Barclaycard - 4 cards

[the kid's mum]

Hi, New here and trying to get to grips with everything.

 

Apologies for my inane questions.

 

Firstly my partner has 2 BC which I have had sars on and received the statements up to 6 years ago.

 

1 of them with 8% interest resolves the entire account, 1 of them with 8% interest works out to about half of the balance.

 

At the moment I am paying them a very small amount and they are not adding any interest/charges.

 

What I need to do is reduce these balances dramatically so I am looking at contractual interest aswell. This, I think will reduce the balances dramatically.

 

There is another few twists to this, my partner had an account with bc using credit card cheques which was then merged into his platinum/gold account

- I believe there were charges on this but it is quite old and finding the relevant statements are nigh on impossible.

 

I do however have statements going back quite a few years.

 

So any help would be appreciated

- Thank you

 

The next part is my 2 cards which I have today had a very long conversation with calders,

 

what can I say

- similiar to double glazed sales men

- reduced from £75 with interest to £7.50 refund of £12 missed payment and no interest!

[letsdothis]

I am a bit confused with your first post.

 

In my case BC refunded all charges £12 and above plus contactula interest plus 8% interest, is that what you wish to achieve?

 

If so have a read of this.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/halifax-bank-bank-scotland/259192-aquacard-cave.html

[slick132]

Hi TKM and welcome to CAG.

 

Please spend time reading other threads here in the BC forum, particularly about claiming contractual interest (or interest in restitution).

 

Read the Interest Tutorial which is linked in my signature below.

 

At some stage, it will be sensible to have one thread for each case so they don't get confused.

 

Re the Platinum/Gold a/c, if you have sent BC a SAR for your partner, BC should supply his data for all BC a/c's (and Barclays Bank a/c's if you want it).

 

However, they won't send you data beyond 6 years from the SAR date.

 

 

the simple answer is DON'T speak to Calders, Mercers or BC.

 

Keep everything in writing.

 

If Calders are ringing you, ignore them from now on.

 

The a/c's are clearly in dispute because of their unlawful penalty charges and you should ignore calls until the charges are repaid in full.

 

You may find this post useful but read through the thread too - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/barclaycard/261963-missed-payments-barclaycard-mastercard-3.html#post3068761

 

[the kid's mum]

Guys, I think I have been terribly confusing with all of this,

 

I have read so much over the past few weeks and my mind is boggling now.

 

I shall re-read and try to post a little clearer.

 

1 thing though, Slick, your link no. 6,

I click on it but I'm not sure I'm getting through properly

- I can't see an interest tutorial.

 

Thank you for taking your time to read my post though.

[rebel11]

Hi the kid's mum

 

It might be an idea at some point to send a CCA Request for each credit card account to find out if it is unenforceable. Send a £1 postal order for each request. Send it Recorded. They have 14 days to respond.

One you get the documents they post. Scan and Post the Documents removing all personal details. The guys here can check the agreements.

 

But it might be an idea to wait until you see how much they are willing to refund.

 

Also the government are in the process of banning credit card cheques,

I take it he didn't request them.

[slick132]

Hi TKM,

 

Take your time in reading and learning here. It can be scary with so much to learn but you'll get there.

 

Try clicking here for the interest Tutorial - http://www.consumerforums.com/resources/templates-library/51-guidance-notes/233-interest-tutorial

 

As Rebel says, best to wait before sending off a CCA request for any of the a/c's. It's becoming more and more hard to challenge the enforceability of an a/c on the basis of the credit agreement and can end up in a long dispute which may get you nowhere.

 

[rebel11]

As Slick says the issue of unenforceability is becoming difficult, but each situation is different. The creditor is going to make it difficult and so is the legal system.

[the kid's mum]

Yes, LDT that's what I want to do.

 

Slick, Rebel thanks.

 

I was thinking along the lines of CCA request but I wanted to see how much they are willing to play ball before doing this.

 

1 card with the late payment charges etc & 8% standard interest pays the whole card off and leaves some over.

 

No 2 card with late payment charges and 8% standard cuts it in half.

 

Now, this is what has made me think more and thus leading me here.

I don't have anymore money and to get the balances lowered or completely wiped out is what I am aiming to do.

This is where I am trying to get to grips with the other interest charges.

 

Card 3 & 4 are in my name which I will post about seperately so as not to confuse issues.

 

Guys, I'm still reading links etc.

Thank you for your patience.

S

[letsdothis]

Hi

 

If you follow the thread that I linked to, that is how to achieve the money back for the charges and the 8% interest. I had to do no more than what is documented on that thread. BC decided to pay me CI without asking for it.

 

Be warned though, Barclays will take upto 8 weeks to do so. Send the first letter, wait 14 days and then send the second one which is a letter before action.

 

Then wait for them to offer you the money back off the relevant account.

 

You would need to do the process for each account that you wish to claim back your money.

 

If you want to try for CI then you would need to work that out and include it in your spreadsheet that you send.

Edited August 3, 2010 by letsdothis

[the kid's mum]

Spreadsheets! That's my problem! I work with computers all day and cannot remember any formulea. Give me a work of Shakespeare and I'll reproduce it in braille, but spreadsheets really do confuse me.

 

I will not let this get the better of me.

[letsdothis]

They are a piece of cake.

 

Use this one.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/Spreadsheets/England/Complex-bank-charges-calc.xls

 

Follow the instructions and away you go.

[the kid's mum]

Rgh.

Think I've got it.

Input the values onto page 2 of the spreadsheet which gives me a running total of what I have been charged and then on page 3 of the spreadsheet this tells me the the total of what I have been charged and works out the 8% contractual interest.

 

So if I'm right in thinking the figures that amount up on page 3 of the spreadsheet are the figures I should be asking for/claiming for?

Hope I've got this right xx

[letsdothis]

Input the values onto page 2 of the spreadsheet which gives me a running total of what I have been charged and then on page 3 of the spreadsheet this tells me the the total of what I have been charged and works out the 8% contractual interest.

Yes apart from the interest worked out is for the Stat Interest @ 8% and not CI

 

If you wish to claim for contractual interest it is a little more complicated. You would need to use a compund caclulator.

 

Compound interest calculator

 

Principal - The amount you were charged ie £13 / £18 etc

Rate of interest - The rate you would have been charged ie 22.05%

Number of 'rests' each year - 12 Compounded annually

Start date - Date of charge

End date - Today's date or whatever date you start your claim

If you would like your calculation - Tick this box

Press calculate

Total amount due - Charge plus interest

Interest accrued - This is the amount of interest charged

 

So you would need to do each charge individually and then add them to your spreadsheet on page 2. This would then also add them to page 3

 

Edited August 4, 2010 by letsdothis

[the kid's mum]

Now, that linky is quite interesting and can produce quite significant figures.

 

On my statements I have 2 interest rates 1 being the standard balance of 1.167% and the other being 1.314% on my cash balance.

 

The APR is not apparent from these statements.

 

Also, whilst reviewing statements I have noticed that the interest rate does change (generally increases!).

 

What interest rates should I input?

 

Should I take a mean rated average or input exacting amounts?

 

Thanks Sxx

 

Right now, had a play with this and the figures seem to be rather !!!!!!

 

So let me run this past you.

 

£20 late payment charge on 05/07/2004 until today 04/08/2010

 

I calculated interest charged monthly at 1.167 over a 12 month period equalled 14.004%

 

compounded 12 monthly

 

based on a 360 day year

 

results in £47.21

 

The interest accrued £27.21

 

Am I completely wrong?

 

simply the figures are making me doubt myself

[slick132]

Hi TKM,

 

The figures you show above are, in principle, correct. However, you cannot simply multiply the monthly int't rate by 12 to arrive at the annual compound rate.

 

Have you read through the Interest Tutorial at Link No6 in my signature. You should do so.

 

Also, I suggest you use this spreadsheet which is more user friendly - http://redirectingat.com/?id=3236X604245&xs=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.shweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk%2Finterestcalcs.xls&sref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.consumerforums.com%2Fresources%2Ftemplates-library%2F51-guidance-notes%2F233-interest-tutorial

 

Claim interest in restitution based on the case of Sempra Metals and use the compound interest rate shown of 29.9%. This is more than you were actually charged but takes account of the fact that your money was put to use by BC to earn them profits which they should now restore to you.

 

Read the tutorial thoroughly then use your figures on the spreadsheet. The resultant figures will surprise you even more.

 

[the kid's mum]

Good god! Those figures are quite unbelievable!

Inputting those figures brings a late payment of £20 on 5/7/2004 at the interest rate of 29.9% to £98.18 (interest of £78.18 ).

It now concerns me whether, how many people have used this and actually been able to claim especially with using the 29.9% interest.

I don't want to begin a claim and then be laughed at because what I am claiming is so high.

Although I know in principle that I must have repaid the debt ten times over already and the banks have seriously profited out of me.

What shall I do?

Oh and thanks Slick the spreadsheet is easier to use.

 

(edit bad spelling!)

[rebel11]

That sounds about right.

[slick132]

Hi TKM,

 

Before you proceed any further, I've asked for expert opinion re the interest rate you should use.

 

[the kid's mum]

Thanks Slick, I've accrued the charges over many years so it's not going to hurt holding fire.

Sxx

[steven4064]

Yes, I agree - 29.9% interest doubles the amount in just under 3 years so over 6 years you multiply by just over 4.

 

Just to recap about interest on charges (and PPI for that matter) - you can claim the charges, the interest they added to the charges and then interest in restitution on top of both.

 

What interest rate you choose is up to you so long as you can defend it.If 29.9% is what they are currently charging on the card, go for it.

[slick132]

Hi TKM,

 

The way forward, then, is to enter the charges onto the spreadsheet. Adjust the interest rate on that spreadsheet to approximately the average of what they were charging for cash advances over the reclaim period.

 

If you want to claim back the interest which THEY added, you'll have to use the advanced spreadsheet mentioned earlier. This takes account of the account balance and what you paid off each month. You may find this a bit complicated and prefer to use the simpler spreadsheet and method.

[the kid's mum]

Hi all, Just to update you all I have:

1. Ransacked our whole house and found older statements with charges on

2. Discovered this calculator to calculate apr as the info from the list of charges recieved from the sars request only detail monthly apr http://www.stoozing.com/mon2yr.htm

3. Read, read and read a whole lot of stuff, admittedly some of it has been confusing but it has made the whole process a lot clearer.

So, now off to calculate charges with interest in restitution

And 1 more question for you all - default notices - As the years have gone by we have had a few of them, I have read that I can have these removed as they include unlawful charges, How do I do this? Also, when would be the most appropriate time to do this?

[slick132]

Hi TKM,

 

Nice APR Converter - I'll keep that handy as I can never find the FSA's one when I need it.

 

Getting defaults removed is usually a long drawn out process.

 

However, as you'll be suing BC anyway, include the subject of default removal in your claim when you File it at court.

 

You can also include this aspect when you write to BC seeking the refund.

[the kid's mum]

Hello all, hope you have had a good summer - I know long time since posting, now here are the developments

 

1. Sent sars off - recieved them and along with filed statements sent in a claim with interest in restitution

 

2. Recieved a letters back, I think usual standard BC template was returned although no mention that I was going further than 2004, also the letters were re-imbursement of charges since 2004 with concratural interest.

 

3. Sent back a letter saying thanks for the offer but no thanks and an lba at the same time.

 

4. Recieved back a letter today offering another £35 & £27.26 conctractual interest AND if I send them the statements between a month in 2001 and a month in 2004 they would investigate them!!

 

Now,

Apart from the fact if I went to the shop and bought photocopying at 5p per copy this is going to be ££ss, Why should I do their leg work?

They should have a copy of this or do I just proceed to court?

 

I can do the photocopying but I think they are trying to play me.

[slick132]

Hi TKM,

 

I don't think you need to send them copies of THEIR statements.

 

Just reply confirming that you have all the necessary older statements and the charges are as shown on your SOC.

 

Roughly how much are you claiming in charges and interest in restitution, and how much have they so far agreed to refund.

 

8-)