What to do next ???

[bowlerhat]

Could someone please advise.Currently have a cc with Barclays which is just under 4 grand in the red .I had a payment plan set up with them, all be it verbally,where I would pay £40 a month and the interest frozen.Now ,in order to get the interest frozen I had to pay 2 consecutive months of this amount before the interest was stopped,I duly obliged .Yesterday I recieved my statement,and guess what,£89 in charges (interest).Tried to ring them yesterday and was put through to 4 different people, and this is the problem,

(a)I reside in the R.O.I.

(B)was speaking to someone in India (call centre i guess)

©the call was costing me a fortune (currently unemployed)

(d) refused to ring me back

(e)the 4th person left me on hold for a number of minutes to check on something and when he returned,refused to tell me what he was checking on.I have a payment plan with 3 other creditors and have no problems with them.So the question is i guess,whats my next step,I'm tempted to just stop paying and let them whistle for it seeing as I don't live in the U.K. anymore (I don't have any c.c.j.s against me),so was wondering where I stand on this.Tried to sort this out but I'm damned if I'm going to spend any more money on international phone calls.Wondering what the legal side of things were regarding all this.

 

Would appreciate any advice,thanks in advance.

[BankFodder]

Your big mistake here is that you don't record your calls.

 

Bank staff are generally very pporly trained. They don't understand their own procedures. They make all sorts of promises on the phone and customers rely on those promises like innocent lambs only to find that they have been lead into the slaughterhouse. Then the bank denies everything.

 

If you don't record your calls then don't do your business on the phone. Simple as that. Record your calls.

 

As far as international phone calls go. I suggest that you use Voipcheap which will allow you to call landlines in most countries for free and mobiles at very reduced prices. You can call 0845 numbers at very cheap rates or else find the internation number for your bank and call it for free.

I use Voipcheap all of the time and make remarkable savings. It is much cheaper than Skype. I record all my calls and I use VRS recording system by NCH software Multichannel Call Logger and Audio Recording Software

 

If I was using a landline, I would use a Truecall which is the ultimate call recording/call screening/call management device on the market.

 

 

As far as how you want to deal with Barclays as you are not in the UK, I'm not able to advise you on what your personal attitude to this should be.

 

What I can tell you is that you should not trust the bank or expect that they are capable of responding to any attempt at reasonable dialogue in any sensible, sensitive, intelligent businesslike way.

[bowlerhat]

Thanks for your quick response Bankfodder.I will take note of your advice. As you can guess this is all new to me so have a lot to learn.

[slick132]

Hi Bowlerhat and welcome to CAG.

 

Is this a Barclaycard - if so I'll move the thread to the BC forum for you.

 

Further to BF's comments about Truecall, see here - The Consumer Forums - Telephone Recorders reviews.

 

However, it really is best to keep all communication in writing so you have a proper papertrail if it comes to court action by you or the bank.

 

Have you sent a CCA request with the £1 fee. Use Letter N from here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-bailiffs-advice/20758-creditors-dcas-letter-templates.html

 

If you don't have all your a/c statements, you need them to start reclaiming all the unlawful penalty charges on the a/c. Use the SAR with the £10 fee - http://www.consumerforums.com/resources/templates-library/48-bank-templates/110--data-protection-act-1998-subject-access-request-

 

Read the forums as much as you can - you'll learn loads.

[bowlerhat]

Because I live in the R.O.I. and I have no ccjs against me at my previous uk address that cc companies are unable to claim back my debt? Is there anyone who can give me an answer to this? However, I do feel that I have more than paid back my debt in interest over the years !!!

 

Thanks in advance

[slick132]

2 threads merged and thread put in BC forum - please stick to one thread per topic so all Q's and A's stay together.

 

Not sure about your last query but won't this leave you with a rotten credit history, if you want to return to the UK.

[bowlerhat]

Thanks for that slick,I'm not the best on computers I,m afraid !!! Understand what you are saying however,my family and I have no intention of returning to the uk (extended family have also moved away). Simply couldn't afford to being one of the reasons. At present I am paying my creditors what little I can afford and will continue to do so,but I want to do it on my "terms".Once I get it down to a certain amount I will cease paying, reason being is that l will consider that the remaining amount is what they will probably owe me in interest and charges from over the years.Sorry,I hope I'm making sense.I don't have the time to reclaim or "fight them all the way" so to speak.I know they can harrass me with threats of letters and dca's and so forth, but this I can handle with the template letters on this site and the excellent advice of fellow caggers.So really what I'm asking is,can they make me pay more than what I'm paying now (they can add as much interest as they like)? In 12/18 months time I will be emmigrating again (outside of the eu) due to my wife's work so I intend to leave a small outstanding debt to my creditors,thus deeming the remaining amount to be what they owe me in charges etc..I know this is not the "normal" way to go about it, and unconventional ,but in your humble opinion ,is it possible without being taken to court?

[slick132]

Hi BH,

 

I don't know enough, about whether you can be pursued in the ROI, to comment. See how it goes and, if you come up against problems, seek advice or respond as necessary.

 

I can see why you choose to handle the debts in this way - establishing if there's a valid credit agreement for an a/c is made so difficult by the CC Co's.

 

Good luck anyway.

[sattva]

I am not an expert on these matters but I would take care with Barclays as I think they are the most slippery of hte lot. I would not trust anything they say on the phone.

 

I am currently on a Debt Managment Plan, all my other creditors deal with my debt management company, are freezing interest etc, but Barclays bypass them all the time, refuse to deal with them, pretend they have lost paperwork, refuse to respond to my very reasonable complaints to follow OFT guidelines. I would therefore take care to get something in writing from them if you can, and be very cynical in your dealings with them as they make life as difficult as possible if they can..