Thread: Mrs M Daughter V Barclays Bank

My daughter has had this account since 1996 and we finally got her statements back from them although as per usual it was only 6 years, so I will ask them for the rest of the statements this week. They mentioned that they had forwarded her request internally for completion so I would imagine there are still other data to arrive although I doubt it will be the other statements.

In 2007 They gave her some money back after we wrote to them about the charges on the account. They gave her £500 as a goodwill gesture.

Obviously we did not know back then what we know now.

I went through the statements last night and realized that after the goodwill gesture they were still charging her the referral Fees at £30 for quite a while and then they went down to £8.

I have added up the fees for the six years and they come to around £1700. before interest has been added.

My questions are.

Can we still go back to them for the unlawful charges, do we take off the amount she has been paid and can we submit a claim now and then add to that claim if and when the rest of the statements come back. I would imagine any charges on the other statements will be at the rate of £25.

She had overdraft protection so we are not arguing the overdraft charges just the referral charge at the moment, but I don't think she would have had the o/v protection from the beginning of the account so I am thinking there may be some high charges there as well.

She is also on benefits so we will be putting the claim in as a hardship case.

Any input would be gratefully received


Mrs M

You would need to define the period of Hardship. It's not enough just to say I'm on benefits now, so need all my charges back.

A refund may only be made for, say, 2007 to 2009 if you can show that Financial Hardship applied to your circumstances at that time.

If circumstances are such that Hardship has occurred throughout, then you should seek a refund of all relevant charges, less the refund already made.

Thanks Slick.

She has been on hardship since 2004 so yes I would say this has occurred through out as I am assuming we are not going to get all her statements from before 2004.

If we get them back to 2004 I am certain that the charges will have started to rise from that date.

As to the question of putting in a claim now before the rest of the statements hopefully come, would it be better to wait or go for it now and then reapply for any charges at a later date.

Mrs M

Because of the difficulties you may encounter in getting data for the older years (Barclays will maybe say they no longer hold it), I think you should proceed on the basis of the data you have so far.

Add a line to say that you are still attempting to get older data and reserve the right to amend your claim accordingly.

Go back to Barclays and ask specifically for the data beyond whatever date they have supplied it from. Tell them a complaint to the ICO will be made if they fail to produce it within 14 days.

Lets see if they say it's been destroyed like they do with BC a/c's.

Thanks Slick.

Will get Mr M on the calculations for the interest today.

Mrs M

Hi.

Can anyone tell me what the overdraft Protection was on the Barclays current accounts and how does it work.

Mrs M

Total guess is that it's like PPI, but protects an authorised o/d in case of unemployment, sickness, etc.

Check and see if this was asked for, or whether they applied it like they have done with Additions Fees, without customer's authority or knowledge.

Hi Slick.
Sorry to sound really thick but, where would I find this out. My daughter says she doesn't remember asking for the o/v protection and as the statements they have sent only go back 6 years it is hard to see when they started applying this to the account.

I thought it was like the overdraft thing they tried to get me to do a little while ago.

They said it was to stop me getting charges if I went over my overdraft, this is obviously something different because I noticed she was still being charged fees for going over her overdraft.

What I am really annoyed about is if it is what you say then why did they not tell her when she told them she had lost her job back in 2002.

What exactly is the Additions fee for, because my other daughter had Additions on her account but it was free and then suddenly they started charging for it so she got rid.

I am shocked at what you said about the Additions, because I have noticed on her account she was paying about £16.00 per month at the last and £7.50 back in 2004 and probably beyond so if this turns out to be just another charge and PPI then her claim looks to be a lot more than the £1800,
without interest we have already worked out.

She did say that she asked for the Additions Plus back in 2006 when they were doing the Green Flag, but not before that as she was not driving until 2005, so she would not have bothered.

I noticed the way they put the O/v protection on the statements reads as follows:

O/D Protection
800 @ £0.80 / 100 = £6.50

Any ideas what this means.

My son in law also had this on his account but got rid of this and the Additions. I might be looking at his account next.

Strangely enough we have never had it on our account but that may be because we were originally with Woolwich.

So it would appear it was only Barclay original account holders that had this.

Thanks

Mrs M

I wonder if the o/d Protection is linked to the Additions Status of the a/c.

Why not write to Barclays to clarify. Ask them:-

1. I was not aware that I asked for Additions Status on my a/c prior to 2006. Please confirm from what date Additions fees have been applied to my a/c.
2. Please confirm on what date I agreed to these fees and forward a copy of any authorisation which I signed.
3. Please can you explain to me what overdraft Protection is and is it connected with the Additions status of the a/c.
4. As I appear to be paying for this, please forward a copy of my authorisation for this.

See what comes back.

Thanks Slick
That looks good to me, she has moved to another bank now, but I don't think they have terminated the account yet, just threatened to. Would it be worth mentioning that I put in a Subject access request and am still awaiting further data to be supplied, just in case they come back with some stupid excuse as to why they can't answer her questions.

Mrs M

It may be that Barclays have little or no evidence of you requesting the services provided (Additions status before 2006 and the o/d Prot'n).

We have seen so many cases where the Additions status was put on the a/c with no knowledge or authorisation from the customer.

So I think the questions should be put to the bank pretty much as I said above, in a stand-alone enquiry.

Thanks Slick.
Should I carry on with the charges claim that I have got and then just wait on the answer for the above.

Mrs M

If you are seeking repayment of the penalty charges without contractual interest on top, proceed with the reclaim. They should repay such charges with little opposition.

If you intend to claim interest at the contractual rate, wait until you get more info about the o/d Protection to see if you need to reclaim this in addition to the charges and int't.

Thanks Slick.

Thats what I thought.

Mrs M

Originally Posted by slick132

I wonder if the o/d Protection is linked to the Additions Status of the a/c.

Why not write to Barclays to clarify. Ask them:-

1. I was not aware that I asked for Additions Status on my a/c prior to 2006. Please confirm from what date Additions fees have been applied to my a/c.
2. Please confirm on what date I agreed to these fees and forward a copy of any authorisation which I signed.
3. Please can you explain to me what overdraft Protection is and is it connected with the Additions status of the a/c.
4. As I appear to be paying for this, please forward a copy of my authorisation for this.

See what comes back.

Hi Slick

Sent the letter as you advised above. Never got a reply back from them. Wrote another letter to them enclosing the original letter and this is the reply they have sent back.




I don't understand the reference to the SAR as we have already had some information through just not the info on the additions. and as for the not received letter I have the track&trace signature with the date it was signed for.

The so called complaint was not even a complaint it was a letter for information.

I am thinking along the lines of if they want to get that awkward then maybe I should just calculate the charges etc and put the claim in anyway and let them argue it and try and produce the information we originally requested and if they don't, hit them with the ICO.

Any advice on this would be appreciated

Thanks Mrs M

Do as they say and address your enquiries about the Additions fees direct to HO. Include the issue of the o/d Protection

Proceed separately with seeking a refund of charges on the basis of Hardship.

Re my comments in post #13 above, I think I was confusing this bank a/c with a CCard a/c situation. You are not likely to get contractual interest on top of the bank charges, if they agree to refund voluntarily or on the orders of the fos.

Hi Slick.

My daughter received this letter on saturday.



They are now saying they will accept no communication from her concerning this account. Not sure but
MR M seems to think the comments about cutting up the cards etc means they have terminated the agreement. Should I carry on with the letter to them asking for the information. Not sure where this letter has come from as it has no address on the top.

Mrs M

They cannot absolve themselves of the need to respond to your reasonable questions.

Clearly the a/c is in dispute so passing it on to a DCA, albeit an in-house one, is a breach of the OFT debt collection Guidelines.

Sections 2.6(h); 2.8(i) and 2.8(k) refer. See Link No 3 in my signature.

Respond to Barclays pointing out that they have a duty to respond to you while the a/c is in dispute and, if they fail to do so, they'll be reported to the fos.

Similarly, if CSL contact you, tell them to back off or you'll report them to the OFT.

Hi Slick

Have calculated the charges and they are well in excess of what she owes them. She did get a refund from them in July 07 for about £500 as a goodwill gesture but it did not stop them from banging them on again even worse.

I have looked on the Barclays site and the O/D Protection is an insurance premium. They say it is to cover you against sickness, accident or involuntary employment but The only reason she would have given up her job would have been if she was pregnant and she was not covered for that.

I have looked at the present offer of this protection and it states that you have to apply for it and it is not a condition of holding an account with Barclays. My daughter said she might have applied for the Additions Plus but she does not remember asking for the O/D Protection.

There is one part that I do not understand it says "it includes Insurance Premium Tax at the rate of 5%."
It also states "If your account is overdrawn at the time the premium is charged, or the premium results in an overdraft, you will pay interest on the premium amount." not sure what that means and should I be looking at something else before I send in the claim.

I have decided to go for the reclaim on this as another PPI.

I have calculated it with the normal 8% interest at just over £600.

I also noticed that even though she wrote to them in 2008 and told them she was in financial difficulty they were still taking it and never asked her if she needed to make a claim on it.

I am now getting to a stage where I feel that at some point they are going to have to give her some money back instead of taking it off something.

Am drafting the letter to Barclays as you suggested.

Thanks Mrs M

Noted - post up the letter in due course, if you want.