Just some confirmation..

[Krisbutler]

Told to get a loan from a third party to clear overdraft. We have been charged £500 since jan 2006 by barclays. My wife and I logged two formal complaints that were ignored. We contacted the customer complaints dept in london to ask for the money back and were told that they were "valid charges" and that we were bound by the t & C's for the account. The adviser told my wife to that they were responsible lenders and that we should "get a loan from a third party" to clear the overdraft- really helpful!!! We have now done some research with yourselves and penaltycharges.co.uk and a BIG THANKS- Its now fight time. Letter delivered to branch requesting staements and we are fired up to deal with this. Opened a parachute account with abbey today (our mortgage lender) with matched facilities (overdraft, debit card,etc).

 

Will keep you updated and a BIG THANKS again for such a brilliant site..

 

I love the internet- you can find so much on it......

[richardc]

Very well done and welcome.

 

You are very well prepared. Read the FAQs, Library and around the forum so that you are fully prepared.

[Bookworm]

Welcome, and well done, you seem to have it all up and running.

 

It's a great feeling, isn't it? 8)

[Krisbutler]

Got the statement this morning under DPA (one pack from branch for 1 year) and large pack from BArclays for 6yrs.

 

In one year (last year)- charges of £990.00

 

So letter going off this morning demanding repayment of these- gonna send via Special delivery.

 

No wonder we have been struggling.....

 

I expect the standard "disagree with your legal analysis" letter.

 

Any advice/extra that can be sent?

 

Gonna work through the six year statement pack tonight....

[Krisbutler]

Just got a letter back today in reply to my special delivery letter informing them that we wanted our £3,200 back in charges over six years. They send the standard "don't agree with legal analysis" letter and "gesture of good faith" offering £1500.

 

Now obviously this is not the amount owed... Just to claify though:

 

They sent a form in with the letter saying "accepting in full settlement..blabla". As per the FAQ, am I correct in that we DO NOT sign this form, but send letter back saying "thanks, we will take this... but you have seven days to cough up the rest or a court summons will be issued" - (in slightly more legal type language of course!).

 

The wife is doubting, but I pointed out to her that the we spent about an hour on the phone in jan trying to sort this out and got the right runaround. After sending one letter to them, we get a £1500 offer- so they must know what they are doing is wrong.

 

Also, she reckons that we should not claim for the £90.00 they have stiffed us for this month (we are in the process of switching to a new bank, and some of the DD did not transfer over in time so they billed us for unpaids again:( )

 

Can we reasonable add this £90.00 to the total that they currently owe us, or should that be put down to "experience"

 

We are looking at issuing the summons in 10 days (reply to offer on monday via special delivery, so arrives next day by 1pm, then seven days to final refund money)

 

Any advice would be great..

[Spiceskull]

As per the FAQ, am I correct in that we DO NOT sign this form, but send letter back saying "thanks, we will take this... but you have seven days to cough up the rest or a court summons will be issued" - (in slightly more legal type language of course!).

That's the way to do it...you want ALL of the money back, and you are accepting this ONLY as a part of your full claim. Obviously, if you do need to raise a claim in court, the claim must be balanced against the refund to date...

 

Regarding the £90 for this month - has that already been debited, or is it 'charges pending?'

 

Good luck with this claim - it seems that the banks actions have directly impacted on your life, so now it is time for this to STOP.

[paulson1985]

hi

 

Firstly let me say you have done well to be offered half your money back after the first letter ,my bank Lloyds drag it out to the bitter end.

 

If i were you I would write back to them and say "thank you for your offer we will exept it but point out to them that they still owe you£xxx amount and unless they are prepared to refund this to you , you will take the matter to court.

And yes you can add the extra £90 to your claim.

They know they are in the wrong otherwise why would they offer you a partiel refund.

 

Good Luck and at the end of the day it is your decision to make but I am sure the rest of the money will come in handy it may well take a little longer thats all.

[Krisbutler]

Yes the charges of £90.00 have already been debited- should this be added to the total, pointing out that these are from this month?

 

We have already successfully used moneyclaim on line (taking Studio Cards Ltd on for a faulty camcorder), so issuing the claim does not bother us. The support on here is excellent- we have both agreed that once we have delt with Barclays, a donation for books will be on the way.

[Krisbutler]

Well, here is the letter for special delivery- giving them a "thanks for your offer- we'll have this, plus the rest in 7days or see you in court". As mentioned previously, we have now been charged a further £125.00 now- talk about milking it and kicking someone in the knackers!

 

"With reference to the above, and to your letter dated 6th April 2006. I wish to thank you for your offer of £1,500 in respect of bank charges levied over the last six years on my account. I will be happy to accept this offer as an interim payment, but wish to inform Barclays that I require the outstanding balance of £2,050 to be paid within 7 working days. This outstanding amount now includes an additional £125 of charges, which have been levied on the account since our first correspondence with you.

 

I wish to draw your attention to the recent statement issued by the Office of Fair Trading, which states that charges in excess of £12 per instance are considered to be penalty charges, and are therefore unenforceable under British Law. All of the charges levied on this account during the past six years have been in excess of £12.

 

If the full amount is not refunded within this timescale as requested, I shall instigate legal proceedings against Barclays bank for the full amount. Should you wish to settle this matter, I would request that the refund is made by personal cheque, and not by direct refund into my bank account. If you fail to settle this dispute within the timescale given, no further correspondence will be entered into, and court papers will be served against Barclays Bank for reimbursement of the full sum of £3550."

 

Will keep you all updated- god this feels good, the little man finally makes a stand against the big boys!

[Neo]

... "and interest and costs and anything I ask for..."

 

Well done

[Spiceskull]

Yes - I would think that additional charges to your account can be put on a revised 'request for refund' at this time. Good luck.

[Krisbutler]

Well, got a reply to our repsonse to their "offer of a goodwill gesture".. They offered £1500 of an owed amount of £3670.00. They still say that their offer of under half of our money is "generous and fair" and are "unable to increase", while "noting the intention to persue legal action".

 

So we did- court papers submitted 16th April 2006.

 

We gave Barclays fair opportunity to act like grown ups...

 

See you in court muppets...

[dave]

Incidently, the OFT did not say that anything over £12 is a penalty - they said that any charge over £12 is the point at which they would step in and take legal action.

 

They stated that if a charge is less than £12, then this could still be considered a penalty.

 

Good luck to you with Barclays - Ultimately, I think you will be seeing your money soon.

[Krisbutler]

Hi,

 

We recently started action against Barclays, following advice and help from this site. We finally issued claim with moneyclaim online on 1st May and received yesterday from the court acknowledgement from Barclays, with an intention to defend whole claim. Is this standard tactics from Barclays, or a change in policy?

 

 

I have tried to reassure the wife, but I think she just needs confirmation that it is a "game of chicken" that Barclays are playing!

 

Any thoughts would be useful. The person filing the acknowledgement was Keith Jeremiah from their legal disputes dept.

 

thanks

[Spiceskull]

Hi,

 

With all claims there is always the possibility that it will end up in court. However, as this has yet to happen it is highly unlikely that things will change.

 

Banks will try anything to scare you, and to throw you off track, and notification of intention to defend is one of them. It is possible that the bank will take your claim all the way to the court steps, but they will probably settle on the day, if not before.

 

Good luck.

[Carl Stevens]

Hi see my points in new claim joint one that will give you some idea of when the 28 days runs out before filing for judgement if they dont reply. Good luck.

[exBarclaysBanker]

Hmm, I entered my claim, mid April, they were served on April 18th and still no intention to defend...

 

I wonder if they are just a bit busy with all the claims and they havent gotten round to mine yet. They have til the 16th....

[oblong21]

I would imagine that Keith Jeremiah will be using a helicopter to travel to and fro all of the cases he is being lined up to appear at. In a couple of weeks their will be a steady stream of court dates issued.

[dave]

Barclays will probably defend.

 

It doesn't matter if they do or don't - if it goes to court, you will win because what they are doing is unlawful (on many counts) - if it doesn't then you win.

 

Win/win for you then.

 

Personally, I'd like them to take it to court - I will attempt to attend court with anyone who gets one of these slimey, greedy, ecomomy bank-rolling, money mongers into court anywhere in the country.

[oblong21]

What makes you think this Dave? Is it really likely they are going to defend each and every one? Im sure this would cost more than paying out and would be a feat in itself just to organise the attendance of fully briefed solicitors to every hearing.

 

Once the first case is heard - regardless of the result, they stand no chance of victory as it will be picked to pieces on here and they know that, dont you, Keith Jeremiah and Co?

[dave]

No, sorry I didn't make myself clear.

 

They will enter a defence to the court - they won't actually attend court - to do so would be suicide for them.

 

They will just push as hard as they can before backing off in an attempt to 'scare' you.

 

They may be incompetent, but they are not stupid. They know that the general public does not want to go to court - probably as much as they don't - and that if they push hard enough to make it look like they will then most people will back off when faced with a large legal team and legalise from a bank.

 

Stand your ground - it's my opinion that they are more scared of going to court than you or I.

 

Sorry if I gave the impression that they would actually go to court - that said though, even if they did, I would attempt to get the day off work and attend with you - it's my "guess" that they would lose.

 

It's also my opinion that their "guess" is the same ;-)

[kaznelson]

I totally agree with Dave.

 

It would be interesting to see the number of people who drop a case once Barclays start putting on the pressure by pretending they will attend a hearing.

 

It is all part of their game plan and another way to keep hold of your money longer.

[oblong21]

This is my opinion too, i just thought that something had come to light to change your view that any bank would be reluctant to see open court, including Barclays.

 

Regardless of their stance i have been on here for some time now, reading and digesting and i feel confident of being able to present my case in such a fashion that will have only one outcome.

[Krisbutler]

Guys & Gals,

 

The date is getting close now for barclays- defence to be submitted by 5th june!!

 

Just a quick query. We have a claim issued against barclays with an acknowledgement submitted by them. Am I correct in saying that if they do not submit their defence within 28 days of issue of the claim, I submit a judgement by default. As the have acknowleged, they can't apply for it to be set aside as they have received it (is this correct).

 

I am just trying to calm the wife as we really need this money and these muppets are draaaaaggging their feet. She is considering caving and accept their £1,500 "good will gesture" or contacting them to strike a deal. I think this is a REALLY stupid idea, could anyone please advise.

 

Thanks as always

[Guest Lueeze]

Please stay on 1 thread, 3 merged.

 

Louise