Barclays Misery!

[Breezy Girl]

Hi

This is all new to me hope I am doing this right!

I registered here after reading an article in the Daily Mail.

My partner suffered misery with Barclays Bank in 2005.

He had a business loan secured on his house. Unfortunately, his business suffered drastically because of foot and mouth disease and he could not service the loan. The business previously had been profitable and had been running for many years. His charges were awful and the bank issued proceedings to foreclose on his home. I managed to sell my house and repay the debt to Barclays of somewhere in the region of £120,000! otherwise he would have lost his cottage. It is a miracle he didn't commit suicide over this, he couldn't sleep and his health suffered because of it.The charges were horrific and in the end he could not pay his 2 employees their wages or pay his suppliers. He was forced to go into voluntary liquidation or he could have been prosecuted for trading ilegally.

He also had a joint personal account at the time with his ex wife who although was working never paid anything into the account and the bank were totally unconcerned, they just kept on charging him knowing that if it was not repaid they could just take his house.

By the way I think it is fantastic what you are doing here.

The bank caused us so much hardship and we are still suffering now as we have had to re-mortgage this house to continue the business.

We managed to keep one of our drivers on and our drivers mate and last year made a tiny...... yes I do mean tiny, profit!

I received all his bank statements after I sent the DPA letter and have written to Barclays again today requesting a complete breakdown of all interest charges enforced on my partners business and private accounts. I have given them 14 days to comply.

I know that Barclays have charged him a lot of interest and I have been advised by a friend who works for one of the Big Banks that they have an obligation to supply him with a breakdown of these charges.

I am terrified about this but I am determined to carry this to the bitter end.

Does anyone know whether I can claim back his interest charges which were imposed after he went over his overdraft limit? I know you can't claim the agreed interest charges.

Thanks a lot!

[Bigmac versus]

Hi breezy girl and welcome to the forum.

Does anyone know whether I can claim back his interest charges which were imposed after he went over his overdraft limit? I know you can't claim the agreed interest charges.

Thanks a lot!

 

Yes you can.

 

I received all his bank statements after I sent the DPA letter and have written to Barclays again today requesting a complete breakdown of all interest charges enforced on my partners business and private accounts. I have given them 14 days to comply.

 

The interest not on the statements, or is this a different account you refer to, if so and you havent reqested this before then they have 40 days to respond.

Very best of luck to you, any questions ask away.

[Breezy Girl]

Hello Bigmac and thank you!

I didn't send the letter off yet as i am not quite sure of my facts and dont want to make myself look incompetent.

On the bank statements which they sent, it shows interest charges but it doesn't show which portion of the charges is for agreed interest charges and which portion is for the penalty charges when he went overdrawn over his limit.

Firstly, I really feel that they should supply you with these charges as in the DPA letter it refers to manual intervention, which is what it would be if they applied penalty charges to the account.

Secondly, they have already had 40 days to supply this information and if I give them a further 40 days it delays the whole process yet again.

Am I correct?

Thanks

Breezy Girl

[Breezy Girl]

Hi Everyone

Regarding my partners Business account, we are claiming £4,965 excluding stat interest. I sent the Letter Before Action (you have 14 days) to Barclays and heard nothing. The 14 days is up and I need to act. I intend to complete the N1 claim form today. Am I doing the right thing as the court claim is going to cost me more money?

Help!!

Breezy

[Lula]

Hi Breezy, yes complete the N1 and file at your local court, it will cost £120 but this is recoverable once you win.

 

That being said, the claim will probably be staying pending the OFT review, but you will get it back eventually

[saintly_1]

Make sure that you read about making a business claim here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/105213-guide-business-claims.html

[Breezy Girl]

Hi Saintly and thank you I was just looking for this!

Breezy;)

[Breezy Girl]

Hi Everyone

I still haven't completed my N1 form as there has been a lot going on and couldn't get into gear. Suffice to say Barclays have not replied to my LBA! Surprise surprise!

Anyway, the prob I have is that I believe my partner will have to sue Barclays personally as he was forced to put the company into voluntary liquidation partly due to Barclays high charges. He was then forced to repay Barclays as he was a personal guarantor and would have lost his house. (SEE FIRST POSTING IN THIS THREAD)

In this case do we use the Business or Consumer procedures please? Also, how would I word the particulars of claim?

I am lost.

Thanks

Breezy

[slick132]

Hi Breezy,

 

Bit out of my depth here so will get better advice to take a look.

[Breezy Girl]

Thank you Slick.

Breezy

[elsinore]

Hi Breezy.

 

It would be helpful if you could tell us a little more about your partner’s old business. As you have used the phrase ‘voluntary liquidation’ I guess it was a limited company. If so, what was the relationship of any other directors?

Are there any creditors who remain unpaid?

Is there an insolvency practitioner involved?

How is your partner now trading, as a limited company, partnership or sole trader?

Are you involved in the new business with him?

 

Els:)

[Breezy Girl]

Hi elsinore

Yes, the business was a Ltd company and there were 2 other directors who took no financial responsibility. They were the sons of my other half's Late brother (his nephews) and they became directors on the premature death of their father. One of them received no income and the other received a salary for a part of the business which made no money!

Yes, there is an insolvency practitioner involved. All the company's papers are kept with them.

Yes, there are some creditors who remain unpaid but without looking it up I'm not sure of how much in total they were owed. I know that when we started the new business, I am a director and the company secretary of that, we paid many of the suppliers as they would not have continued to supply the new business which is by the way Ltd.

The old business was crucified by huge bank charges and too many people drawing salaries for doing nothing. When I came on board I 'trimmed up' the business!

Thanks

Breezy

[elsinore]

Hi Breezy.

 

The claim for refund of charges will have to be in the name of the old company. It is still a legal entity and there are some creditors remaining to be paid. Any refund of charges which Barclays make will have to go the old company and be distributed by the IP to the creditors.

 

With a bit of creative thinking you could argue that the new company is a creditor of the old company, because it settled some of its debts! Whether you could persuade the IP to think that way will depend upon

a) the extent of the old company’s remaining liabilities

b) the IP’s view of who the refunded charges belong to*

c) whether the IP regards the new company as a creditor or not and

d) your relationship with the IP.

 

*Exceptional money that will only come to the old company as a result of your diligence and which the IP would not ordinarily have had to distribute to the creditors.

 

The IP will not do anything dodgy (or shouldn’t!) but the rules might allow him/her some flexibility. It’s worth a try, anyway.

 

With regard to the interest paid on unlawful charges, I think you’ll do well to persuade Barclays to come up with a figure for that. As long as you have all the business bank statements, you should be able to calculate this reasonably accurately using one of the spreadsheets available. The amount recoverable will depend greatly on the period(s) during which the account remained in overdraft. Sometimes it’s more trouble than it’s worth.

 

Sounds like your partner is fortunate to have you on board!

 

Els

[Breezy Girl]

Hi Els

Thank you for your reply. I am sorry that I have not replied before this but I am in a quandry but I am starting my Claim in earnest today!

Best Wishes

Breezy

[Breezy Girl]

Hi

Well - I started my claim on behalf of my partner and returned the AQ and guess what....it wasn't stayed by the Judge. I have paid the hearing fee and have a court date of 30th May! I cannot believe it. Anyway, problem is that now I have to send in my bundle and I need T&C's for the year 1978 when the Business Acount was opened. Can anyone help? How important are these T&C's?? Do they need to be from the year the account was opened?

Thanks

Breezy

[slick132]

Hi Breezy,

 

Have a look in here for the T&C's you want - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/101412-document-library-work-progress.html

 

If you can't find those for when you opened the a/c, use those nearest to the start of your claim.

 

Please confirm:-

 

- What court this is.

- Exactly what the Directions from court say.

- How long is allocated for the hearing.

 

This is excellent news but experience tells us not to be too optimistic at the moment. While it seems that Business Claims should not be Stayed, most judges have been unwilling to let them proceed.

 

The bank could still put in an application for the case to be Stayed, but fingers crossed in the meantime.

[elsinore]

I already looked, Slick, but unfortunately the link doesn't work.

 

I've asked if Zoot or J2B can dig 'em up.

 

Els

[slick132]

Hi Breezy,

 

I actually have a set of Business T&C's from 1995 should be acceptable as your a/c was open then.

 

Please PM me your email addy and I'll scan the 2 pages and send to you (when I've mastered the process:confused: )

[grumpy101]

Wow! I admire your "bottle" and diligence for taking them on. I have never been a customer of Barclays but would agree with the BBCs comments about dishonesty. My own dealings with Barclays involved a bank-wire-transfer. There had been a nice looking Rover car on eBay "spares-or-repair" as an intermittent drive-by-wire fault kept shutting down the engine so the owner had traded it in. It was a one day payment required within 24 hours auction which I won for £67 - OK its not a hill of beans but its the principle that counts. When I got to Liverpool with towing equipment there was no car and no Phil, just a compound with a security fence and Phils mobile was turned off. Returned to Cornwall. It was a [problem] but DVLA, Vodaphone, eBay and Barclays all hid behind the Data Protection Act. I cannot sue Phil (who is sometimes Bill) without his proper name and address that Barclays refuse to give me. Is it OK to sue Barclays the (EDIT) bank?

[Breezy Girl]

Slick you are a saint.

Thanks so much will pm you straight away.

The directions say that it has been allocated to the small claims court. the hearing will take place at 14.00 on 30/5/08 at Hertford County Court 4th Floor Sovereign House Hale Rd, Hertford and should take no longer than 2hrs 30mins. A hearing fee has been paid of £300.

Then it just says about the copies of docs no later than 25/4.

I am praying that the bank cough up as I am terrified!!!

Breezy

[slick132]

Hi Breezy,

 

I've sent you the Business a/c T&C's by email.

 

I'll answer the other points here on open forum for others to see.

 

The business claim link Saintly posted in #6 above is a good guide. As a business, you don't rely on the UTCCR doc'ts which you will therefore leave out of the court bundle.

 

You should include T&C's which are appropriate for your claim so the 1995 one's I've sent should suffice - it's not nec'y for you to include T&C's for each year of the claim. They tend to be a bit short in supply so we just get as close to the right years as poss.

[Breezy Girl]

Thank you slick

Breezy

[Breezy Girl]

Hi Slick

I'm sorry to be so ignorant but do I need to include in my bundle, a statement of evidence?

If so, there is one on #55 on this link posted by Ian

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bailiffs-sheriff-officers/53570-new-strategy-allocation-questionnaires-3.html

I know this relates in the main to consumer but maybe I could adapt it if a S of E is required.

I am also trying to show that my partner signed an unlimited guarantee for his business in favour of Barclays and he paid off all the debts to Barclays so that he was able to keep his house.

Should I include the following as evidence:

• Correspondence
  
• Schedule of Charges
  
• T&C's
  
• Bank Statements
  
• Transcript of Interview with Peter McNamara
  
• Relevant Case Law Summary
  
• Early Day Motion from the House
  
• Dunlop v New Garage
  
• UCTA 1977
  
• SOGA 1982
  
• OFT Summary
  
• Copy of Unlimited Guarantee in favour of Barclays Bank
  
• Copy of Decree Absolute Consent Order referring to requirement that Claimant discharges all debts to Barclays Bank
  
• Copy of Particulars of Claim for Possession in favour of Barclays Bank dated November 2004
  
• Copy of Witness Statement of Legal Assisstant from Barclays Bank, outlining debt to Barclays Bank by claimant
  
• Copy of Legal Charge on Claimants property.

Thanks

Breezy

[Breezy Girl]

Hi Slick

I'm sorry to be so ignorant but do I need to include in my bundle, a statement of evidence?

If so, there is one on #55 on this link posted by Ian

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bailiffs-sheriff-officers/53570-new-strategy-allocation-questionnaires-3.html

I know this relates in the main to consumer but maybe I could adapt it if a S of E is required.

I am also trying to show that my partner signed an unlimited guarantee for his business in favour of Barclays and he paid off all the debts to Barclays so that he was able to keep his house.

Should I include the following as evidence:

• Correspondence
  
• Schedule of Charges
  
• T&C's
  
• Bank Statements
  
• Transcript of Interview with Peter McNamara
  
• Relevant Case Law Summary
  
• Early Day Motion from the House
  
• Dunlop v New Garage
  
• UCTA 1977
  
• SOGA 1982
  
• OFT Summary
  
• Copy of Unlimited Guarantee in favour of Barclays Bank
  
• Copy of Decree Absolute Consent Order referring to requirement that Claimant discharges all debts to Barclays Bank
  
• Copy of Particulars of Claim for Possession in favour of Barclays Bank dated November 2004
  
• Copy of Witness Statement of Legal Assisstant from Barclays Bank, outlining debt to Barclays Bank by claimant
  
• Copy of Legal Charge on Claimants property.

Thanks

Breezy

(Sorry I meant to say Garynot Ian!)

[slick132]

Gary referred to Barclays cases and suggested this as a good SoE - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/barclays-bank/36692-peter-rabbit-barclays-2.html#post492578.

 

Adapt it for your own case and include in the Bundle.