Your esteemed opinion please...

[JamesBooker]

Barclays have been charging me £25 overdraft penalties for years so I was very interested to find out I may have a chance of seeing that money again. Having not kept my statements I phoned them and asked for the dates when they had charged me. They provided about nine dates so I sent them nine copies of the letter from bankcharges.info.

 

I got a letter back from them informing me that I had been charged £2000 over 6 years and that, although they disagreed with the legal analysis, as a gesture of goodwill they would refund me £1000.

 

Although initially excited with such a result, I'm now wondering if I should be holding out for the full £2000.

 

Any thoughts?

[leehughes]

Whoa,

 

Very nice.

 

I wouldn't take the £1000, the £2000 is yours anyway.

 

I would write back accepting the £1000 but you would like the difference as well.

 

Regards

 

Lee

[JamesBooker]

Thanks, they gave me a form to sign and send back if I want the grand in which I accept that the dispute is resolved. So I guess once I do that I've no legal right to try and recover the rest...

[BankFodder]

Yes. You shoudl hold out for the lot. Also have you been charged inteest on any of this if it has put you into overdraft? You should claim this too.

 

If you haven't received your statements, are you sure that this is all that there is?

 

Have you got a parachute account?

 

Could you let us have a scan of their offer letter. - [email protected]

[JamesBooker]

Thanks for the replies. No I didn't start court proceedings, I sent them nine copies of the standard letter (got mine from bankcharges.info) for each of the nine dates they provided me over the phone. I did this last weekend so am quite surprised with the rapid response.

 

I don't know if the £2000 is all I've paid, I only brought about £300 worth of charges to their attention, they then came back and admitted they had charged me £2000 (!) I'm not sure about any interest I may have been charged as I was living in my overdraft for quite a few years.

 

What is a parachute account?

 

(I will be happy to provide a copy of all letters once this thing is resolved)

[BankFodder]

I think that you need to pause in your claim. Put in a DPA request and get all of your statements - then claim everything.

Come back here

 

Get a parachute. They will probably close you down.

[JamesBooker]

Here's what they wrote:-

 

I am sorry you feel the Bank charges you have incurred are unfair and represent a penalty. I note you are claiming a refund of £2,000, which is the total amount of charges you have incurred over the past six years. In your correspondence you have outlined case law and referred to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulation 1999, which you say supports your view. Needless to say, Barclays is aware of all the information you have drawn to our attention. I must inform you however, that we disagree with your legal analysis.

 

When an account is opened with us, our customer is provided with a copy of the Terms and Conditions relating to the use of their account including details of our charges. This information clearly explains our obligations to our customers, as well as their obligations to us. If we make any changes of the Terms and Conditions we provide details of these to our customers in line with the Banking Code. Details of our Terms and Conditions and charging tariff can be obtained at any of our branches, or via our internet site, http://www.barclays.co.uk.

 

Putting the above to one side, on this occasion and as a gesture of goodwill, I confirm I am willing to refund half of the amount you are seeking, that is £1,000. I hope you will agree this is fair and reasonable. If you would like to accept this offer please sign and return the enclosed form in the pre-paid envelope provided. I will then arrange for the payment to be credited to your current account.

 

If you wish to discuss this letter, or feel there are further issues I need to consider, please contact me on my direct telephone number 020 7*** ****. If you are dissatisfied with my proposal for resolving you complaint you may ultimately be eligible to refer to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

 

The leaflet enclosed explains our complaints process and provides details regarding the Financial Ombudsman Service.

 

In accordance with our standard practice unless I hear from you to the contrary within eight weeks from the date of this letter, I shall assume that your complaint is resolved and close my file.

[JamesBooker]

I think that you need to pause in your claim. Put in a DPA request and get all of your statements - then claim everything.

Come back here

 

Get a parachute. They will probably close you down.

 

I think I'll phone the number they gave me a see how they respond to a DPA request. I do have another online bank account but on what grounds could Barlcays close my account as I'm not even overdrawn anymore; Or do they not need a reason....

[Guest stephen]

If I was you I would write back to the bank and say yes thank your for informing me about the terms and condition of your contracts, however I am fully aware of these.

 

Sadly, you seem to have missed the point, , it is those terms in your contract that I am disputing, Under the UNFAIR TERMS IN CONSUMER CONTRACTS REGULATIONS 1999

 

Furthermore, I must enquire are you saying that if I had objected to these terms, you would have agreed to amended them.? (Because it is my believe that you would have told me to either take it or leave it. )

 

Therefore, I most refuse your offer of £1000, and request that you refund the full £2000 within the next 7 days. Or I will be forced to commence legal proceedings.

 

I look forward to your response

[JamesBooker]

I have to admit part of me is worried that if I turn this down I'll end up with nothing :?

[Guest stephen]

yes I can see your point, we can all give you adivce on here, but at the end of the day it will be you that is taking the risk.

 

Peronaly I think you will win. and that you should go for the £2000

[JamesBooker]

Well I've looked through six years of statements and their offer seems reasonable

 

In my case one letter produced results so get writing people!

[Russe11]

In my opinion if you are going to start court proccedings then accept half of what you have put on the claim form its just going to get companies trying their luck with everyone.

 

You should go for the full amount then it may make the banks start settling such disputes not only faster but for the full amount before court procedings.

 

If you accept 1k instead of 2 then they have won, they have not had to pay the court fees and they have still profited from it at the end of the day.

[JamesBooker]

Firstly I didn't start court proceedings, I sent them a letter. There's a reason I have settled for this amount that I don't really want to go into until the money's in my account. I'm not in any position to go to court at the moment so this has worked out quite well. I'll explain why in due course.

[Russe11]

you work for a financial institution or rely on bank as you are in a hole.

 

fully understood

[JamesBooker]

You don't know as much as you think you do

[JamesBooker]

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