Transporter V Barclays bank. 1st step.

[transporter]

I was informed by a friend that there may be an opportunity to reclaim the massive amount of bank charges I have been charged.

I had a scan via the internet and found your site.

 

On the 3-11-2006 I sent my first letter to Barclays bank cut and pasted from this site with schedule of charges for the last six years that totalled well over £2000 with no interest added. I didn't add the interest on in the first letter as I did'nt and still don't know how to calculate it. I did inform them that I will be claiming for it. I'll do that when I find out how to calculate it?

On 8-11-2006 I received what seems to be a standard reply letter from a Barclays Customer Relations Advisor.

This states I will have an answer or update no later than 1-12-2006. Oh, and I can call for a chat about it if I wish. Very good of them.

 

I have questions if anyone can help me?

 

Firstly, how do I work out the interest to apply and can I still do this although it was not in the initial point of contact?

Also, I have an article taken from the Daily Mail writen by J. Coney, published 8-11-2006.

It states that some banks and financial institutions are paying up but in turn closing the claimants accounts.

I have just been granted a mortgage for our first family home. The payment for which will be taken via a Direct Debit mandate from one of my Barclays accounts. I also have a savings account and business accounts. The reason for this is that I cannot open another account elsewhere.

I have tried various high street banks under the advice of this site to no avail. All of my credit is either up to date or paid off in full and no longer allow my bank account to fall into its overdraft. This has been the case for at least 18months / 2 years yet I still do not have a credit rating high enough to open an account.

It seems a huge risk to my mortgage and business if Barclays shut up shop on me and close the lot. Don't get me wrong I shall see this to the end no matter what but would like to be informed and ready for the worst.

 

I would be grateful for any help that can be given either with the interst calculations or any experiences with closed accounts?

[transporter]

Is there a reason I have not received a single reply?

Am I doing something wrong here?

[Spotted Dog]

You are not doing anything wrong here.

 

Look for threads by Vampiress regarding using the spreadsheets in the Library for interest calculations.

 

Have you read the FAQs and step by step guide ??

 

There seem to be only a few instances of Barclays closing accounts. Remember they want your business, they need your money to make their money. It is normally not in their interests to close accounts.

 

Spotty

[Welshman]

Hi Transporter. Sorry for not giving you an earlier welcome to the site but some do slip through the net. As Spotty correctly mentioned, they do not close accounts as a general rule but you do need to open a parachute account just in case.

In calculating the charges, I used the England Simple Excel spreadsheet from this site which is found here.

 

I don't want to seem to be trying to be like a schoolteacher here but I am concious that others learning their way around this system will read this thread and this post and learn from them so I am explaining it in Laymans' terms from the very beginning so please forgive me.

 

When you fill the spreadsheet in, you overtype what's already there until you've covered all your charges. Dependant on how many entries you have then you may have to add some rows or delete surplus example entries below.

 

All entries you make are in three columns. These being:

 

"In Respect of" – this is where you put the charge description e.g. ‘Paid Referral’ or ‘Unpaids out’, "Amount" and "Date Incurred" – the actual date taken from the statement. At the bottom of the "Amount" column you will see a total. That's the one without interest, and that's the one you use at Prelim Letter and LBA stage.

 

The spreadsheet will have done its own calculations in the other two columns which are entitled "Days since Offence" and "Interest 8% APR". You don't touch those at all. The days since offence column calculates the number of days since the bank made the charge and which appears on your statements up to the day you are viewing the spreadsheet. If you look at one column on two consecutive days, you'll see the totals have gone up by a day. So will the interest.

 

Now at the bottom of the interest column, you will see two totals. The top one is the total Interest @ 8% which is re-calculated automatically by the spreadsheet each day and the larger total below it is the total sum at the bottom of the "Amount" column plus the subtotal at the base of the "Interest" column.

 

When the spreadsheet is produced for the Prelim and LBA stage, it is printed out excluding the last two columns and totals. There are several ways to do this, the easiest being to go to "File" at the top of the page and go across to "Print Area" in the drop down menu then "Set Print Area". Set the area making sure that you include the Total under the "Amount" column but exclude the last two columns. When you need to include the 8% interest in the future, you obviously set the print area to include everything.

It will look something like this:

Welshman- Claim Number: 00000000

Barclays Bank PLC

Sort Code

Account Number

SCHEDULE OF CLAIM FOR CHARGES PERIOD: 1st September 2001 TO 1st September 2006

In Respect of: Amount Date Incurred Days since offence Interest 8% APR

Paid Referral______£20.00____19/09/2001 ____1854 ___________£8.16

Paid Referral______£20.00____ 20/09/2001____1853___________ £8.15

Unpaid Out _______£30.00____ 24/09/2001___ 1849____________£8.14

Paid Referral______£20.00_____19/10/2000___ 1824___________ £8.03

[transporter]

Thanks very much to both of you for the reply.

To be honest I had no idea the amount of people that were using this site due to which I appreciate any reply.

Its 2 days until I send the next letter.

Regarding opening an account for a safety net I can't for some reason. So I shall contiue as I am and deal with it as it happens. Ever account I have is in credit now so if they do wish to shut up shop on me I think I'll see if the press is interested?

Thanks again and I'll be in touch.

[transporter]

After my first letter dated 3-11-2006 I received a fairly rapid response telling me they would reply to me within 30 days, being the 1st December 2006.

I went ahead and sent the 2nd letter after 14 days and have just received a reply to that.

The total amount I am claiming is some £2500 without interest.

Barclays have made me an offer of £1000 to settle now.

Not sure what I am going to do but I'll keep the updates coming.

[Bookworm]

Threads merged. Please keep to one thread per claim,it will make your story easier to follow for all, including yourself!

 

There is a letter rejecting partial settlement in the Library, use that.

 

It will take a bit of time (ok, quite a bit of time ), but if you stand firm, you will get ALL of your money.

 

In my experience, people who have accepted partial offer have come back bitterly regretting not holding out for all of it, a few months down the line.

 

I would only ever settle for 100%, but then, I am a stubborn cow. It took me from May to November to get my money off Barclays, but I did it. As did everyone else who dug their heels in. ;-)