I have just found this site, and to say I'm excited is an understatement!

Basically, I have had an account with Barclays since 1998, and I would have paid out ALOT in charges over the last 6 years. I was really rubbish with money when I was younger When I fell pregnant in 2004, I stopped using it, and was just paying £25 per month towards my overdraft. I moved all my DD's etc, as well as my wages, over to my OH's Lloyds a/c, which is now joint.

After a while, Barclays called me to find out what was going on, so I told them I was on maternity leave, and could afford to pay them back £50 p/m, which they said was ok, but I had to call them back when I go back to work (this month) to work something out. If I now put in a claim for all the charges (not sure yet what that would be), would this affect anything at all?

My O/D stands at about £600 just now, and we can't afford to pay that all back in one go, but it would be nice if it could be paid back from a refund of all my charges (with some extra)!

Is there any type or circumstance surrounding a charge that would mean it can't be claimed back by the customer?

Thanks in advance!

Suzie x

Have a read of the FAQ section as it gives pretty good guidance on this. Essentially you are looking to recover unlawful charges, ie ones that are a penalty as opposed to a payment for a service. Penalties include things like going over your overdraft limit or bouncing a transaction.

Some things are likely to be irrecoverable like interest on your overdraft (although it should be possible to claim interest on that part of an overdraft represented by previous penalty charges). Also if you voluntarily pay a regular amount for services from the bank like an arrangement fee then again this is likely to be irrecoverable.

Thanks for that Seminole. I had read the FAQ, but just wanted clarification.

The other thing is, if it does go to court, do I have to defend myself? My cousin is a law student, and this would be great for her!

You can have a lay representtive if you want.

However, do understand that the whole thing is a serious undertaking. The result is not a foregone conclusion. You need to read carefully and assemble your evidence.

No, no, I totally understand - I just meant that she'd most certainly be more likely than I would be to win the case, and it'd be good to get some experience in the court room at the same time.

Thanks again.

I'm just amending the DPA request to send, but I cannot for the life of me find where to send it to - anyone :?

Ignore me, found it!

I sent my DPA request letter on Sat, recorded delivery, and have just checked online and confirmed it has been delivered today. Now I'm just waiting to receive the info and I'm on my way to getting back the hundreds I've been charged (possibly over a grand!) 8)

Will keep you posted :twisted:

Suzie x

Well done! Do keep us posted!

It looks like Barclays are making a standard 50% offer hoping we will all settle for that. Little do they know!!

Keep us up to date

It looks like Barclays are making a standard 50% offer hoping we will all settle for that. Little do they know!!

Bless ...!

OK, well I still haven't heard anything, should I drop them a reminder letter or an email maybe??

Bump

They have got 40 days to send you the statements. From memory the 40 days was nearly up before they sent mine. All delaying tactics

It wont do any harm ringing them and reminding them about the DPA rules

OK, here's my latest.

I totally forgot to ring and remind Barclays to hurry things along, but of course I hadn't forgotten that today was the 40th day! I sent an email to their complaints dept yesterday, telling them in no uncertain terms what I was about to do if my request wasn't dealt with inside of 24 hours (complaint to IC, etc).

My statements were in the post last night, FOC too! Although someone did ring to find out why I wanted them, and I said I'd lost them, but I'm sure they knew it wasn't true (what a shame, not!)

So just got to wait on these, calculate what's due to me, and off we go - finally!!

So, I have the statements, and unfortunately, the amount is actually less than I thought, lol, but anyhoo, £715 will get OH and I a nice getaway!

The only query I have, is how do I know how much interest to put on that? I was continuously charged OD interest, but how do I work out how much of it to charge back, or don't I?

Thanks.

Bump

Another update - guess what turned up in the post today.....? Yep, the info I'd originally asked for. They obviously wanted to leave it til the last possible moment before they sent them out, so they must know what I'm up to.

*cackles and rubs hands together!*

Bumping again too for the info above please, anyone??

Also, why can't I see any of the smilies except the confused one and the rolleyes one anymore?

Sorry, bumping again, anyone know the answer??

So, I have the statements, and unfortunately, the amount is actually less than I thought, lol, but anyhoo, £715 will get OH and I a nice getaway!

 

The only query I have, is how do I know how much interest to put on that? I was continuously charged OD interest, but how do I work out how much of it to charge back, or don't I?

 

Thanks.

Hi there!

If you already had an overdraft that attracted interest then it would be quite difficult to work out - so most people don't tend to bother.

If on the other hand you had an account that had no O/D facilities and it says on your statement "Interest Debited" or words to that effect, then that's the one.

When it come to filing the claim you use the spreadsheet to calculate the 8% interest and add that to the claim.

Good luck!

That's great Tink, thanks for your time! I can now get my letter off to them, bring it on!

Ok, I did start the ball rolling a few months ago, but have had a few things going on at home, so it went on the back burner. I have incurred more charges since then, so I am going to start a fresh. The Data Protection Act request will go out tomorrow, and if anything like last time, I'll probably get the statements back on the 40th day

I'm going to check the copy statements I have, though I think we may have used some of them as scrap for the printer but if not, I won't need to send them out.

Welcome back

I'm back again!! Once again, everything went on the back burner, but I finally kicked myself into touch and sent the prelim letter on Nov 30th. I got the standard reply back yesterday, and then a letter today offering me £365 as full and final settlement They're having a laugh aren't they?

So, now to work out my next move.....

DOH!! Just been re-reading the step-by-step instructions, and it says to enclose a schedule of charges. I didn't do this - do I need to start again? and is there a template for this? What should it look like?

Feck - have I ballsed it up already?