Barclaycard - incomplete SAR and incorrect posting to CRA's

[suekelly]

Hi there,

 

Had some major financial problems in 2005 following a car accident and came to an arrangement to pay a token amount to Barclaycard (and others!) as I was sliding deeper and deeper into debt. Moved house a couple of times, but told them where I'd moved to. Didn't hear from them at all for quite some time. Then in 2007, they suddenly decided that I should be paying more so wrote to my old address to tell me this and of course the letters they claim to have sent never reached me.

 

So, in 2007, Mercers, acting on Barclaycard's behalf defaulted me. I think I was paying £5 a month at this point - well below the minimum payment. At some point, they must have realised that I'd moved and Credit Solutions wrote to me. I called them and explained I was still struggling financially and would they let me continue to pay £5 a month - all I could afford at that time. They rejected this offer and then the serious pressure started. Four or five letters a week, constant phone calls. In desperation, I increased my payment to £30 per month. I then got in touch with CCCS who said I could only afford to pay them £11. They wouldn't accept this so kept on paying £30 for another year.

 

In 2008, situation deteriorated further and after more advice from CCCS, told Credit Solutions I could only afford to pay them £1 a month again. They weren't happy but as I'd sent them letters from CCCS they had to accept this.

 

End of 2011 - six years after my financial meltdown. I decided to check my credit files to see if other defaults have been taken off my records. Couldn't believe what I saw. Lots of mistakes by other creditors (to many to go into here!). I started doing some research and read hundreds of posts on here. I realised that Barclaycard should have defaulted me earlier and that if I could get them to accept this then at least that would be one less default to worry about and it should disappear from my records.

 

Many letters passed between us (Barclaycard and myself) and eventually they decided as a "goodwill gesture" that they would ask the CRA's to remove the default because of the time that ahd elapsed and instead ask them to record an "Arrangement to pay" - which incidentally is still £1 a month (times are still hard!). After reading lots of posts about this on this forum, I knew this was not right. They won't have it and neither will the CRA's.

 

So, looking at a couple of old statements, I realised that I had a number of excessive charges and PPI. Didn't have a full set though so decided to sent a SAR on 18 June 2012. I finally received a pile of papers from them on 31 August 2012 (after a couple of delaying tactics). It had been sent by recorded delivery (all correspondence I've had from them I've sent by recorded delivery too). The letter with the documents was dated 7 August so I've no idea why it took over 3 further weeks to reach me!

 

The documents included an application form - which I think they're claiming is a credit agreement (see below - sorry for quality but scanner broken so I photographed it!), various copies of recent letters and a large computer printout headed "Data Protection Act Reporting" together with a fairly large pile of printed pages headed, "Complaint Management System" (which very neatly describes how they goofed in issuing the Default) .

 

The document I've attached below is a letter I sent to them in August which explains all the queries I have. Despite sending this to them four times now, each time by recorded delivery, they've returned it to me with one of their standard letters.

 

The first time because they said they couldn't locate my account - despite already having written to me. I tried ringing them to change my address but in the end I had to go into my local Barclays branch who were very helpful and astounded at the attitude of the staff in the Recoveries Department!

 

The second and third time they returned it, they gave the reason as "There is no £10 admin cheque provided." Both times I replied giving them details of the cheque number and when it had cleared through my bank. The final time it was returned was this morning. The reason given this time... "A SAR request has already been completed within the last six months in relation to the account(s) provided and the data sent directly to the customer." They're obviously playing silly b****s!

 

In the meantime, I received a letter from them dated 11 September 2012, advising me that, "Your account has now been passed to Allied International Credit (UK) to manage collection on your account." The letter goes on to provide Allied's address , phone numbers and opening hours. It then goes on to say, "We will no longer accept any communication from you." When I sent the above letter for the third time to the Data Controller, I sent a covering letter politely telling them that Alexandra Regan, their Senior Collections Manager (the name at the bottom of this letter) is obviously unaware that they can't transfer my account to anyone whilst there is a dispute on it and that maybe she should be advised of this. They returned this letter too!

 

I have to say that their capacity for breaking the rules is almost as impressive as LLoyds, Egg and M & S (yes, three more account problems I have to address!)

 

So what next?

 

1. No executed copy of a CCA (document they sent me attached)

 

2. "Goodwill gesture" to remove faulty Default from my credit records. However, their actions suggest that they are trying to wipe the slate clean as far as the Default is concerned by asking the CRA's to publish an Arrangement to Pay on the account to go back to October 2005. Two problems with this as far as I can see. They closed my account apparently in April 2006 and have been demanding full payment of the outstanding balance since mid-2007. Surely they can't do this without notice and issuing a default notice? In any event, there is no arrangement to pay as I stopped paying them in August 2012!

 

3. They have ignored my complaints about the PPI and excessive charges

 

4. Both Noddle and Experian refuse to remove the Arrangement to Pay from my records as, "Barclays have advised us that the entry is correct."

 

My instinct is to ignore them now and see if they take me to court. I will have plenty of ammunition if they do. On the other hand, the entries for the "Arrangement to Pay" needs to be removed from my credit records sooner rather than later for obvious reasons.

 

All offers of advice will be gratefully accepted.[ATTACH]38590[/ATTACH][ATTACH]38591[/ATTACH]

 

Kind regards

Sue

[renegadeimp]

If you have reason, and solid evidence to back up that the markers on your file shouldnt exist, perhaps its time to write a formal letter to their data controller.

 

Just going by recent history, barclays are one of the worst for this kind of thing.

[suekelly]

Hi renegadeimp

 

They won't correspond with me! They've sent the same letter back four times. Not sure who to write to to get anywhere. Is there a formal template I could access and send? And who should I send it to if the Data Controller won't deal with it?

[slick132]

Hi SK,

 

First off, you cannot demand sight of specific documents (executed credit agreement, a/c statements, etc) with a SAR. It's a request for data or info they hold about you.

 

Have you a complete run of a/c data enabling you identify and reclaim penalty charges and/or mis-sold PPI. If so, what period does this cover.

 

Although they are refusing to communicate further with you, they will NOT ignore a court claim for the refund of penalty charges.

 

[suekelly]

I see what you mean. If you look at the copy of the application form they sent me there is no mention of PPI. I could argue for the refund on that basis alone couldn't I? Having said that, when I applied for the card I was self employed so maybe I submit that as a reason for a refund as well. I do have all the statements I need to reclaim PPI. However, the majority of the amount they charged me was for excessive charges - even after the account had supposedly been closed!

 

I think, on reflection, that I should put in a court claim for both the PPI and court claim costs now. I'm also going to write to the ICO about the incorrect CRA entries.

 

Thanks for your input slick132 and renagadeimp. It's good to get another opinion on things as you often end up getting bogged down in the mire and can't see the wood for the trees .

[Ros1609]

The same is happening to me RE the SAR requests. Sent one with £10, heard nothing. Sent another request without £10 stating I had already paid and got a letter back saing no £10 admin fee. Wrote to them a third time and got told it was a duplicate request that had been dealt with within the last six months. My account has now been passed to Apex Credit Management despite it being in dispute.

[renegadeimp]

Hi ros. Regarding your sars, you didnt need to send a second one. ALl you needed to do was check if the PO or cheque was cashed. From receipt, they have 40 days to comply with your legal request. Theres no need to send double the fee.

 

Regarding the DCA it has been passed to, send them a dispute letter found in the CAG Library

[Ros1609]

I didn't send a second fee. I resent the SAR request but changed the wording slightly to say I had already sent the fee on X date and wouldn't be paying twice. Apex haven't contacted me yet, when they do I'll send them the dispute letter. In the meantime I've sent a strongly worded letter to Barclaycard and am investigating my next steps regarding them

[suekelly]

Hi Ros,

 

Good luck!! They are obviously using this as a ploy to avoid dealing with the massive holes in the information they're providing under a SAR request.

 

I'm now in the process of writing to the ICO to complain about their entries with the CRA's. At least that will give them something to think about.

 

I've just been looking for a phone number to see if there is someone who can tell me how to get past the "phantom standard letter ticker" but haven't had much success

 

Might also find an isolated spot and scream at the top of my voice to dispel some of the frustration I'm feeling.

[slick132]

Hi SK,

 

Never mind screaming - get reclaiming !!

 

Use the penalty charges data on your statements to make your SOC (Schedule of Charges) so you can see how much you can reclaim. Read through some of the BC **WON with compound interest** threads here to see how others got their money back from BC - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?97-Barclays-BCard-and-Woolwich-successes

 

Start a separate thread to deal with the PPI aspect, so the 2 issues don't become confused.

 

[AndyOrch]

Hi Sue responding to your PM.

 

Now subbed to your thread.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[suekelly]

Hi All,

 

RESULT!!

 

Having followed advice to put everything in writing and not getting very far, I decided to try one last time to sort out the incorrect entry on my CRA files by phoning Barclaycard. I called and explained that I wanted to clarify a couple of points about my default and arrangement to pay so that I could explain the problem clearly to the ICO when I raised my claim.

 

They immediately put me through to a manager who listed to my questions and then said she'd call me back. Less that two hours later, she called back. She was extremely apologetic about the way my complaint had been dealt with and agreed to remove the arrangement to pay entry from the CRA files immediately. Also as a "goodwill gesture" I've been offered a generous amount of compensation for my distress and inconvenience.

 

Next step is to put in a claim for PPI and charges. There isn't anywhere on the copy of the application form that mentions PPI. It also clearly states on the computer printout I've been sent following my SAR request, that no insurance had been requested. When I've checked through the statements I've been sent, it seems Card Payment Protection was charged for four months, then there's a break of a couple of months before they started charging me for Accidental Death Cover. A couple of months later, they started charging me for PPI again!

 

I'm also going to send a CCA request to see if I can get hold of the credit agreement.

 

Will keep you informed!

 

Sue

[slick132]

Hi SK,

 

This sounds like a good result as well as an unusual one. BC and other banks are normally reticent to make changes to CRA entries.

 

You'll need to check on your CRA files to ensure the changes that have been promised are, in fact, made.

 

Did the BC manager agree to put any of what was said in writing.

 

[suekelly]

Hi Slick132,

 

No, she didn't. But, the compensation she mentioned was in my bank account the following day!

 

I've also managed to get Lloyds TSB to remove an incorrect default notice from the CRA files and Eon a late payment entry which was down to them not collecting a D/D payment.

 

This was as a result of being sure of my facts and persevering.

[slick132]

Hi SK,

 

This was as a result of being sure of my facts and persevering.

 

........... sometimes, even THAT isn't enough.

 

But well done !!

 

[suekelly]

Thanks Slick

 

Will bear in mind what you said. Good not to be too trusting as you say.

 

Now to tackle problems with Egg/Apex.