Mercers (again sorry)

[fiddles]

Hi All new to the site, have visited before for information and now its got to the crucial stage in my battle with Mercers - Barclay cards debt collection department.

 

First a little history, i was 18 when i got the card; as i was already a barclays customer they handed over the application form to me in a Barclays Branch and told me all i need to do is sign and date at the bottom... which i did - it was over in 5 seconds - Was then told card will be with you within 5-7 working days. No questions asked i was happy with that being in my juvenile mindframe still. This all happend 2003/2004. I maxed the card out within that month (my credit limit was only £400) since then i have been making the monthly minimum repayments, ive had a few spells of unemployment over the past few years which has added defaults etc - even though they were aware of my situation. So now were in 2009 and it was in february i first read about the dodgy credit agreements on or before 6th April 2007.

 

Considering i wasnt even taken through the paperwork/agreement and was only asked to sign and date (i can only really remember signing), i thought something was up about that... and the fact they were charging me 24.9% apr (or there abouts) when at first i thought it would be 8.9 or something - again i was not advised of the apr, and whether it was fixed or variable.

 

So in February my account gets passed to mercers as i had refused to keep paying the charges and interest. Ofc i got the "we'll come round and make u pay" letters etc so i decided to ask for a copy of my credit agreement as i did not have a copy and to be honest i dont recall ever being presented with a copy.

 

At first they were more than happy to help me, the operator on the other end of the phone said thats no problem, we'll get that out to you; it could take up to 10-14 days - to which i said fine; put my account on hold till then, they did for a week before ringing me back asking for payment. i made them aware of the situation and asked for a another weeks hold until i receive it.

 

The following week had come and still no letter so barclaycard again called me up asking for payment, i explained the situation which i was then told to the effect of "oh no sir, we dont send out the agreements from here; you must send to this address with £1 payment". Quite livid that i was giving the wrong information/ failed to be given correct information at first i said ok ill do that.They put my account on hold again for another week.

 

I then get a call the next week for payment (after ignoring it at 8:30 am on a sunday and saturday morning) - and i love my weekend sleep. So obviously theyre asking for payment again. I explained the situation again and asked them to ensure this was infact being recorded on their system. I was then advised to the effect "i dont know who told you its only £1, you must send us £5" - Ofc i was outraged as i 1. had not even received anything back from first two letters and 2. i had already sent out payment.

 

So i reluctently sent £5 in the post to the same address (which i confirmed with the operator) and asked them yet again to put my account on hold, luckily this time the operator said she will put it on a two week hold seeing as ive had trouble. Fair Do's.

 

So time passed and still nothing. Mercers in the meantime (and inbetween these main phonecalls) were harrasing me all different times of the day. So then i get time to call them back, ofc they are asking for money; i yet again explained the situation and explained that i had indeed asked not to be contacted as i would contact them when i received correspondance. Unfortunatly this time i had a nasty piece of work on the phone.

 

So she asked what is it i actually want, i said the magical words (which had been said many times before) I would like a signed copy of my credit agreement and application form please. She said why what are you disputing; annoyed at this point (i have short patience - especially with these people) I said read your friggin screen this has been going on for months. So obviously didnt like my tone either and started telling me they didnt have to provide that and started quoting the latest credit acts, to which i was saying blah blah blah the whole way through, i told her that doesnt apply to my account as it was opened under the old acts pre April 2007, which she seemed to take in.

 

She then advised me that i had been given the wrong address to send my request to, and also given the wrong information about payment. She told me i had to send £10 payment with the letter to another address... i was steaming at this point as they had obviously mucked me around for months, and now they are apparently giving me the correct information.... raising the cost each time. I told her straight out i never signed a credit agreement and i was only presented with the sign here box on the application form in a barclays branch and not advised of anything else.

 

Anyway so its been two weeks since that conversation, mbarclaycard called in the meantime and asked for payment, to which i told them to delete my contact numbers as they have been taking the ****, i told them only to ring weekday evenings, which they never (cause they have an automated system), they rang me at work 10:30 everyday - i said put my number towards end of the list then so its later in the day - they couldnt do that. As soon as i got off the phone to them, confirming they had infact deleted my number; i get a call; a mercers number. Obviously i answered in a not so hot tone and layed into them quite badley seeing as i had only just hung up telling them to delete my number! Anyway apparently that was a mistake. And they havent called since, i said i would call them in a week, after requesting the account to be held again for one week.. today is that day and i still have not received anything.

 

I actually do want to get this resolved, but i feel like the mega interest ive paid off should equate to what ive borrowed. And oh yeh they also decided to sometime a couple of years back reduce my credit limit making my over my account limit - without calling me up or anything - i just got a letter saying we have reduced and not we will reduce (i.e. no notice) that month im pretty sure i got charges for being over credit limit etc. Anyway so the limit was reduced and i currently owe just under £600 to my recollection - its not alot but still a debt i dont want/shouldnt have if carefull scrutiny in accounts opened was in effect.

 

Sorry for the long winded post, but thought background may answwer some questions. If barclaycard can only supply me with a copy of the application form, what i had only signed and was not aware of any workings of the agreement - maybe to the effect i wasnt aware there was an agreement - do i have a case? Also if they fail to supply me anything what can i do about that?

 

Thanks in advance guys n gals and thanks for takeing time to read

 

 

Fid

[42man]

It would be interesting to know how much they had previously added in excessive penalty charges also....

[Zorro01]

Hiya.

 

First things first. Don't speak to barclaycard or mercers over the phone. Tell them to contact you by letter only. If they ring you then don''t answer the security questions and hang up. NEVER speak to them over the phone and they will soon get bored. There are infact letters on this site in relation to telephone harrassment so get one of those fired off. It sounds like they are trying anything they can to get you to pay becuase they are probably aware they can't really enforce the debt (if they could they would have sent you valid CCA through - I mean why wouldn't they).

Send them the account in dispute letter. And then just ignore them thats what I have done. When they call me I just say in writing only and hang up. Simples. Someone else with a bit more experience at this will be along soon to help you out.

[PGH7447]

FYI

 

CCA = £1 this is for the agreement they have 12+2 days to supply, the account is now in dispute if they dont, so you dont pay them

 

SAR = £10 for all statements they have 40 days to respond.

 

Stop answering the phone and if you do say in writing and put the phone down.

[silverfox1961]

Hi,

To be honest, I would put the past behind you and start again.

 

Send a SAR to Barclays

Enclose a £10 postal order

send the letter recorded delivery

They have 40 days to comply

 

The SAR is letter 2 here:

 

The Consumer Forums - Bank charges templates (consumer)

 

AND send Mercers this (i know they are the same company):

Harassment by telephone - Consumer Wiki

 

Again by recorded delivery.

 

When you sign the letters you could use this:http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9902&d=1245343818

 

This is to remove the temptation for anyone to lift your signature (not saying the OC would do this but better safe blah blah)

 

When they next ring you, refuse to answer any security questions. If you do decide to speak to them, record the call if you can.

Remember, in letters they have to be accurate. In a phone call they will tell you anything to get you to pay.

 

good luck

 

fox

[fiddles]

Thanks for the quick response all,

 

42Man - Ill have a look when i get home later - i dont tend to open my barclay bills up anymore - they just sit in a pile.

 

Zorro - Ill get a copy of the account in dispute letter - looks a bit better than mine Thanks - They no longer call, but i had to call them again just now to advise that i still have not received what i requested. In the last half hour they told me that a credit card does not have a credit agreement now?! Can anyone confirm this? I said im sure there is some kind of credit agreement, just not the kind you get for loans? May have ****ed in the wind there.

 

PGH7447 - Does that mean they are over charging me then? I will definatly look into requesting Subject Access Request when i get home.

 

Silverfox1961 - Yeh the past is a bit messy - As PGH7447 and yourself suggested i will get a Subject Access Request out to them - and ill be sure to send mercers the harrasment letter - and i like the idea of that anti tamper image - as im sure they dont have anything on me bar the single sig on the app form.

 

Also they have just advised me that when i next call/contact them to advise of status that they will be expecting payment - and that casue the account is now 6 months in arrears soon the debt will be sold on - will this effect my case? I think i read in another thread that i can still request the same info through the new collection agency?

 

Thanks in advance all, and thanks for the speedy replies - really appreciated.

[Zorro01]

only send them letters my friend no more calls; (unless you want to wind them up for a bit).

They have failed to provide you with what you are entitled to; they are well aware of the situation regarding CCA's and they will tell you anything to get you to pay. The simple fact of the matter is this. They cannot make you pay a single penny nor do you have to without a signed consumer credit agreement. Send the account in dispute letter and then tell them to get stuffed. Remember DO NOT sign your letters to them as if by magic they produce one with your signature on etc etc wink wink.

Send letter then sit back and put your feet up for a bit becuase you have tried to play nice but Barclays aren't having any of it so it is time for a bit of tough love with these muppets.

I am sure you will be given some other advice and I am only speaking from experience so do a bit of research on here.

[PGH7447]

Thanks for the quick response all,

 

 

PGH7447 - Does that mean they are over charging me YES then? I will definatly look into requesting Subject Access Request when i get home.

 

 

Also they have just advised me that when i next call/contact them to advise of status that they will be expecting payment - and that casue the account is now 6 months in arrears soon the debt will be sold on - will this effect my case? I think i read in another thread that i can still request the same info through the new collection agency? Good let them sell it on these muppets are nothing more than phone bullies, I had them on my case before I joined the cag, but since I have joined I have heard nothing, still I wait in hope they start up soon

 

Thanks in advance all, and thanks for the speedy replies - really appreciated.

 

pgh

[fiddles]

Hi all been a month or so since I last posted, thought i would bring you up to date in the latest goings on in my case. So I requested my CCA once more after I wrote on here... still to no avail. Whats more in the past couple of weeks (while I was away) my account has now been passed over to another company "Calder Financial" - I think that's yet another "company" under the barclaycard roof. Anyway, despite me telling Mercers not to contact me by telephone anymore, as soon as it was passed to Calder, I received a phonecall whilst on holiday - I said I will only accept in writting, to which the woman replied "I cant do anything unless you answer this security question" - So i hung up. This morning i got a text:

 

"Unless you call now, we may begin legal proceedings to recover the outstanding balance on your Barclaycard. Call 0844 2412500. Calder Financial"

 

(are they allowed to pass these details on? I mean considering I asked them not to use thoose numbers - Should they have deleted the number from their records?)

 

So they obviously are still going to call - so i called them to tell them not to contact me by phone anymore - Unfortunatly we stayed on the phone for a while arguing over payment (my bad) Anyway all the usual bullying tactics were used - she even questioned if what I was doing was fraud! Anyway I quickly dismissed the claims with counter claims to which they had nothing to say. So she gave me the address for CCA request AGAIN - To which i advised that I wil be claiming back for every other failed attempt. She assured me all i needed was £1 (I think the call centre staff are very ill informed about this). She also refuted the fact that anyone has actually won a case against Barclaycard (I told her to visit this site) And also said it may take longer than 14 days to receive my CCA request as they have had to hire extra staff because of all these claims? So Calder are basically saying what mercers have been saying all along - IS there anything different i need to try or is Calder the same as mercers effectivly? They obviously said we'll pass it onto a local debt collection agency who will do door step collections (not that im worried about it). Ill send the letter again tonight. If i get a reply Ill post it in on here.

 

Thanks

 

Fid

 

 

P.S Sorry that i have not contributed yet CAG Admins/Moderators - I Will do at the end of the month! (bit skint from holiday )

[Zorro01]

I had the exact same thing happen to me. Mercers back off and then calder get involved. I just ignore them as they are proper idiots. Just let them write to you.

One thing to bere in mind is this. Barclycard trading as mercers and mercers trading as Calder financial so they are all part of the same (in my opinion) crappy company. Calder are the worst and in fact I have got a recorded message from one of there phone people telling me to get down the job centre and get a job (despite the fact I am disabled lol. bang to rights. Get everything in writing and just keep disputing the account until you get a valid CCA. Calder may try and offer a F+F payment from you so it is up to you what you do and how you wanna play it.

I only communicate with barclaycard now so when calder contacts you just say you have had no letter of assignement so you will only deal with BC and then do just that. So no matter who writes to me I just write to Barclaycard with my response. As the meerkat says Simples.

Hope this helps if so tip my scales. Remember they are the same company.

[PGH7447]

you have requested the cca, and there is nothing they can do to you until they comply, stop wasting time on these morons, send the phone harrassment letter and that is it,

 

Have you send mercers the account in dispute letter for failing to provide an agreement? if yes then send calders the bemused letter along woth the phone letter then stop calling stop answering except to say in dispute

[fiddles]

Right has still been some time since my last request and the worst thing happened on Thursday. Barclaycard decided to put their balaclavas on and went straight to my bank account and took out £546.14, leaving me with £20 cleared funds for the rest of the month. So I have called them obviously and asked what the hell do they think they are doing, they referred me to the terms and conditions (I bank with Barclays too -.-) saying that funds can be retrieved from my bank account if I dont payup.

 

Im fuming of course.

 

Now is this right, because I have requested my CCA 5 times now and had no response my account has gone into dispute and therefor until the dispute is resolved they are not legally allowed to take anything? I personally feel like they have basically stolen my money. I had no letter informing they would be doing this, I didnt even know they had my debit card details. Anyway they have basically screwed me over as I have rent to pay, bills, food to buy and travel expenses and they have cleared me out.

 

My first call to them was in Barclays on saturday afternoon, I went into town to buy soe food, a new winter coat, some new shoes and to go tothe dentist to get a qoute to fix my broken tooth (sorry i know im thorough!) Anyway they did advise they should have left £100 in there (they actually only left £59.40 (there was another payemnt clearing so only £20 available) So after a half hour ruckus on the phone with them they apparently (I havent checked yet) put £41 back into the account. I asked for more but the department who took the money out (collections) do not work on a saturday and the operator had to liaise with them about it.

 

So I called this morning and spoke to someone different. They advised me that to claim back the money I would need to provide proof that I actually rent/lodge, provide proof of the utility bills and they will give me back my money for them, So I asked about food and travel expenses to and from work (I dont drive so for trains etc) - to which they said thats why we left £100 in your account - I said even if you had (which the didnt) that is not enough and she said she couldnt help me. So I have to fax over these docs for proof, so I asked what about the rest of the money; she said "were keeping it as a payment". Im now livid and ready to blow. They have not mentioned any court orders, and to be honest I forgot to ask; but am I right in thinking that the only way they are able to take money from an account in dispute is with a court order.

 

Im nervous, anxious my tooth is killing and I really feel at loss with this happening can anyone confirm my thoughts and If I really do have a solid case against them as I was thinking of calling the FSA and the police as in my eyes they entered by bank account and taken whats not theirs without asking or notifying.

 

Thanks

[PGH7447]

happens all too often Im afriad and yes they can offset, best bet if they put the money back is open another account with a different bank and deposit the lot there and get any wages etc paid into that, these people dont care that you have to live.

 

also if the acount is in dispute then report them to the OFT and FSA

[Old Cogger]

Monies to your account would not be benifits would it????? as if so there is a restriction on action on benifit payments I believe. MEANTIME GET A PARACHUTE ACCOUNT ELSEWHERE FOR YOU MONIES, they cannot touch the cash then, if you have a dispute put an official complaint in to them, then the OMBUDSMAN,OFFICE OF FAIR TRADING, FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY. Until you challenge them and stick to your guns they will fob you off, but if one of the service authority are involved they have to pay a fee (fSA) I believe.

[fiddles]

Thanks for the quick response as always guys, am on the phone to consumer direct now for some more advice first then if need be will contact OFT direct and FSA respectively