Thanks both.

Dx - what would I be looking for if I sent a SAR?

Hi, there is probably nothing I can do about this, but it makes me feel ill so I thought it was worth asking....

I took out a loan in mid 2010 for £13k to clear some credit cards.

Yep, totally stupid and I of course ran the credit cards up again.

Lesson learnt and now in a DMP with Stepchange.

The loan was with HSPF and had front loaded interest at a SCARY rate.

I knew this but at the time I was desperate.

I kidded myself that when an old account fell off my credit report the following year

it would improve my credit rating and I could repay with a loan at a better rate

and get a rebate on the interest.

the £13K loan entered my credit report with an opening balance of £24,536

I ran into problems about 18 months into the 7 yr agreement and they finally defaulted me in December 2012.

At the start of my DMP I had a debts of £43.5K, with £11.5 being the interest on this loan.

A very expensive mistake.

My debts are now £28.5K and being paid off at £613 per month via stepchange

- just under £17K remains on this loan, so they've had almost £8k out of me so far.

I will pay my DMP for an 18 months just to pay off the interest on this loan.

I am so angry with myself for taking this bloody loan in the first place.

Is there ANYTHING I can do about the interest?

If it was not front-loaded I know the interest would have stopped when I was defaulted

- I guess that is why they front load.

And I guess this is all above board,

and yes I know I signed for it etc.

Just asking, because it makes me so cross with myself!

That means that the halifax hav e written it off and have not sold it on. If they do then theymust inform you.

So that's it then? No more debt? wow

This is true.

 

If a debt is written off, it cannot be sold.

 

I think they write off some debts and sell others, so what you are reading is about the debts they have written off, not the ones they sold to a DCA.

Sorry to jump in, but my OH has an old debt with Halifax and has a statement from them which says "WRITE OFF" and then the full amount of the debt, taking the account to £0, then closing the account. Does this mean they couldn't (or shouldn't) have sold it on?

This was may last year and we've not been contacted by anyone, the default is marked as Settled and no new defaults registered.

Hi all, have been reading this thread for a while, not being chased by any DCA's BUT at one point that was a distinct possibility so I am pleased so many people are becoming more aware of their rights and not initmidated by these idiots.

Anyway, my query is about a loan my OH defaulted on with Halifax, which was taken out mid 2002. The account was defaulted Feb 2003 after his business failed (loan was, unfortunately, in his name despite being for the company in reality). It was passed to Blair Oliver Scott who chased very rarely and also by telephone and were very nice, not pushy for money at all.

We've not had an annual statement (monthly ones stopped a while back) from the bank showing a "Write off" amount equal to the outstanding balance in May 2006 and the account was closed a few days later.

His credit report, oddly, shows this:

- Defaulted (Feb 2003)

- Default/Deliquent balance £XX

- Account Settled (March 2003)

What does this mean? If the debt has been sold on then can they register a new default? and if so, and if the debt was sold on in May last year why haven't they made contact/registered a default?

Will this look like it has been settled to other's doing a search or would the balance need to show as £0 for them to think it was actually settled? It does show the account as closed I think.

Hi, I wonder if anyone can shed any light on this scenario...

OH had a loan with Halifax taken out mid 2002 for £15K. His business went into difficulties soon after and after struggling with payments for a while it was defaulted eventually in May 2003 (we think). Mid-2004 he managed 4 months payments of £200 to Blair Oliver Scott, then nothing since then. Blair have been VERY lenient in not chasing the debt very hard according to OH, due to the fact we had house on market to release equity.

Anyway, now sold house but after secured debts paid and deposit to new house (we could only get 85% mortage) only a couple of £K left over, which I need for improvements to new house. However, I got nearly £5K from reclaiming bank charges and I thought I'd try a F&F offer of 30% to clear this debt.

However, looking through OH's statements tonight, in May 2006 his annual statement says "WRITE OFF - £17K" and the loan has been closed. We have not heard from Blair Oliver Scott for months and months. Has this really been written off? What should we do now, ignore it and put our bank charges into much needed home improvements?

I was fobbed off twice with lower offers and the "not prepared to refund recall fees" argument, but in the end I sent them a letter saying I was going to pursue the full amount and they had 7 days to respond and avoid a court case. They paid up within 4 days.

Good news, received a letter today offering to settle in full £4765. First offer was £3700-ish, second offer after LBA was £4300-ish so sent another letter rejecting and giving a further 7 days to respond. got a letter back within 3 days offering full settlement. Thanks to everyone for help, will donate when money in the account.

Thank you very much!

Hi all

I'm just completing my MCOL for Barclaycard. I'm claiming £140 in charges since 2001 and £114.59 in interest on these charges at their cash balance interest rate of 27.9%. I have got the particulars of claim from the templates library and I'm confused about what I put the two sections below (My questions in CAPS). Can anyone help? Many thanks.

5. Claimant claims: (a) return of the amounts debited of £XXX SHOULD THIS BE THE TOTAL CLAIM AMOUNT? OR JUST THE CHARGES THEMSELVES?;

(b) Interest per S.69 County Courts Act 1984 of 8% - £xxx [enter interest total at date of claim] continuing at 8% until judgment or settlement at a daily rate of £0.xx; WHAT DO I PUT IN HERE? I THOUGHT I DIDN'T CLAIM THE S69 INTEREST AS WELL? IF I PUT IN THE 27.9% INSTEAD HOW SHOULD I WORD THIS?

Any advice from anyone?

I could do with some advice. I claimed as above and sent as two seperate claims, one for the joint account and one for my account. THe 14 days were up so I sent the LBA, again, two seperate letters in two envelopes. The next day I received an offer from FD saying "thank you for your request for refund of £4764.00 bank charges" - so they have put the claims together - and offering £3627.00 (the enclosed acceptance slip breaks it down as £1397 sole account; £2230 joint). Now, I want to continue with this so I have these questions:

1) I have sent the LBA's already - they must have crossed in the post - should I send another accepting in part settlement and saying I still want the rest?

2) My OH has around £300 charges to claim on his FD account. Should I just start this as a seperate claim or should I add it in now as they seem to be treating the different accounts as one claim? I don't want to risk them seeing it as a "second" claim later on as they seem to close accounts on the second claim.

Many thanks

Vicki

Thought I'd start a thread for this claim, one of 4 I've started this week.

Their response to my SAR was pretty poor TBH, but as I have the majority of statements (and the few missing ones probably incurred no charges) I thought I'd go ahead on what I've got - It's a small-ish claim anyway.

So, prelim sent today for £140, rising to £256 with interest.

Will keep you posted.

Thought I'd post my progress so far with MBNA....

Sent off SAR earlier in December and had a letter in response along the lines of "we are investigating your complaint, etc".

Received a letter on December 20th with all copy statements and a letter telling me they had credited my account with £330. This cleared my outstanding balance so I called and cancelled the card - got a cheque from them for credit balance of £122 on December 27th.

Totalled my charges up - £827 rising to £1398 with interest (using the interest rate on my card). Posted letter today so lets see what happens now!

Well, I got my statements from 1st Direct today for the joint account and my sole account. Totals are £2998 and £1766.

Immediately completed the spreadsheets and sent off the prelim letters today (treating a seperate claims). Will update any progress.

Thanks for the advice - galileo, it could well have been due to losing my purse, I remember losing it when doing teacher training which was at that time so that probably explains it.

janquinny, I'll do as you advise and add another column to the spreadsheet to save confusion - it's only a claim for £212 but every bit helps!

I sent my SAR to Barclaycard recently as I'm missing a few statements. I got a letter back today with a bunch of statements from 2004 - Sept 2005 and every statement says £0 balance, 0 transactions, etc. Now, I know I used it during that time so I compared them to the statements I have and it appears that in December 2001 Barclaycard changed my account number. The number I put on my SAR (taken from a statement as I've cut up my card) was my OLD account number. Why would they have changed it?

I used the spreadsheet anyway to work out my charges from the statements that I have, I think the missing ones will not have any charges on them anyway as there is a clear balance on statements either side of the missing few. However, the first 3 charges come under the OLD account No and the other 5 charges come under the NEW account No. How do I proceed with this claim? Do I need 2 spreadsheets, but one claim letter? Very confused....

Sent my S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) on 23rd November and got the following response today:

" Thank you for your letter dated November 23rd 2006 which we received on November 27th 2006. We are currently investigating your complaint and will send you a full response by December 24 2006.

In the meantime, should you have any queries please call the Customer Advocate Office on 01244 672 628 Monday to Friday 8am - 5pm.

Yours Sincerely

Stephen Bailey

Customer Advocate Office"

As far as I'm aware I've not made a complaint yet, I've just requested my information with the SAR. Is this a normal response? What do I do now, just wait?

Barclaycard have reduced limits and removed cash withdrawal facility from ALOT of people, my limit was reduced from £4300 to £920 without informing me, and my balance was £953 at the time!

I'm claiming against them too, but when I go through my statements I realised that over the years every time I have got close to my limit they have upped it, so very few over limit charges - total charges for 6 years is £144 against MBNA who owe me £800-ish for 4 years!

If it wasn't for the fact that I feel Barclaycard have behaved appallingly reducing people's limits so close to christmas I'd forget the £144, but now I'm going after them, with interest too!

Go for it!

Thanks for the quick reply - will get it in the post today!

If I think I have all the statements - pretty sure I do - is it worth sending the SAR? I can get the odd missing one from their website. Or is there another reason to send the SAR?

We've had 2 accounts with FD for years, a joint one which has OH wages and most DD's, and mine which pays childcare, shopping etc and has my wages. I just know they owe us thousands, and am drafting my Data protection act letter. Should I send one letter with one £10 or do I need to send 2?

Will post my progress - I've been much reassured by stories I've read here tonight.

Just wanted to say Hi - I've been lurking for a while and have decided to take the plunge. Thanks to all for excellent advice!

Have started with MBNA and Barclaycard, but really want to go for our bank, First Direct, with who we have 3 accounts and have probably been charged thousands over the years - OH self employed for a while, 2 x maternity leave, re-training for a year, etc.

Can anyone recommend a good bank account to change to?

If we change, should we leave the £1.5K combined OD's with First Direct, or clear them? (expecting endowment cash-in in next few weeks)

Vicki