Closing my account Monday!!

[mamatemi1]

I came back from half-term holiday last night to find a letter from these guys saying they are going to close my account Monday. They will be taking my rent money and we have a private landlord!

 

It gets better. I was stood in Spain on Thursday with no money because somebody called Barclays risk had helped themsleves to £156.30 which put me into overdraft have charged me £95 in charges since then and not honoured the cheque I left for my childminder.

 

I am suprised as to how calm I am. Some suggestions and strategy for Monday morning please?

[dar£n]

a) On what grounds are they closing your account, have you been given at least one months notice.

 

b) Who are Barclays Risk?

 

c) Play your face up about the charges, tell them you want them refunded or you WILL pursue the matter through the courts regardless of the OFT hearing.

 

You may be faced with the scenario that when you enter the bank you will be told you have to make an appointment to see a personal banker..Do not stand for this, tell them you are not prepared to wait and you want to see one immediately.

 

Make sure you get the advisers name also.

 

Do NOT agree to anything that you are unsure about or do not really want.

[saintly_1]

You must put in a letter of complaint to the FOS immediately

 

AS CAG are currently gathering evidence to submit to the FSA regarding such breaches. It would be very much appreciated if you could e-mail admin@consumeractiongroup .co.uk give a brief outline of the breach ie the closing of account in retaliation after a claim and leave your contact details.

 

Hope this helps

 

Saint

[mamatemi1]

Thanks folks.

I got my charges back in July but they have not responded to my request for wasted costs and they have been levying charges since by recognising debits but not the accompanying credits. They are closing my account because I closed down my DMP.

I don't know who Barclays risk is, they haven't been in touch. The bank gave me 10 days notice.. I guess that is why I am calm. I am full of information from CAG. Basically, I will acknowledge that our relationship has broken down, they can close my account but they must give me the statutory notice, and I want back the £251.30 they have helped themselves to while I was away. I have attempted to transfer money into an old a/c and my daughters savings which ostensibly they have honoured, so lets see what happens on Monday. Do you have a template for reporting to FOS?

[saintly_1]

our complaints procedure and how to complain have a look there

[mamatemi1]

Thanks a lot.

[ohare7707]

Barclays Risk, is another name for their consumer finance department based at Astley/Byrom House Quay Street Manchester. This is Barclays internal collections departement. From the sounds of what was initially described it appears that they have used the right to "set off accounts" If a loan account was in arrears or an account overdrawn without a limit etc then they transfer funds from where there is credit to try and correct this. This only normally happens after a couple of months without any action by the account holder or if an arrangement to repay the debt breaks down... I don't know really where you stand with this but Barclays surely must have checked the legality of doing it as they have done for years!

[mamatemi1]

Barclays Risk, is another name for their consumer finance department based at Astley/Byrom House Quay Street Manchester. This is Barclays internal collections departement. From the sounds of what was initially described it appears that they have used the right to "set off accounts" If a loan account was in arrears or an account overdrawn without a limit etc then they transfer funds from where there is credit to try and correct this. This only normally happens after a couple of months without any action by the account holder or if an arrangement to repay the debt breaks down... I don't know really where you stand with this but Barclays surely must have checked the legality of doing it as they have done for years!

 

Please find below the text of the letter I am hoping to post tomorrow adjustments please

As you may be aware, this account was being managed by CCS until May of this year.

I have refrained from making further payments since then as the account has been in dispute since in dispute since I requested a refund of my bank charges on 16th January 2007. I subsequently filed a claim against Barclays which was adjourned on the 9th of July 2007 in response to my letter to the court agreeing a settlement. The judge granted an order to adjourn pending the meeting of my wasted costs order.

Please note that the order to Barclays was to make the payment by 14th July 2007. This has not been done and therefore the account is still in dispute and I believe therefore that you are in contempt of court by closing my account on 29th October as stated in your letter of 19th October 2007.

Please note that you are also in breach of the Banking Code which requires you to give me 30 days notice of account closure.

I have attempted to resolve this severally by

1. Going to your xxxx branch on 29th July ( xxxxx) as well as on the phone to ‘xxxx’ in your complaints department (2007 116 1000). We were unable to find a solution as your operatives seemed to give these officers the run around for in excess of 4 hours, however, Sharon refunded £95.00 of charges which I was able to withdraw from your xxxxbranch.

I was promised a phone call once the matter has been resolved but I am still waiting and I am currently unable to meet my obligations as you have removed £497.67 from my account between 22nd October 2007 and 29th October 2007.

I am quite willing for you to close my account as it is obvious our relationship has broken down irretrievably.

However, since you chose not to dispute my claim regarding these charges in court, I believe that you are now in contempt of the court by ignoring its order and closing my account while there is an unresolved dispute.

In order for you to remedy these breaches, I require from you the following:

A refund by cheque xxxx representing the sums debited to my account by you

The payment of the wasted costs order in the sum of £xxx

The removal of the unlawful default of this account in our name

Compensation for the distress engendered by your actions.

Once you have done these actions, we will be very willing for you to close the account provided of course that you will refund any further credits to the account namely Child Benefit in respect of our two children.

I require that these actions are completed within the next 5 working days, otherwise I will have no option but to ask the judge to re-instate my claim xxxx against you and also seek an order putting you in contempt of the previous orders.

I would strongly suggest that you refer this letter to a senior officer in your legal and compliance unit and I am assisting by sending a copy to your Chief Legal Officer.

Please note that I would be grateful if our communication remains in writing only.

[ohare7707]

The letter you have drafted has everything you need to include.

 

Please be aware, knowing how the banks work etc (Especially Barclays) you will more that likely have to get the courts to enforce any judgements or directions previously granted.

 

Remember to send your letter Recorded Delivery and keep a copy for your records.

 

With regards to child benefit (or any other benefits) paid into the account, they have to give you access to these, believe it or not the FOS will help you promptly get this back if you give them a call on 0845 080 1800. They will take details of the complaint and investigate it on your behalf. Would probably suggest opening a new bank account to get this paid into.

[mamatemi1]

Barclays refused to show up in court in July. I got my charges back and judge also awarded wasted courts and adjourned with permission to restore. I closed down my DMP for the overdraft ( O/d 2,500 charges 3350) and waited. Barclays have ignored the order and closed my account 10 days ago and taken approx £1000. I have written and pointed this out and they have till tomorrow to respond, otherwise I need to ask the judge to restore to seek removal of default and refund of monies. How do I ask the judge to restore? Advice please.

[slick132]

Hi Mama,

 

I would write to the court manager pointing out that case was adjourned as you say and bank have basically ignored court's judgement in various ways.

 

Give a brief outline of events since Judgement was given and ask that the case go back before the judge to consider further action to address your unresolved problems.

 

You could draft some draft Directions yourself to suggest how you would like case to progress.

 

You'll need copy of any closing statement to see what chgs bank has made to your a/c before closure.

 

Please keep to one thread which makes it much easier for all to keep track of your claim. I'll get them merged for you.

[ukaviator]

Threads Merged

[mamatemi1]

Thanks!!

[mamatemi1]

Please find below letter that I want to send of to the court. It is pretty basic so any advice would be gratefully recieved.

 

Between

 

 

xxxxx

And

Barclays Bank

Upon reading the claimant's letter dated 15th November, 2007,

 

 

IT IS ORDERED THAT

 

 

1. Defendant to pay Claimants’ costs as ordered

2. Defendant to refund the sum of which represents the balance in the claimants account offset by the Defendant

3. Defendant to remove the default entry on the Claimant’s record within 14 days of the date of this order.

 

4. NOTICE OF ORDER MADE WITHOUT A HEARING

 

Because this order has been made by the court without considering representations from the parties. the parties have a right to apply to have the order set aside, varied or stayed .

 

A party wishing to make an application must send or deliver the application to the court (together with any appropriate fee) to arrive to the court office within 7 days of receiving this order.

Barnet County Court

St Mary’s Court

Regent’s Park Road

London

N3 1BQ.

Dear Sir,

xxx V Barclays Bank

Claim Number xxxxx

I wish to request the indulgence of the court to restore the above claim against Barclays Bank.

The Defendant has ignored the wasted costs order granted by the judge in this case which it was directed to pay wasted costs in the sum of £250.00. In addition, the Defendant has levied an additional £xxx in charges up till date.

The Defendant has exercised its right of offset and closed the account on 29th October via a letter dated 19th October in violation of the Banking Code.

In addition, it has come to my notice that the Defendant has entered a default against my credit record for the sum of £2640 on the 10th of November 2005 this entry is incorrect as the sum levied in charges on this account accrued to £3350.73 and is therefore unlawful.

I believe that the Defendant has behaved unreasonably in their approach to defending this claim, not least because I believe the Defendant had no intention of ever defending this claim at a hearing. It has also acted unreasonably by ignoring the order of the court. I have also written to the Defendant outlining these breaches and giving the Defendant an opportunity to remedy those breaches without recourse to the Court. Regretfully, all attempts at meaningful dialogue were either rebutted or ignored.

Please find attached a new draft order in respect of the Claim.

Yours sincerely,

[slick132]

Hi Mama,

 

Letter looks good - just space out the paras so it reads nicely.

 

Re your Draft Directions, send them as a separate sheet (which I'm sure you would) but stop at 3). Let the judge do the rest !

[mamatemi1]

Thanks. Yes will do. Closed the paras for here.

 

This goes tomorrow wish me luck!!

[slick132]

Good luck tomorrow (ok?)

[mamatemi1]

Thank you.

 

Will I need to prepare an updated POC at some point?

[mamatemi1]

How about this for a laugh. I got a letter from Barclays today telling me my account was overdrawn and would I like to come in and discuss an overdraft facility? The moppets closed my account at the end of the month and then started paying direct debits last week! Here was me trying to pay bills on my new account and reset direct debits and I am being told, oh the direct debit has gone through and I say no, that account is closed!! but sure enough, they have paid the direct debits and are asking me to come in formalise the overdraft! Eh no...I want my default removed and the money you are with-holding returned.

 

How long will I have to wait for the Court Manager to re-instate my claim? The letter went on Monday when I was finally happy with the numbers.

[slick132]

Hi Mama,

 

I would hope the Court Mgr will reply promptly but may wait until your case is put back to a Judge.

 

In the meantime, you could write to bank and tell them you will contact them further when you hear back from your County Court concerning bank's behaviour. Confirm that you contend you owe them nothing and they still owe you.

 

I wouldn't even BOTHER explaining any more to them as you're probably wasting ink.

[mamatemi1]

My judge has decided to stay action until the determination of the OFT case!!!

[slick132]

Hi Mama,

 

You have every right to write back to court pointing out that the case has already been determined by the judge.

 

And that you are applying to have case reconsidered because of banks shabby behaviour, And that you want a judge to review and decide how you may proceed in view of banks behaviour.

[mamatemi1]

Will follow your advice and will let you know. Thanks.