Thread: Barclay's Bank [problem]s

Hi,

Conn Number One.

Several months ago I went to my local branch of Barclays to pay in the princely sum of £120 in cash. Overnight a standing order was due out and I was paying the cash in to "stabilise" my overdraft to ensure that sufficient funds were available to cover the standing order. This is what the bank expects one to do. So, I followed the rules to prevent the inevitable happening and to prevent the standard £30 charge being levied for exceeding my overdraft limit when the standing order was paid that night.

I went home and checked my current account on my PC via on-line banking. This was on the Friday afternoon at about 5pm. Surely enough the £120 had been credited to my account "cleared balance" (don't forget it was cash) so I was happy that my obligations had been met with regard to my "contract" with the bank.

Upon checking on the following Monday I discovered that a £30 referral had been charged to my account. The standing order had indeed gone out on the Friday night but now mysteriously the £120 that I paid in (in cash) on the previous Friday had now been post dated to Monday!

I went to my local branch to investigate and was informed that even if the payment is in cash, if it is paid into my account within 1 hour of the close of business (in this case my local branch closes at 4:30pm and I paid the money in at about 15:40 (ten minutes "late)) it is in fact credited on the next working day, which was of course Monday.

I had never heard of this rule before. I was always under the impression that cash is cash and is automatically on your account for use as soon as it is paid over the counter. Why do Barclays have this rule? Obviously because it benefits Barclays (not the customer of course). In this particular instance it worked to their advantage in that they screwed another £30 out of my account. I can see no reason for the "1 hour rule". Cash is cash and computers are computers. Cash in, computer updated. Money there. They must have their systems programmed to initiate this delay to their advantage. Nobody at the branch, including the Manager could give me a good reason for this.

I commented that upon arriving home and checking on the Friday afternoon that the money had appeared on my account as "cleared funds" that I now felt "conned". My £30 was indeed refunded on the spot as "a gesture of goodwill" but once again because of Barclays "Hidden Rules" I had to make yet another trip to the bank to sort it out. Who pays for my time as a self employed plumber? Me!

Conn Number Two.

On a Monday in August I paid into my Business Account a cheque for £140. I once again, had a standing order to pay on the Friday evening from my current account. Now, if I pay a cheque into my Current Account I can normally draw the funds straight away, even though the cheque has not cleared. This is because the banks, including Barclays understand that only about 0.4% of cheques bounce. Some of these are for genuine reasons. This system keeps the money flowing.

Having only recently opened my Business Account I was somewhat taken aback when upon returning home I found that via the internet banking system I could not transfer some of the £140 to my Current Account, because the cheque had not cleared. I.E. I found out that if money is paid into one's Business Account the rules are different in that you cannot draw the funds until the cheque actually clears unlike one's Current Account where you can. Why the rule difference?

However, the cheque finally cleared overnight on the Thursday. So far so good. Plenty of time to transfer the money between the two accounts that evening to meet the midnight deadline for my standing order.

So, I transferred the money during the Friday evening after returning from work to find on the Monday (similar to the previous cash transaction in Conn Number One) that I had incurred a charge of £30 for not having enough funds available to pay the standing order. I went to my local branch.

Upon explaining that I had transferred the money (yes it was actually transferred on the Friday, I saw it sitting in my Current Account after the transfer) it had again been post dated to the Monday. It was explained to me that "The bank doesn't work at the weekend." I said "I do, I have to to earn the money to pay your charges." I also went on to query that if the bank doesn't work at the weekend how come you managed to pay my standing order on Friday night?

The young lady didn't have an answer for this and went to see the Manager in her office. She returned to say that I should be aware of these rules as they are laid down in their terms and conditions (Yes, buried on page 22 in sub section 14a, paragraph 43 and no doubt in low contrast, small print). On this occasion, no refund was forthcoming. In fairness when I complained to my Barclay's Business Advisor about it a couple of weeks later she overturned the decision and gave me the refund.

So, Barclays doesn't work at the weekends folks. Unlike most of the rest of us. Either grafting to earn the money to pay their charges or sitting at our PCs trying to sort the mess out and keep on top of it all. Oh, there is an exception to the above rule. They work (or at least their Computers work to drag money out of your accounts but not to put it in after you have earned it and given it to them). Any delay of course leaves you the "customer" in a possible precarious position if you are about on your overdraft limit.

Very convenient but not for you of course. So, watch them like the hawks they are. They will use any ruse to crowbar money (your money!) out of your accounts.

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I often wondered about that, direct debit payment for the Mondays, showing on a Saturday. Makes me think now that they could have been charged interest for on the overdraft - ????????????????

Hi Furndire,

Yes, if you have direct debits or standing orders due out on a Saturday or Sunday they are normally paid overnight on Friday (because the bloody banks don't work at the weekends). Computers work 24/7, so why don't the bank's computers? You can easily fall foul of this because this means that S/Os or DDs sometimes get paid up to 2 days early, depending on the day and date they fall. If you are poor and tottering between the black and the red then you can easily trip over. If the bank's computer systems worked 24/7, as they do in most other organisations then we wouldn't have to worry about it, would we?

Yes Barclays, like anybody else have to update software, replace or upgrade hardware etc but it doesn't take 48 hours each week to do this. Their action is deliberate. Another hurdle for you, the customer to negotiate.

As I said, Hawk is the word.

I got out of business earlier this year (after being in business for 20+ years), rent doubled. I got sick to death of everyone wanting a bit of my soul - without working for it. Banks, advertising phone, dearer electric, dearer water, rates. I had managed to keep my head above water, but decided if I carried on I would drown. Good luck to anyone who can cope with it all - I had had enough, and life is a lot better. Boring, but at least I don't have the worries.

Hi Furndire,

I understand exactly where you are coming from. Life is now a bitch in Britain. Everything is about "Maximising profit". Devil take the hindmost. Years ago, people were just glad to make a living. If self employed or running a small business then if at the end of the year you had paid everybody's wages, had a 2 year old, half decent car in the car park and took your family off to Florida for a couple of weeks you considered yourself successful.

Now, everybody's at it and the smaller you are the less chance you have of surviving or making a living. Large companies in particular, not just the banks are screwing money out of anybody that walks past their window. The government are just as much to blame with their plethora of stealth taxes. Everywhere you look there is a hand out in front of you saying "give".

You work hard and end up with nothing in the bank. Then the bank skims you to boot. They wonder why there are so many people in jail and the prisons are bursting at the gunwhales. Reason? I think a lot of people turn to crime because they are sick to death of trying to earn a decent living. They break their backs with nothing to show for it. If you are successful in crime you turn a "decent" pound with no tax to pay. V. attractive to some.

If you get caught, well people like us who are "creamed" for tax pick up their tab, so they (the criminals) win either way. OK, they are locked up (or more than likely put on an electronic tag these days). There is no disincentive not to commit crime. If you win, then you are on easy street. If you lose, then you are on easy street. A "Catch 22" in reverse if you like.


Meanwhile, the rest of us pay business bank charges for every transaction, pick up the extra fuel bill (gas, electric, petrol) and soldier on dreaming of buying that elusive second hand, 5 year old Mercedes. You can't even afford a decent holiday abroad these days because it has become so expensive.

I do work for some couples who may be in their twenties with a Merc and a Subaru 4x4 parked in the drive. These people take 4 or five holidays abroad each year and think they are hard done by because they can't get away more often to relieve the "stress" of their 9 to 5 jobs.

If they can't change their cars every 2 years or so they think they are loosing face with the neighbours and their contemporaries. Some of these people have joint incomes of £K100 plus. Older people (say over 40) now end up working at B&Q or Tescos for £5.35 per hour. No sense of value anymore in Britain and the government wonder why so many people retire abroad!

The basic reason is that they can't afford to stay here.

Nonetheless, we soldier on. I am about to go down the path of various other people on this website to get my bank charges for the past 6 years refunded. I am tired of being "dumped on" at the slightest opportunity. Last week, I received a letter from Barclays informing me that they had upgraded their "Additions Plus" package. It now includes mobile phone insurance! I, like you and most others have this already as part of my standard mobile phone monthly contract. Upon checking my files this afternoon I found that they had already instigated this "attractive upgrade" already in January of this year. Now they lie to us as well!

Oh! The charge for the "Additions Plus" account has now been increased by £4.80 per month and now stands at around £15.00. Fantastic! They give you something that they have already given you 10 months ago, which you won't use because you had it already in the first place and then charge you extra for it.

No choice. No "would you like to opt into this", just pay. Of course if you are in overdraft on your additions plus account you can't walk with your feet as you are "tied in". You basically can't close your account down because they will demand immediate payment of the overdraft, which of course most people in overdraft can't afford to do.

Extortion I think is the best word to use here. They are not only hawks but sharks to boot.

The quicker I get my overdraft down the better. Once I have done that I will leave Barclays and probably the banking system for good. Then I will sue them for my charges. Small Claims Court? county court? No problem. I took the NHS to the High Court in London some years ago (with my own money) after a five year battle. They settled on the steps. The law is a great leveller and it works for the small man. Don't be scared. You are all equal in law. I wish all those on this site all the best. Stick to your guns and threatan the hell out of all of them. The're begging for it!

Couldn't have put it better myself !!!! I must admit we had thought of clearing off abroad, but my son has a business in France and oh boy are they getting stung with red tape & taxes - there a really booming black economy over there. So to conclude, the grass isn't green anywhere.