are barclaycard ignoring me? advice pls

[emptypot]

I wonder if you can help.

 

 

As i have stated elsewhere I am in a bit of a financial pickle I am trying to wade through it.

 

 

I wrote to barclaycard about 6 weeks ago telling them that I was in financial hardship

and could only pay a token amount £2 for 6 months etc

- following the advice dx100uk has given to others.

 

 

since that time they have written to me twice and bombarded me with phone attempts

- up to 20 times a day!

but they have not even acknowledged that i have written to them.

 

Today i got a pay up or its Mercers for you boy letter.

What should I do?

Should I write again?

I have kind of been assuming up until now that my letter was playing catch up with their system,

but now i am wondering if they are either ignoring it or it got lost in the post/ lost internally.

[slick132]

Hi EP,

 

What address did you write to with your offer to make token payments.

 

Do you have all your statements so you can check for penalty charges and/or PPI that you can reclaim.

 

Depending on your answers, it may be best to send them another letter with a copy of the first one.

 

[emptypot]

high slick,

 

wrote to the POBox on the statement. I dont have all the statements BUT there has never been an issue until now - always paid at least the min payment on time, never over limit until now, never had PPI on anything. So I am 99.99% sure the only things to claim back will be what they are adding now.

 

I am a bit cynical on these things and am beginning to think that they are ignoring me in the hope that they can threaten / harass me 'back in line'? I am trying to do this all in a responsible way. Unfortunately they all seem to be more childish than professional which is a bit of a shock. I was hoping BC would be more professional.

 

I know £2 isnt a lot, but it is their share of £20 pro rata which is genuinely all there is - emptypot in more than name.

[slick132]

Hi EP,

 

We've had many folk complain that they try to do the right thing with BC, only to have their offers to pay or settle rejected.

 

I suggest you send a new letter to BC headed Formal Complaint. Use the Northants address and get a free Certificate of Posting at the PO when you send the letter.

 

I'd use the appropriate letter from the Debt Collection Library but amend it to enclose a copy of the previous one and say they appear to have ignored your reasonable approach and offer to pay a reduced amount.

 

Did you use our Library letter before and did you enclose a Budget Planner. This is always a good idea as it demonstrates why you need to pay reduced amounts.

 

[emptypot]

OK. The first letter i sent was 'letter 1' of dx100uk's 2 letter approach to a (hopefully) temporary financial hiccup. I didn't include a budget planner because frankly i do not know what i would put on it! I have no income - other than a joint tax credit award and i dont qualify for JSA etc because my wife works. So what would i put on as income? half the tax credits? and if i put half all the bills on then that would bring it to a minus anyway! I did tell them though that we qualify for full council tax relief and housing benefit which to my mind says that i really am 'emptypot'!

 

My financial story is simple - self employed traded too long before admitting defeat, which made everything worse. August/ September the penny finally dropped and we decided that food should be nearer the top of the list than my credit cards. All I want to say (to all 5 of my creditors) is 'look, please understand I truly have no money and the less time i have to devote to dealing with your threats the quicker i should be able to get more money and then you wont have to threaten me' - should be a win win. BC are the most 'mainstream' of my creditors so I am really not looking forward to the real sub prime muppets getting into full swing. Oh joy!

 

what would you suggest i send now?

[slick132]

Hi EP,

 

You could use this letter to send to each creditor including BC - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?387346-Ask-Creditor-to-Accept-Pro-Rata-Payments

 

Enclose a Budget Planner for each creditor, completed to reflect your income and outgoings regardless of what they are.

 

[emptypot]

cheers slick,

 

what would i put on the budget planner? Half of the Tax Credits and Half of the bills?

 

BTW found out something interesting today. It appears Mercers (Company No. 02550639) are a dormant non-trading company, which means that they are breaching several aspects of the Companies Act if they 'trade'. When Mercers write to me (which they are not legally entitled to do as a non trading entity) then I think I will send their letter to HMRC and Companies House and ask why they are not paying corporation tax! Also, BC cannot assign the debt to a non trading company.

[slick132]

Hi EP,

 

Yes, either enter all of your own income and expenses and/or half of any joint income and expenses.

 

We've known about the Mercers situation for years. They are BC's in-house DCA and Mercers only appear to act on BC's behalf. They are never assigned any BC a/c's.

 

The complaints you suggest, to HMRC etc, are probably not worth doing as they'll change nothing for you and nothing for the bigger picture either.

 

[emptypot]

so i am a BIT further on with BC. we have come to an understanding for now - £1 pcm which is good.

 

HOWEVER I CCA'd them and all I have got in reply is two sets of terms. The letter says there is a recon agreement but there is not.

 

The letter says they have complied with section 78, but I cannot see how.

 

Any suggestion as to my next step?

[slick132]

Hi EP,

 

Good that they've accepted your token pay't.

 

The T&C's are BC's normal response.

 

When was the a/c opened roughly, and was this always a BC a/c or did BC take it over from a previous issuer.

 

[emptypot]

always BC. Opened in 2005

[slick132]

Re s.78 compliance by BC, they've probably done enough to continue with collection activity.

 

They don't have to supply a copy of the credit agreement itself unless they (or a subsequent DCA) want to take court enforcement action. The only time enforceability would be tested is if they take you to court and the matter is decided by a judge on the day.

 

Because the a/c was opened pre-2007, the bank would have to meet stricter requirements if they wanted to enforce. However, they may have the credit agreement even though they won't send it to you.

 

[emptypot]

cheers slick

 

basically i'm just gonna keep paying them - and all the rest - £1 pcm. I am not giving people a choice, it's all there is so tough.

 

If they take me to court at any point I will then contest enforceable (if nothing else their costs will go up) and reclaim all the £12 etc. If I have to pay then I believe that the fact I have been paying £1 pcm and can show that is a lot to me at the moment will pretty much mean that I end up with a determination of £1 pcm. So I am no worse off!

 

The fact is all these creditors seem to want to play pathetic mind games, designed to scare old ladies I guess? After 4 months of letter tennis and ignorance I have had enough and intend to get on with life.

 

The only debate I have now is to carry on paying £1 (sensible) or stop (use their tactics on them) and force their hand - the last thing I want is a CCJ to someone like lowlifes in 5years and 11 months time - that effectively screws up my credit record for 12 years. Thoughts?

 

cheers for all the help so far. Nice to have a sounding board outside my own head!

[citizenB]

emptypot, what is the value of the debt to Barclayshark ?

 

Do you own your own home ? This is always an indicator of whether they will continue to pursue.

[emptypot]

emptypot, what is the value of the debt to Barclayshark ?

 

Do you own your own home ? This is always an indicator of whether they will continue to pursue.

 

I owe barc £2k ish and best part of 17k in total to 5 others.

 

Rent my home - council - i just about own my own underpants!!

 

I would go bankrupt but £6 pcm is a lot cheaper at the mo.

[emptypot]

Citizen, I've been thinking about your post. Are you suggesting that because I am skint and live in a council house they are much less likely to go beyond threat-o-grams even if they have an enforceable agreement?

[slick132]

I'm not answering for CitB, but the point is that a DCA or sol'rs are more likely to pursue a debt if they believe you have income or assets that will make them more likely to be paid.

 

[citizenB]

Citizen, I've been thinking about your post. Are you suggesting that because I am skint and live in a council house they are much less likely to go beyond threat-o-grams even if they have an enforceable agreement?

 

I'm not answering for CitB, but the point is that a DCA or sol'rs are more likely to pursue a debt if they believe you have income or assets that will make them more likely to be paid.

 

 

Pretty much as slick says..

 

From what I have seen on the forums, only those people who own their own homes or who are in well paid employment seem to be hotly pursued, have claims or insolvency papers issued against them.

 

 

If someone advises they have no assets - no job or low paid employment and with no prospect of circumstances changing, then we seem to see repayment plans/token payments accepted more readily and less harrassment !