Thread: MatD v barclays **WON**

Thanks for the luck and the words of advice spotted dog - extremely useful. I'm just filling out the template for the SAR - (Subject access request) as we speak!

Two other questions - when we say 6 years' worth of statements, is it dated to the start of that year (i.e. I'll get back statements running to January 2000) or is it generally backdated to the month of the request (July 2000 if it is sent this month to the bank)?

I also have a business account that was closed in August 2000 or thereabouts with heavy charges on it (it was a 3-way partnership which we dissolved as the financial situation was bleak for the company; all of the partners took out personal loans each to fully pay off our shares). Would it be a good idea to try and claim the charges from the final months of that account (it was opened in 1998 )?

Addendum to the above point - as it was basically a joint business account, do I need the full consent of the other two partners before proceding, or can one partner instigate a claim for their share?

If the former, it may be a little difficult as I haven't spoken to one partner since the breakup of the partnership and I've lost contact with the third partner these days.

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edit - just checked old records
The charges on the old business account in 2000 come to about £200 (without interest), but the charges for each unauthorised overdraft are £10 each, comfortably below the £12 threshold. The only individual charges within the total that seem steep are 4 unpaid cheque charges at £27 each. Do you think it's worth pursuing this at all?

Personal Account:
SAR Letter sent off to Barclays by recorded delivery at 9 this morning - the game is afoot!!!

Update: Got a response from Barclays on Friday (14th) re: SAR letter.
Standard reply, returned £10 cheque...hopefully the statements will arrive soon!

Hi
my statements arrived a few weeks at most after they sent me that letter. You should be hard at work with your highlighter soon.
Happy daze

Well, it's almost a month later and no statements have arrived! Anyone else seeing these sort of delays?

Yeah! Statements arrived from Barclays with 2 days to spare before the DPA deadline. £355 of charges (or £438.80 @ 8% interest). Barclaycard were a lot quicker and the statements came after just a week!

Just one question - Barclays sent me statements going back to March 2000 but the SAR letter was sent at the beginning of July. Can I claim for any charges prior to July 2000? I only have one charge before that date, £20 in April 2000 - should I enter that into the spreadsheet or leave it off?

Originally Posted by Michael Browne

OOh, go on then, live dangerously!

Right - didn't realise this, but apparently my S.A.R. entitles me to ALL the information on my account.

I'm presuming that this includes my contract with the bank when I opened the account, the contract that I presumably signed to convert my student account to an Additions account*, any notes that a Personal Banker would have taken when I went to visit them (is this what we mean by screen notes?), any record of manual intervention (whether they personally decided to charge me as opposed to a computer making the decision) and whether anyone accessed my account.
Is this so?

So far all I've been sent are statements going back to March 2000 (isn't that 6 years back from the OFT statement?). I also resume that the fact that Barclays returned my cheque for £10 doesn't mean that they can disregard my request?

Anyway, I shall be sending Template 2 here:
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...n-act-non.html
Anyone know how much a claim for non-compliance costs to file at the court?

Also, anyone have a full list of the information that they should have returned to me, and that I can request, or have I covered it all above?


*I'm considering asking for a refund of those pesky Additions fees, as I belive I was mis-sold the account (I had no use for any of their "benefits" which they would have seen if they'd asked me first). I can't remember if I was asked before signing up. Presumably if they can't produce a signed document saying I agreed to the account, then they are on shaky ground?
At the same time though, the fact that none of the services would have benefitted me is evidence that the account was mis-sold?

Template #2 sent off by recorded post this afternoon, I requested the following:

1) The missing statements from September 1992 to 5th March 2000
2) Any signed agreements/contracts from when I opened the account/changed it to Additions
3) Manual intervention/other notes

They have 7 days to comply. I'm guessing that's 7 days from the date on my letter, or 7 days from receipt?

Then I shall be filing an order for compliance at the court in person.

I shall send a preliminary approach for repayment on the amount I have records for tomorrow

Fingers crossed!

OK, I've now recalculated all my charges using the compounded contractual Google spreadsheet at the unauthorised overdraft rate of 27.5%.

I was going to claim from 1994 to 2005, but I've decided to see if anyone else has luck claiming after 6 years (prior to 2000) first.
Initially I'm claiming for the post 2000 charges first which come to:

Penalties: £355
Int on Penalties: £491.84
Bank Int on Penalties: £190.04
Int. on Bank Int. on Penalties: £313.86

Total Claim: £1,350.75

I need to send off the preliminary letter now.
The one in the library (http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...-approach.html) doesn't mention contractual or compounded interest (contractual is claimed from the off unlike statutory, right?). I looked around and found one from another poster McCuth here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...tml#post320207 . He's in Scotland so I just want to check that the wording is still applicable in England.
He added:

What I require

I calculate that, as at today’s date, you have taken a total of £xxxxx in charges plus £xxxxx which you have charged me in overdraft interest for the sum which you have taken – a total of £total. In addition, I also claim Contractual Interest (compounded) under the principle of mutuality and reciprocity in our contract. As [The Bank] has taken unlawful charges from my account, this constitutes unauthorised borrowing – thus, the rate of Contractual Interest used is the bank’s unauthorised borrowing rate. The standard rate of unauthorised borrowing set by [The Bank] is XX%, therefore this rate is added to the above amounts and the breakdown is shown on the enclosed schedule. I calculate the Contractual Interest element (to 23rd October 2004) at £xxxxxx.

Does that sound OK as an addition to the standard prelim letter?
The only thing was I didn't really understand the "23rd October 2004" bit. Any ideas?

I'll be attaching a print out of the spreadsheet (I'm presuming that's what is meant by schedule of charges) - should I also mention the other costs that I'm reclaiming in my prelim letter (SAR fee, postage costs)?
Should I add a cost for time spent preparing documents at this point too - if so, what is a reasonable amount to charge?

Thanks in advance...many thanks due to Kizzyella too, who has helped out enormously!

Thanks Michael - maybe I should send a PM to mccuth and ask about that October date because the date is 2004, not this year. Perhaps it was just a typo.

As for charging the time for document preparation, I know some people have levied a small charge for this. I certainly wouldn't charge how long it's actually taken me, which is quite a few hours, but some people have recovered costs for this.

I'll put down my charges for registered post etc, as I have receipts for these. But I only need to list these when it gets to the N1 stage presumably?

Thanks for your help Michael.

I got a message from Mcuth about the October 2004 thing and it was just a typo, phew. That's the letter that I'll be sending tomorrow. Finally, the game is afoot! Now I just need to read through Patricia Pearl's book to prime myself - I hope it's not too heavy a read :grin:

Bum! I drafted the letter and sent it off, but I forgot to change the daily rate of interest from the template that Louise sent me. I left 0.06% as the daily rate.

Do I just take the APR and divide by 365? (i.e. 27.5%/365 = 0.075%)