under the old system I had a £5 buffer

[gigs]

Hi, i'm poor and only have a overdraft of £100. I went £2.77 overdrawn (£102.77) and have been given 4 referral fees of £22 since. I only recently got a letter. I haven't received any others.

 

Here's an example of the old system:

 

"

I wish to advise you on 4th July your current account balance was £126.84 overdrawn. As this balance is more than £5.00 above your agreed overdraft limit of £100, a Paid Referral Fee of £30 has been applied to your account.

"

 

As you see under the old system I would not be charged a fee since I was under £5. In this new system, which I did not agree to be on, I have been charged more than I can afford to pay back right now and the debts will mount. Can I go to my branch or ring them up and get them to cancel the fees on this condition? If they refuse can I tell them to freeze the account because it is now in dispute?

 

thx

[Bookworm]

The change to the new Reserve system were advertised well in advance, and you had an option to opt-out of the system beofre it started. You can in fact opt out any time you like. Whether you'll get back the £5 buffer, however, I don't know. My understanding of the system is that if you opt out of the reserve you arte back under the old regime, but whether that comes with the £5 leeway or not, I have no idea... I'm not sure Barclays employees themselves know, tbh.

 

I'm trying to understand what you mean by cancelling the fees "on this condition". What condition? As for "freezing" the account, what do you mean?

 

If the charges are going to keep on piling up because you can't get back under the limit, I would strongly advise you to: a) opt-out of the Reserve (once you go over your Reserve amount, they will start bouncing payments - up to 5 a day - as well as charging you the £22 per 5 days) b) open a parachute account and get your monies in and out of that one asap so that at least you get your hands on your money before the bank does. THEN you can concentrate on how best to deal with Barclays. :-|

[postggj]

i have no overdraft with barclays, yet i have a researve of 0

i take it they can do these odiouse charges if i go overdrawn

like to see them try on a researve of 0

[Bookworm]

Well, there is that, of course. We are finding out that some people have a reserve of 0 in which case I think it would be hard for Barclays to argue that they are supplying any kind of service... Mind you, knowing them, they'll try anyway, but I can't see how they would justify it to a judge.

[gigs]

I'm trying to understand what you mean by cancelling the fees "on this condition". What condition?

b/c of the £5 leeway, on a system I didn't know I was on. I assumed it was still in place and I have the letter mentioning the £5 leeway on the old system. If they sent letters telling me of the change I didn't receive any unfortunately. The only one was recently.

 

As for "freezing" the account, what do you mean?

Someone with a similar spiraling debt asked about freezing the account: " Barclays account overdrawn" by daftada (sorry I don't enough posts to put url's).

[slick132]

Hi Gigs,

 

The trouble is this will spiral because the a/c is "out of order".

 

If you can't get money paid in quickly to get the balance back down to where it should be, you may be better opening a new bank a/c elsewhere.

 

Otherwise your money will just be taken up by charges.

 

Once this is done and your money is being paid into the new a/c, you can write to Barclays offering to repay the debt at a rate you can afford. You can also set about reclaiming the charges made on the a/c.

 

You can use a letter from here to ask them to stop adding charges and interest because of your (I assume) limited income - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-bailiffs-advice/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html

[gigs]

thx for your help, that would be letter k?

[slick132]

Hi Gigs,

 

Letter K is a bit optimistic at this stage.

 

I'd try Letter A for starters, then get on with working out your best options to get out of this problem.

[jimmi123]

The change to the new Reserve system were advertised well in advance, and you had an option to opt-out of the system beofre it started. You can in fact opt out any time you like.

 

Not true. 2 people at Barclays claimed letters were sent out on different months. Also that they were sent out by a third party company and admitted that some letters will not have been received.

 

Also you cannot opt-out of something you never agreed to in the first place nor a change you were unaware existed in the first place.

 

**** Barclays.

[Bookworm]

So what you are saying is that since you were automatically opted-in unless you told them you wanted to opt-out, you can not opt-out now? Somehow, I don't think so.

 

The fact that letters weren't sent out all at the same time doesn't mean they weren't sent out long before the change-over. As for "some" letters not having been received, by the law of average, it's obvious that some will have got lost in the post etc... Should it come to a fight in court, however, "not having received the letter" doesn't cut much ice with judges, even less so when statements also show the amount of Reserve, as do online banking pages. :-|

[gigs]

I did like reading these threads:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/barclays-bank/158929-charged-44-borrow-50-a.html

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-charges-finance-industry/160221-bank-backs-down-over.html

 

Not so much solely about letters, but rather they opted me into a system where I didn't have a £5 buffer for going past my overdraft limit, which unfortunately I wasn't aware of due to the letter not arriving. So going £2.77 past my overdraft limit means I "owe" them roughly £100 now. On the old system I would've been charged less than half that, or not at all with a £5 buffer. I thought i'd give them a ring before sending letter A.

 

I managed to stop fees accruing by describing the situation, they eventually offered the option to opt out. Better than nothing. Now I owe them £100 for £2.77, theft, but with this great site i'm going to get it back along with past fees eventually the long way.

 

I asked them if I would still be charged £22 every 5 days now that i've opted out (just to be sure), they said no. Does anyone know how long I have to find this money before there apply fees? I expect a nasty letter demanding payment immediately real soon though.

[jimmi123]

So what you are saying is that since you were automatically opted-in unless you told them you wanted to opt-out, you can not opt-out now? Somehow, I don't think so.

 

lol

 

Definition of: opt-in

 

To purposefully accept some situation or condition ahead of time.

[Bookworm]

And? According to you, since you didn't know about being opted-in, that means you can't opt out? What is your point?

 

All you have to do is call Barclays and say you want to opt-out.

 

You could have done that in the time it took you to try and score some dubious semantic points. But I am starting to think you are more interested in whining about how hard done by you have been than taking action about it.

 

Sorry, not interested. This is a self-help site, we help those who want to help themselves.

 

Bookie, out. ;-)

[gigs]

Ok barclays has supplied me with a one page summary list of charges relating to 6 years. Total came up to £235 with £55 in refunds. Not bad.

 

However, the reserve system "fees" (the £22 charges per 5 days) is missing. About 4 of them. I can still apply for them right?

 

Any thoughts on this?

 

Also there is no exact date for the fees:

 

For example:

 

YEAR: 2003

TYPE: Paid referral

Data: Entries, Total fees

Total: 5, £100

 

Will this be a problem calculating interest (or something else I don't know about) if there is no exact date? or is the year the fee was charged enough information?

Edited October 23, 2008 by gigs

[slick132]

hi Gigs,

 

The info they've supplied won't enable you to complete a proper spreadsheet - you need the dates for each charge.

 

Send B's an SAR plus the £10 fee - this should get the info required.

 

When you fill in your SOC after getting the info, I'd include the new regime charges as well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[gigs]

thx slick

 

That was the s.a.r. i'm afraid. The template letter said something about "Please supply me with a complete list of transactions and charges relating to my banking history with your organisation. Alternatively, a complete set of statements for that period will be acceptable."

 

I guess this is their way of interpreting the first bit in their favor. They even cashed the cheque.

 

When I go back to as early as 2006 to see statements online it says:

 

"

Please note, we can only show you details going back a limited period.

 

Sorry - there are no transactions for your chosen view

"

[slick132]

Hi Gigs,

 

In that case, they've failed to comply. See here for summat to throw at them - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/6986-data-protection-act-non.html

 

They've not misinterpreted, they're being obstructive.

[postggj]

just a quick question

 

i am now a barclays customer since they took over the woolwich.

with the woolwich i had an automatic fifty quid buffer where i would not be charged, not an overdraft.

 

since barclays took over, would they not have to honour woolwich t&c

 

just thinking out of the box

[slick132]

Slightly guessing here, but I'm sure you'd have been told at the time of the take over that your T&C's would be altered to those of Barclays.

 

Someone else may know better.