Barclycard - criteria for F&F Settlement?

[Galatea]

I rang Barclaycard a few weeks back to offer a Full and Final Settlement on my outstanding balance.

 

 

I have been with a Debt Management Company for 4 years so interest and charges have been frozen since then

and I am making payments monthly through the DMC.

 

They accepted my offer of 30% and said they would send a letter confirming this.

 

 

However, when it arrived it said that a F&F should not have been agreed as I do not meet their criteria.

 

Does anyone know what their criteria is?

 

Any help much appreciated, thanks in advance

[dx100uk]

who the DMC, not fee paying i hope?

 

 

dx

[slick132]

Hi Gal,

 

Can you confirm exactly what the BC letter said :-

 

1. About them now refusing to accept the offer you made.

 

2. About you not meeting the criteria.

 

Stay off the phone from now on and keep everything in writing.

 

You could send BC a SAR and make specific mention that you require a recording or a transcript of the phone call on xxdate when they agreed to accept your settlement offer. Also state that you require all transaction data, not just data for the last 6 years.

 

Do you have all the old statements to check for penalty charges and/or PPI, both of which can be reclaimed to reduce the debt.

 

[Galatea]

Thanks for the replies!

 

Yes, it's fee-paying. I'm stupid and only just found out about StepChange when I re-read the letter. I know, what an idiot. I'll be ringing them today.

 

The letter says: Further to your phone-call... f&f offered to you in error... unable to accept less than the full outstanding balance... you can make a large payment to reduce the balance... blahblahblah... sorry you're having trouble, hope this helps (to paraphrase)

 

I would scan it in but the printer hates my computer and refuses to scan to it

 

No charges on the account as I was very careful. I've already claimed back PPI on everything - and I do mean everything! So the balance won't be reduced by any of that.

 

I rang them back to ask for an explanation when I got the letter, but the woman should have been a politician - I finished the call with more questions than when I started. I just wanted to know what the criteria are that I don't meet, as she referred to this several times but never actually explained.

 

Is it worth making a complaint about this? I was so pleased to be in the position of paying something off, and so disappointed when they changed their minds!

[slick132]

Hi Gal,

 

I'm sure you now realise that you can continue to pay off your debts without using, and paying for, a DMC. Check to see if you're bound by a minimum contract term (unlikely after 4 years !) and cancel with the DMC asap. Then you can continue to pay the debts with no fees.

 

If you are still in Financial Difficulty and unable to repay the debt quickly, BC should continue their freeze on interest and charges. They may want you to complete a Budget Planner to see what you can afford now.

 

I'm surprised there were no penalty or default charges on the a/c, from when you first fell behind.

 

I think it is certainly worth making a formal complaint to BC's Head Office about their staff accepting and then rejecting your F&F offer. I can see how you would have been extremely relieved to learn you could settle the debt, only to be told later that you could not. I doubt they'll disclose the criteria they use as it may be "commercially sensitive".

 

You could also ask them to reconsider your offer to settle at the sum originally agreed. Even if they refuse to alter the later decision, they may offer you some compensation for the error and stress caused.

 

[Galatea]

Thanks Slick. I did indeed complain, (in writing) and a lady rang me back.

 

I am not on an official plan apparently, therefore not paying enough per month to qualify for a F&F settlement.

 

 

They are not able to accept anything less than the full balance unless my account goes further into arrears

- apparently I am 2 months behind at the moment.

 

 

Not sure how they judge this as I have been paying less than the minimum payment for 3 years.

I have paid the amount agreed via DMC every month. Or I need to be on an official plan,

paying a higher amount per month, then they will consider F&F.

 

However she did say she would credit £100 to my account as a gesture of goodwill, which is something.

In the meantime I will keep saving and try again in a few months

[slick132]

Hi Galatea,

 

As per earlier advice in post #3, you should have told the woman you will not discuss the matter and told her to reply in writing.

 

Can you just confirm for me that you didn't suffer any penalty charges on the a/c as this is not normal.

 

[Galatea]

Yep, messed up with that one. Should have said "in writing please" but for some reason just didn't.

 

For reasons I'd rather not go into I knew that I wasn't going to be able to continue repayments at the level they were at, so used the DMC to freeze interest etc and agree token payments rather than just stop paying. So maybe not normal, but I tried to sort it out before I missed payments.

[slick132]

Hi Gal,

 

Thanks for the extra info. I'm not prying but just wanted to make sure there were no penalties for you to reclaim.

 

Good to hear you were acting so quickly when you saw problems looming. All to often, folk ignore obvious problems and hope they'll go away, or somehow get better.