Bank overdraft fees

[CodeMachine]

Hi,

I have a bank account, which I've had for over 20 years and have been receiving requests to make a payment to clear arrears on what had been a long-standing overdraft facility, This was before Jan 2018 when it was suddenly removed. I had a £700 o/d facility in 2007 and in 2008 a 'personal reserve' of an extra £1000 was added; which I had no need for, and did not agree to,

In 2014, this 'personal reserve' was automatically converted to 'overdraft' by my bank, At the same time fees began to be levied on a daily basis (something which I hadn't experienced before). In the following year I was charged more than £500 in 'daily fees', despite hardly using the account; and this has been similar since. In 2017 this bank agreed, by telephone, to set up a resolve loan for me if I made 3 regular monthly payments for the purpose of a resolve; which I did. The bank stated that I had successfully completed these, but did not put anything in writing to me regarding the 'resolve loan'. I complained to the bank and demanded that they write off the arrears. They accepted making a mistake and responded by offering me all fees back to October 2016; when I had last 'actively' used the account and a new 'resolve' loan to repay the remaining arrears. I was not happy with this and made a complaint to FOS. The investigator agreed with Barclays but pointed out that at this time (July 2017) they had also put 'negative' information on my credit file. I am unsure whether the complaint process is completed and am finding it difficult to discover this.

I did not 'agree' or 'arrange' the part of my overdraft facility of between £700 and £1700. This was added by the bank. What is the status of an "overdraft". Surely it has to be pre-arranged with the customer and is intended for short-term borrowing only. I do not acceot that this part of this bank 'overdraft' can be 'moved to' my original 'overdraft' from before 2014. What is the legal situation?

Any help appreciated.

[Amethyst]

Was this Barclays ?

So they gave you a personal reserve, converted it to an overdraft then withdrew the overdraft, pushing you to a resolve loan ...
Did you use the personal reserve ? ( appreciate you didn't ask for it or need it but once it's there..... )
Regarding FOS - what was the last letter you had from them ?

[CodeMachine]

Was this Barclays ?

So they gave you a personal reserve, converted it to an overdraft then withdrew the overdraft, pushing you to a resolve loan ...
Did you use the personal reserve ? ( appreciate you didn't ask for it or need it but once it's there..... )
Regarding FOS - what was the last letter you had from them ?

The personal reserve was added to my account in 2008 when the account was called Additions Plus. Prior to that the bank had been allowing transactions to be made while over authorised limit; they had not been doing that when the account was originally opened in 1996. It was presented as an opt out. I believe that I tore out the opt out slip, sent it to them, and they simply sent another. However, I cannot prove this, except that I found 3 copies of the opt out letter with one with the opt-slip torn off. I know I complained by telephone. No other bank options were presented to me. At the time I had money in a savings account and a bond with the same bank and did not want or need the extra facility with its extremely onerous charges such as 'paid transaction fees' of £22.00 for each payment they made when in the 'personal reserve'.

The bank failed to set up the 'resolve loan'. They acknowledged the requirement to make 3 payments but (surprisingly) did not mention the 'resolve loan' (the point of the 3 payments) in writing until after I made the complaint.

I have only emails from the ombudsman. The last email (last week) stated that if I did not agree to Barclays offer it would be seen by an ombudsman, when one became available in the next month or so. I phoned the bank who initially told me that FOS had been in touch and the complaint had been resolved which was their reason for making a request for 'a' payment. Despite replying to 'investigator' last week I have not had another email from FOS for over a week.

After being put through to various operators at the bankI was told that the case was not 'resolved', after all, and therefore I couldn't speak to the complaints department; even though I had initially been told that I needed to speak to them to find out what the resolution was. Catch 22.