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Hello,
I am wondering if anyone could offer me any advice on the below;
Background - Back in 2009/10 due to personal issues and redundancy and having to take a far lesser paid job I was in financial hardship. I had a couple of loans, a credit card and a overdraft with Barclays. I tried to stay on top on these as much as I could however when creeping into my reserve account and some months being charged as much as £88 I soon got to the point I could no longer struggle through. I went into the local Barclays bank and talked to one of their bank managers there to discuss my options (note at this point I hadn't missed any payments). I was told in branch, after they declined to allow me to have a consolidation loan even admitting that was far cheaper than all the repayments plus the £88 reserve fee, that my only option was to allow the loans and accounts to get to the point they were transferred to the collections team. I asked to raise a complaint but I was told this was their policy, the additional chargers were legal and the advice they gave was completely fair. I left the bank feeling very down and only after searching on line and speaking to people did I realise that a debt management plan was my only option.
At the end of 2010 I moved home and entered into the debt management plan with PayPlan. I agreed all my incomings/outgoings and what I could afford and set to work paying back what I owed. Barclays issued me with defaults and sent me a letter telling me all my accounts had been closed. I was assured by PayPlan that this was normal and they advise me at the start to set up a new account with a different branch. I continued to pay my debts each month and at each of the annual reviews I upped each payment (as my wages increased). Then in 2013 I was fortunate enough to get myself into a far better job and soon a position where I could pay the debts off. I contact PayPlan, agreed what was left and paid everything back in full and in the case of one loan, quicker than it would have been paid off had it continued with the bank.
Fast forward to December 2018 (last year). I was just in the process of packing my bags to go away for December and a letter came through the door (this was odd in itself as it was address to my parents old address which was the last known address Barclays had for me but the postman being local obviously worked it out) from Barclays telling me that they had paid compensation into an account for how they handled customer issues in 2013 (what account - you told me they were all closed?) After a lifetime of trying to speak to someone on the phone they confirmed there were no accounts. At this point, I realise I am to blame here as I let this go - I was just about to spend xmas in NY and trying to sort out house sitting etc it completely slipped my mind....until 2 weeks ago I received a letter from Barclays (with the my current address details - I have made PPI claims and Bank account fee claims with them in the last couple of years) telling me that my money was safe etc - I believe its a standard letter however I also believe I would not get this unless I had an account with them. So, back on the phone to Barclays again to be told that yes I would only have got that letter if I held an account with them. This then jogged my memory of the letter I received last year. I tried to speak to barlcays over the phone but I wasn't getting anywhere so last week I wrote a complaint to them with the following points;
1. The letter received did not provide a great deal of detail regarding the refund and asked them to explain further
2. In the letter I was told the money was transferred to an account however you also wrote to me and told me my accounts were closed but it appears I do have an account and why has this happened
3. That I would also like them to consider compensation prior to 2013 as any compensation received for this period would have been ongoing from issues from 2009/ 2010.
I also explained the hardship etc as I have above but I did not asked for a hardship compensation and I did not ask for my reserve charges back - I am assumed this would be a pointless task and a likely no.
On Saturday I received a replay to the letter. Barclays had text me updates and the speed of the complaint made me realise quite quickly that they weren't going to compensation further which is fine however I was certainly not expecting such an inept response from them! I have bulleted below for ease.
"
1. The letter was titled - Your Complaint - Bank Chargers" - Well no, I mentioned them but (in the context of above) but I was not my reasoning for complaint
2. Thank you for emailing regarding the sale of your current account - unfortunately you did not complain within the advise time period so we are rejecting your complaint - First of all I wasn't even aware my account was sold! Closed yes but I always dealt with Barclays collection the debt never went elsewhere. I am very confused by this statement from them
3. Regarding the compensation from last year, according to their collections team this has been off-set against my debt management plan - my debt management plan finished in 2013 and I paid everything in full so how has this been off-set. And if so - have they just randomly sent money somewhere?
4. I don't have any bank accounts with Barclays! Well after 2 hours of sitting in branch on Saturday - Turns out I do have a Barclays savings account that they never closed or took the money within it to off-set against any debt (please note is was about £1.50 in 2009) however I was advised off this at the time. Not only that, until last year I had had no contact from them regarding any account.
5. My complaint will not be considered further as it is over 6 years since its happened - Whilst this is true, Am I able to argue that as they have compensated for something that happened in 2013 in 2018 that I am allowed to request that this is assessed further? As I noted above, I raised a complaint at the time and I was told that was their standard practice however the compensation that they have award clearly must mean their standard practice came into question and the compensation I received for 2013 was for issues in 2009 onwards.
I really am quite angry with their response. This has clearly not been looked into and is factually incorrect at best. They have provided me with the details of the Ombudsman should I wish to take this forward however I guess my question is should I try and speak to Barclays and highlight the multiple errors in response, or do I go straight to the Ombudmans highlighting these and have no further communications with Barclays.
If they had looked into the case and provided me with the details I needed and said that they would not have reconsider the compensation I would have happily left it however as many of the facts in their letter are wrong I feel I should take this forward. Also if anyone has any advice or opinions as to where the approach todate to fair etc I would be very appreciative.
Many thanks and apologies the above is so long!
I am wondering if anyone could offer me any advice on the below;
Background - Back in 2009/10 due to personal issues and redundancy and having to take a far lesser paid job I was in financial hardship. I had a couple of loans, a credit card and a overdraft with Barclays. I tried to stay on top on these as much as I could however when creeping into my reserve account and some months being charged as much as £88 I soon got to the point I could no longer struggle through. I went into the local Barclays bank and talked to one of their bank managers there to discuss my options (note at this point I hadn't missed any payments). I was told in branch, after they declined to allow me to have a consolidation loan even admitting that was far cheaper than all the repayments plus the £88 reserve fee, that my only option was to allow the loans and accounts to get to the point they were transferred to the collections team. I asked to raise a complaint but I was told this was their policy, the additional chargers were legal and the advice they gave was completely fair. I left the bank feeling very down and only after searching on line and speaking to people did I realise that a debt management plan was my only option.
At the end of 2010 I moved home and entered into the debt management plan with PayPlan. I agreed all my incomings/outgoings and what I could afford and set to work paying back what I owed. Barclays issued me with defaults and sent me a letter telling me all my accounts had been closed. I was assured by PayPlan that this was normal and they advise me at the start to set up a new account with a different branch. I continued to pay my debts each month and at each of the annual reviews I upped each payment (as my wages increased). Then in 2013 I was fortunate enough to get myself into a far better job and soon a position where I could pay the debts off. I contact PayPlan, agreed what was left and paid everything back in full and in the case of one loan, quicker than it would have been paid off had it continued with the bank.
Fast forward to December 2018 (last year). I was just in the process of packing my bags to go away for December and a letter came through the door (this was odd in itself as it was address to my parents old address which was the last known address Barclays had for me but the postman being local obviously worked it out) from Barclays telling me that they had paid compensation into an account for how they handled customer issues in 2013 (what account - you told me they were all closed?) After a lifetime of trying to speak to someone on the phone they confirmed there were no accounts. At this point, I realise I am to blame here as I let this go - I was just about to spend xmas in NY and trying to sort out house sitting etc it completely slipped my mind....until 2 weeks ago I received a letter from Barclays (with the my current address details - I have made PPI claims and Bank account fee claims with them in the last couple of years) telling me that my money was safe etc - I believe its a standard letter however I also believe I would not get this unless I had an account with them. So, back on the phone to Barclays again to be told that yes I would only have got that letter if I held an account with them. This then jogged my memory of the letter I received last year. I tried to speak to barlcays over the phone but I wasn't getting anywhere so last week I wrote a complaint to them with the following points;
1. The letter received did not provide a great deal of detail regarding the refund and asked them to explain further
2. In the letter I was told the money was transferred to an account however you also wrote to me and told me my accounts were closed but it appears I do have an account and why has this happened
3. That I would also like them to consider compensation prior to 2013 as any compensation received for this period would have been ongoing from issues from 2009/ 2010.
I also explained the hardship etc as I have above but I did not asked for a hardship compensation and I did not ask for my reserve charges back - I am assumed this would be a pointless task and a likely no.
On Saturday I received a replay to the letter. Barclays had text me updates and the speed of the complaint made me realise quite quickly that they weren't going to compensation further which is fine however I was certainly not expecting such an inept response from them! I have bulleted below for ease.
"
1. The letter was titled - Your Complaint - Bank Chargers" - Well no, I mentioned them but (in the context of above) but I was not my reasoning for complaint
2. Thank you for emailing regarding the sale of your current account - unfortunately you did not complain within the advise time period so we are rejecting your complaint - First of all I wasn't even aware my account was sold! Closed yes but I always dealt with Barclays collection the debt never went elsewhere. I am very confused by this statement from them
3. Regarding the compensation from last year, according to their collections team this has been off-set against my debt management plan - my debt management plan finished in 2013 and I paid everything in full so how has this been off-set. And if so - have they just randomly sent money somewhere?
4. I don't have any bank accounts with Barclays! Well after 2 hours of sitting in branch on Saturday - Turns out I do have a Barclays savings account that they never closed or took the money within it to off-set against any debt (please note is was about £1.50 in 2009) however I was advised off this at the time. Not only that, until last year I had had no contact from them regarding any account.
5. My complaint will not be considered further as it is over 6 years since its happened - Whilst this is true, Am I able to argue that as they have compensated for something that happened in 2013 in 2018 that I am allowed to request that this is assessed further? As I noted above, I raised a complaint at the time and I was told that was their standard practice however the compensation that they have award clearly must mean their standard practice came into question and the compensation I received for 2013 was for issues in 2009 onwards.
I really am quite angry with their response. This has clearly not been looked into and is factually incorrect at best. They have provided me with the details of the Ombudsman should I wish to take this forward however I guess my question is should I try and speak to Barclays and highlight the multiple errors in response, or do I go straight to the Ombudmans highlighting these and have no further communications with Barclays.
If they had looked into the case and provided me with the details I needed and said that they would not have reconsider the compensation I would have happily left it however as many of the facts in their letter are wrong I feel I should take this forward. Also if anyone has any advice or opinions as to where the approach todate to fair etc I would be very appreciative.
Many thanks and apologies the above is so long!
