Parry v Barclays

[Parry]

I’m having problems with Barclays bank. They inherited an old building society account of mine when they took over the Woolwich, it had less than £100 in it and wasn’t really used.

 

I was given a replacement debit/cash card which used the same pin as the Woolwich one and thought no more about it. When I had occasion to use the account I withdrew some money at a cash point and used the debit card as well and all seemed well. Total withdrawn was a bit over £50

 

Some months later I received a call from Barclays saying I was overdrawn by approximately £250 and rising!! In trying to sort this out it turned out that Barclays had created 2 accounts, one with a cheque book and a debit/cash card which used the original pin from Woolwich (for my convenience!) and another which I have no paying in book, no cash/debit card and no cheque book for. They put the money in this account and the one I had access to was empty

 

 

Consequently they used their special reserve to allow the money to go through then racked up the charges on it, all the time leaving my own money in the account I have no access to undisturbed!

 

Eventually I got the bank to find out where my money was and that was when the second account came to light. After some discussion with head office I went in and got the bank to transfer the original amount withdrawn to the overdrawn account whilst I watched him do it and checked on screen it had been done.

 

I am now in the position of being chased for the charges, I have exhausted all letter writing complaints and it now stands that the Bank has said I can refer it to the ombudsman. I haven’t taken this route yet as I don’t believe it should ever have got this far.

 

They want about £200 in charges from this incident and the outstanding debt is made up entirely of charges. They have stopped sending any statements, the account is frozen and I have no idea where the rest of my original £100 is. No dca’s are involved yet and it all went quiet for some months but it will not go away on its own so any pointers as to how to proceed?

[Michael Browne]

I would go down the FOS route. From what you have said , this is entirely a bank error, so is almost ceratinly going to go in your favour, plus you will have the satisfaction of knowing that Barclays will be charged £450 by the FOS for investigating the complaint

[slick132]

As MB says, you should complain to the FOS as you've clearly had no proper response from B's.

 

Put your complaint in writing and keep copies of all letters. Keep it as brief as poss and enclose copies of relevant letters to and from the bank. our complaints procedure and how to complain

 

Do this promptly and, if the debt is passed onto a DCA for collection, you can quote the FOS complaint ref. no. to confirm that the debt is In Dispute. This should stop further collection activity.

[Rhinoagainstcharges]

It is simply unbelievable how Banks make problems for themselves. You have a simple savings account which they decide to convert to two accounts (It looks good for them as the number of accounts on their books are growing) then put your money in one account and issue you with a pin to get money out of the other when they know there is nothing in it. As they seem unable to assist you then i agree complain to FOS. As stated earlier Barclays then get charged and it serves them right!

[Parry]

You’re right Rhinoagainstcharges, they really are a law unto themselves. It was through this problem and a google search that led me to the cag forum so at least something good has come from it.

 

 

The letters back from them just say they reviewed it and that the charges are justified. I wrote a very detailed letter with a number of questions about the account I have no access to or knowledge of until recently, along with questioning why I had an account with all Woolwich issued securities but no money in it, but they chose to ignore all of those and again say they are legitimate charges.

 

 

I will compile a letter to the ombudman and take it from there.

 

What happens if the ombudman decides to side with the Bank on justifiable charges? Is that it then, do we have no option but to pay what the Bank demands or are there other avenues open if that happens?

 

I guess the remainder of my money (albeit a small amount) has been whisked away. I haven’t had any notification of this and as I have no means of accessing it, to pay in or withdraw, I have no idea whether it is still there!

[slick132]

Hi Parry,

 

The point you should make clear to the FOS is that you are not disputing the bank's charges as a general matter, which would be covered by the OFT test case and therefore postponed.

 

Confirm that you're complaining about the bank's unwillingness to rectify a problem they caused and you want them to refund all charges and interest so you are back in the position where you were before Barclays screwed up.