributed and slick132 I'm not bored with your opinion!

Can I just refer to a couple of questions tez's mentioned.

I original wrote to the FOS in August compaining how long it was taking to resolve my complaint and due to this length of time it was causing me much hardship also because my complaint was a business it wasn't covered under the UTCCRs test case. I just got a straight forward automic reponse saying they couldn't help due to the test case. I wrote back saying I didn't think they looked at my complaint properly and told them that £500 new charges had been applied and it was causing much hardship if they could look into it for me. The last letter I got on the 4th October but I didn't receive it untill 23rd October (postal strike) they said regarding the UTCCR, my account will be put on hold because of the following reason.

As well as considering the satutory position of default bank charges under the UTCCR 1999, it is likely that the courts will also need to consider the common law position regarding penalty charges on all types of accounts. Therefore until there has been some guidance provided by the court, this service will not be able to take any such cases further at this stage.

So no joy with that one.

Regarding hardship they said:

It is correct that a case of genuine financial hardship will still be considered by this service; however, the financial difficulties in question must be current, and relate entirlely to the charges on the account. Essentailly this means we are only able to take forward cases where a complaint is currently incurring charges on their account, which are causing existing financial difficulites. it does not apply in cases where a complaintant may be suffering from difficulties unrelated to the account in question, but belives that a refund of charges my alleviate the problem and i am not persuaded in this instance that the charegs applied to the currant account are the cause of any financial difficulties.

My financial hardship is current are they not listening.

I haven't replied to this letter because I had already sent another letter just before this one arrived which I haven't had a responce yet. I sent this on the 16 October, Stating that they had mentioned anything about the time scale but by this time I had found out that my offer letter went to wrong address so this I told them and again about the added charges it would appear the above answer is relating to the old charges and not about the new charges this is what is causing a problem.

It must all sound so very confusing but what I think I will do is write again to the FOS listing everthing to date what has happened especially as tez said what happened to his inlaws with the wrong address issue, it is clear Barclays didn't do anything to rectifly this error which was to there benefit.

I have been thinking about what you have both said over the weekend I still cant decide what to do for the best, so I think I will do this letter to the FOS first then just forget about that side as I don't think they will help but you never know.

I personnal think I have a good case with the FOS but they are a law to themself.

[tezl]

hi,dont think you can win on hardship according to letter.
reading fos letter i think you have to fight them on the grounds of what i said before.
it was bs fault you never received offer.which you tell fos that you were going to except to stablelize your buisness.dosent matter if you were or not going to except,tell fos you were.
obviously,then say how you have more charges because of this.

like before.for bs to still make an offer,bs must know they are in the wrong.they are doing everthing not to pay at moment.
keep on at fos.bs are in wrong they should have done more to contact you.
tez.

[lizzy40]

Thanks Tezl I have sent another letter to FOS today hope I have covered everything but I'm sure they come out with another excuse for not investigating my complaint.

I still need to make my mind up on what I should do next I cant rely on the FOS.

I will sleep on it and decide tomorrrow.

Thanks for your time and advise.

Will keep you up dated.

[lizzy40]

Hi Guys

I have been thinking about my options and at this moment in time I believe the best thing for me to do in repect of my financial situation is to except there offer of £1050.00. Its not the option I would like to take because I believe they are holding onto my money.

I will not send back the customer acknowledgement form which came with offer stating in full settlement of my complaint with Barclays, as this doesnt leave me free to claim the newer charges. I will write in full settlement of my complaint and list the dates my old claim went up to.

However my main concern is, because I was told by the bank to send the offer back stating what happened with the wrong address issue and to add the newer charges and they will look at it all again. I'm worried they may only refund if it covers all charges to date as they know they are in the driving seat while we wait the OFT court case.

So while I do this should I do a LBA for the newer charges therefore putting my account into dispute again

Mean while you never know the FOS may decide to look into my case.
Wishful thinking.....

[slick132]

Hi Lizzy,

You can accept the reduced offer if thats your decision and I said how to do it in post #24, para 3.

You say, however, it's not your favoured option. Can you not hold out for the full amount or will this put your business at risk.

Bank, wrong address, etc in your para 3 - you tell them what you accept (chgs refund up to XXXX date) and if they pay the £1,050 then fine. If they try to change anything, don't settle with anything less than you are willing to accept.

FOS will not stay involved if you take reduced offer and it doesn't sound like they are interested much now anyway.

Send LBA either for FULL amount or for chgs taken since the xxxx date above. If you send it re full amount still this keeps your options open but gives you protection because bank debt is in dispute.

It really is time now to make your decision -accept their offer and reclaim recent charges in full, OR go for the full claim.

Forget FOS and branch's offer to look into it.

[lizzy40]

Hi slick

I want to hold out but this has been going on since Feb. If it wasn't for the OFT court case I wouldn't have settled for this offer but I cant take a chance and I really need this money now.

Why wont the FOS stay involed if I take the reduced offer, (thats not nice) as its the new charges which are causing the problem with my account now? Besides I'm trying to fight the issue that the offer went to wrong address therefore caused more account problems. Barclays didn't try and make anymore contact with me surley its in the FOS's juridiction to investigate if Barclays didn't follow there complaints handling procedure correctly?

However I don't feel very confident with the FOS but would like them for back up.

[slick132]

FOS may stay involved but I doubt it - they have limited resourses and,I guess, a huge number of cases to d/w.

But I think if you accept offer, FOS will see that you have resolved the issues they CURRENTLY have before them.

You could still send your LBA for full chgs without burning any bridges.

Slick

[lizzy40]

Slick you are naughty and it is very tempting to do full claim - I'll sleep on it!!!!