Thread: Rocky vs Barclaycard

Hello all,

Have sent my SAR off, though I've not had a response yet. I'm not going to start my claim for a couple of months, but figured it made sense to find out exactly what I'm owed sooner rather than later.

I wasn't planning on putting a thread up until I decided to start the process of claiming my charges back in a few months time, however I've had a letter today stating that:

At Barclaycard we aim to prevent customers borrowing more that they cana fford to repay. We constantly monitor our customer;s accounts and as stated in condition 2.6 of the terms and conditions, we may suspend a customers right to use their card for cash withdrawals at any time.

After a review of your account, you will no longer be able to withdraw cash in the UK and will be unable to do so for a minimum of six months. Although you are no longer eligible to withdraw cash within the UK you may still be able to withdraw cash outside the UK.

We ahve made this decision based on at least one of the following reasons:

* You have recently breached the terms and conditions.
* You have had a credit limit decrease on your Barclaycard.
* Your credit limit is less than £500.
* Based on your usage of the card.

We regret any invconvenience this may cause you.

Thing is, I've been good and had paid off my card in it's entirety very recently, so I can't explain why they would do this, unless it was a response to my SAR, even though that letter didn't include any statement of my intent with respect to the information I was asking for.

Has this kind of thing happened to anyone else? Do you think it's a response to my SAR or entirely separate? What should I do about it?

Cheers.

Hi Paul, I received one of those letters letter reducing my Mastercard with Barclays by a further £100, they reduced it about 2 months ago when I first started claiming. The bottom line is I am really not bothered, as I really do not want all that credit, it only enclourages you to spend. I have never drawn any cash in the UK so that will definately not bother me either. Carry on with your claim, as they have taken your money and they have to refund it.
DS

Thanks, don't worry, I'll be getting all my money back, though don't intend to start until I've finished uni in a couple of months. Anyway, no I don't think I've been naughty, at least not recently, I mean I paid the whole lot off with my Natwest refund very recently!

think the letter from BC is standard now. i had one last week exactly the same. not bothered really as too damn expensive to take out cash on card.

Finally got my statement, about a week after the 40 day deadline expired. Their letter states that everything prior to 2004 will be sent out in the next 6 weeks as it's stored on Microfiche and that they don't consider sending this information one of their obligations under the Data Protection Act, though they will send the information as a gesture of goodwill.

So far have I've identified £512 of charges, though that will probably rise to about £700 when I've got the rest of the statements.

Fortunately I don't intend to start the ball rolling until after I've finished my degree- have just got too much work on at the moment, so I don't have a problem waiting for the rest of my statements. Am quite looking forward to the battle........

Well, finally received my statements on the 18th of May, a good deal longer than 40 days after my SAR, but I've bigger fish to fry, so will let that slide unless I'm provoked.

Total charges is £732, against which I've paid a further £429 in interest over the years. Am I right in thinking I'm ok to claim back both the charges and the interest I've incured as a direct result of these charges?

Nearly finished uni, so I'm now ready to get this ball rolling!

Right, I know I'm full of questions, but here's a thought:

I'm claiming charges plus the interest I've paid on those charges. But if I've paid off part of the balance, so that I'm paying interest on a lower sum than the amount of charges I'm claiming, should I only claim the interest I'm paying on the (variable each month) balance or just carry on with the claim as it is?

It would be pretty tricky to calculate what interest I've paid asa result of the charges!

Advice please..........

Originally Posted by paulrockliffe

Right, I know I'm full of questions, but here's a thought:

I'm claiming charges plus the interest I've paid on those charges. But if I've paid off part of the balance, so that I'm paying interest on a lower sum than the amount of charges I'm claiming, should I only claim the interest I'm paying on the (variable each month) balance or just carry on with the claim as it is?

It would be pretty tricky to calculate what interest I've paid asa result of the charges!

Advice please..........

Paul,
You still need to claim interest on those charges, because had you not have paid those charges, you would not have incurred any interest.
If you are saying you do not know what interest rate they charged you you could just stick to 8% and not charge them the contractual rate.
Do they not mention the interest rate on your statements!
DS

Hey, thanks, yeah, I'm fully aware of the current rate of interest that they're charging me and wil be pursuing them for all 24.9% if appropriate.

My question is that as I've paid off the card so that I owe them less than they owe me, I'm effectively no longer paying interest on all the charges I'm claiming back, so a complicated calculation would be required to work out what interest I've actually paid. Does that make sense?

Have been reading up on CCA Requests (does anyone have a link to a CCA request template letter?) and was wondering whether I should CCA Barclaycard to check they can enforce my debt? If it turned out their agreement wasn't executable is it possible to claim back charges from an account at the same time as disowning it?

If that were the case, would I be better off claiming charges back, then disowning the debt?

Thanks, my understanding is that claiming the interest on a credit card isn't the same as claiming contractual interest on a bank account because the interest I'd be claiming is the extra interest that I've paid to them as a result of their charges increasing the balance on my card. What you've said in the first paragraph sounds like either you haven't understood the distinction between the two or I haven't explained it verry well, hopefully that'll make sense a bit more now? Assuming I'm right to make a distinction between contractual interest and interest that's actually been paid on the charges, you're first paragraph also implies I could claim contractual interest on top of this and actually hit them for anouther £400+

The reason why I think a complicated calculation is necessary is because the rate of interest paid each month is related directly to the balance of the account, not the amount of historic charges I've racked up. Again, this is different to a Bank Account. For example, my balance this month is £470, so I'm paying them interest at 24.5% on that figure (£9.60) as a result of their cahrges and want to claim this back.

But a simple calculation of interest on the £732 of charges I'm owed would add on £14.90 of interest this month, which I haven't paid and so shouldn't be claiming back. The only way to work out the true interest paid would be to go through each month and compare the card balance with the charges balance and do a calculation manually.

Does that make sense at all? Please tell me if I'm talking absolute rubbish, though it does all make sense in my head!

Thanks for your input, will have a read throguh Bong's thread when i get home this evening.

Cheers.

Originally Posted by paulrockliffe

Hey, thanks, yeah, I'm fully aware of the current rate of interest that they're charging me and wil be pursuing them for all 24.9% if appropriate.

My question is that as I've paid off the card so that I owe them less than they owe me, I'm effectively no longer paying interest on all the charges I'm claiming back, so a complicated calculation would be required to work out what interest I've actually paid. Does that make sense?

Have been reading up on CCA Requests (does anyone have a link to a CCA request template letter?) and was wondering whether I should CCA Barclaycard to check they can enforce my debt? If it turned out their agreement wasn't executable is it possible to claim back charges from an account at the same time as disowning it?

If that were the case, would I be better off claiming charges back, then disowning the debt?

That does not matter, the point is they charged you that rate of interest and had they not have deprived you of your money by way of excess charges/penalties then you would have had the use of that money.

IMHO you are entitled to it, so why not claim it.

DS

Originally Posted by sallysas

I've only claimed compound contractual once and then I only went for the simple version as it did my head in!!!! Didn't vary the interest rate at all, just charged one amount (the current) and let Vamp's spreadsheet work out the interest, the 1st claim date obviously netting the largest amount of interest. The interest was getting on for double the charges but then I was going back to 2000. I believe it would be possible to claim interest on interest but that spreadsheet just lost me.

Now I am back claiming statutory the last column of vamp's spreadsheet (17a) works out the correct amount of interest for each month so the calculation you are thinking about is unnecessary. Does this make sense in reply to your 3rd paragraph? I'll shut up now 'cos I'm not being very useful but if you do decide to go for contractual just PM me and I can send you a copy of my Particulars of Claim (POC) when you need them.

One point to remember is that whatever we win back the IR might be interested in. This may not apply in your case.

Sally, from my own research you only have to tell the IR if you have claimed interest & charges in reducing a tax liability on previous tax returns. It would be mostly for self employed or Businesses that this might relate to.

How are you getting on with your claim. I am about to do my POC for Halifax this weekend. But rather worrying, the Judge who gave on BBC4 radio today is our court locally and where our other cases are waiting for defences then aq. He has stated that all London Judges want at least ONE case to be reffered to the court of appeal. What's the betting he will pick on me!!
DS

Originally Posted by sallysas

Watch this space then. It might not be you.

Sally, there is a good chance it could be us, Judge Stephen Gerlis resides at the court where I together with my o/h have 3 cases at present! and what's the betting it will be him!!!
DS