Tools v Barclaycard ( Overlimit / Late Payment Charges ) **Refunded In 9 Days**

[Tools]

Have today finally got round to claiming back something myself, namely overlimit / late payment charges on my Barclaycard account, I estimate the charges to be around £100 - £150 but am not entirely sure without sendinf off a DPA request.

See how it goes and will keep everyone updated......................cos I'm good at that

Barclaycard Customer Services
Barclaycard House
PO Box 5592
Northampton
NN4 1ZY

Account Number: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Dear Sirs,

I am writing to insist that you refund the penalty charges incurred on the above account since inception. These are listed as “Late Payment Charge” and “Over Credit Limit Charge” amongst others.

I am aware that these charges are unlawful at Common Law & Statute. This is further reinforced by the Office of Fair Trading report of 05/04/06 which concluded that these charges are unfair to the consumer. In addition, following a recent Freedom of Information request to the Office of Fair Trading I was informed that:

“Following consultation with eight leading credit card issuers we have concluded that default charges in most credit card contracts across the sector are highly unfair in terms of the UnfairTerms in consumer Contracts Regulations (UTCCRs) and therefore unlikely to be enforceable against consumers”

If you believe that they are not penalties, then will you please demonstrate this by giving me a full breakdown of the costs you have incurred as a result of my breaches, in order to prove to me that your penalties really do reflect your actual losses.

I therefore insist that you refund to me, by way of cheque, the total amount of all charges incurred plus any interest accrued at the contractual rate thereon. I will not accept partial repayment nor will I accept that the Office of Fair Trading report of 05/04/06 deemed £12 to be an acceptable charge, as it clearly did not. I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive a refund in full which would return me to the position had these charges and interest thereon not been incurred.

If you do not respond, or you do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall refer the matter directly to the Financial Ombudsman and Office of Fair Trading for further investigation.

Should I not receive satisfaction in this way, I shall then seek recovery by way of a County Court claim against you.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Bertrand Porkwhistle OBE, MBE, B&Q, DIY, D.I.S.C.O..........she was D.I.S.C.O

[tierisch]

Re: Tools v Barclaycard ( Overlimit / Late Payment Charges ) **Refunded In 9 Days**

Thanks for the info - i am not particularly into going down the court route so the partially acceptance seems sensible. SARing them would give me information but if they fight tooth and nail then may not be much use (and cost a tenner).

[WendyB]

Re: Tools v Barclaycard ( Overlimit / Late Payment Charges ) **Refunded In 9 Days**

best to SAR them, then at least you'll be able to see what the charges actually are. In the meantime, you could accept as a partial acceptance only, pending the SAR stuff, but from what I remember Citi are a tough nut to crack and have been known to turn up in court on more than one occasion. and I seem to remember they have managed to get a figure of 12.87 or some other similar amount accepted as their actual costs?

[tierisch]

Re: Tools v Barclaycard ( Overlimit / Late Payment Charges ) **Refunded In 9 Days**

Since my record BC offer the others haven't been as quick. MINT want my signature before they respond, so I used template letter telling them that it isn't needed - waiting for a response back from them.

Citi have offered but haven't mentioned how they came to the eventual figure? So a letter back asking for a detailed breakdown or should i SAR them? Any suggestions?

[Budgie]

Re: Tools v Barclaycard ( Overlimit / Late Payment Charges ) **Refunded In 9 Days**

Your post is fine Middenmess

As Ame said this approach to reclaiming is just a simple, no fuss, no hassle way of reclaiming and it has seemed to work fine for the majority of people who have tried it.

OK, it doesn't give people a full return of what they could be entitled to receive and we are, of course, here to help if anyone wishes to pursue their credit card company for a fuller settlement ( including pre six years charges, compensatory compound interest plus correction of any adverse credit information ).

However, one thing we do on Legal Beagles is to make it quite clear to people that this is a long road involving court appearances, significant research and case law study and a risk of costs being awarded against you if things were to go wrong during the overall process

If you want to see an example please feel free to have a read of my own thread relating to my own battle with Capital One. Here Judgment Beyond ~ Budgie Vs Capital One - Legal Beagles Consumer Forum

[Amethyst]

Re: Tools v Barclaycard ( Overlimit / Late Payment Charges ) **Refunded In 9 Days**

lol no course not, its useful for peeps, was just letting you know that this threads letter and the beat 9 days (ooo now 4 days) competition isnt the standard way of doing things I meant retribution in the non legal sense ie. you arent that fussed about making barclaycard pay every penny back plus interest taken plus CI on top and so on, just want a quick reduction of your balance /cheque.

[middenmess]

Re: Tools v Barclaycard ( Overlimit / Late Payment Charges ) **Refunded In 9 Days**

Hi A

I can delete if you think that the post is inappropriate.

'Retribution' by creditor--how?

[Amethyst]

Re: Tools v Barclaycard ( Overlimit / Late Payment Charges ) **Refunded In 9 Days**

Thanks Middenmiss

This thread its just useful for a no hassle, no stress, get something back if you arent too worried about retribution or getting as much as you can back way of doing things.

The credit card claiming guide/letters are in the library.


CREDIT CARD CLAIM

If you wish to reclaim charges from your credit card provider you may need these letters:

Subject Access Request - DPA - getting your information

SIMPLE GUIDE TO CLAIMING CREDIT CARD CHARGES

Preliminary Request for refund and Letter before Action

Particulars of claim for credit card

Disputed Account (if they try chasing you during your claim)

Credit card claimed stayed ? letter to overturn stay

[middenmess]

Re: Tools v Barclaycard ( Overlimit / Late Payment Charges ) **Refunded In 9 Days**

From my experiences with refunds.

Good results for all those who have claimed back from Barclaycard BUT with just a little more effort and a little longer wait most credit card companies will pay back all charges from the past 6 years + contractual compound interest and 8% on top.

They nearly always pay straight away when just the refund of charges is requested and they add on a tadge of interest as they know that they are saving themselves a much larger amount by not hanging around which avoids the claimee finding out about claiming back contractual interest.

In my less informed days I also accepted Barclaycard's repayment of charges plus 8% simple interest*.

If you write in requesting the repayment of charges with contractual interest and include a detailed list of these,they will write denying any liability and that they will only offer a goodwill repayment of charges plus 8% simple interest.

You will have to stand firm by rejecting their meagre offer and reply by sending a LBA giving them a further 14 days to refund with CI or you will proceed to court.

At this point you must be prepared to follow through with your intention to go to Court as there is no guarantee that the creditor will agree to refund what you are asking for.

My other claims were with Halifax and RBS who both phoned me a few days after receiving the follow up letters about going to Court and I accepted offers from them --backed up with written confirmation-- of around 70% of what I was claiming.

I accepted at this stage as I considered that the time spent on a longer squabble with them could be better used elsewhere. [Bird in the hand consideration as well]

I remain convinced that if I had fought on a little longer they would have paid up in full as I'm sure that they would not have wanted to actually go to court and have an expensive precedent set when they lost.

In summation --if you don't want any further hassle and stress then just requesting the refund + 8% will see the refund with you in a very short time but if you are up for a little more hassle with letter writing and a small amount of telephone negotiation then you should be able to reclaim a much larger amount but please bear in mind again that there are no guarantees and what worked for me might not for you--but I'd be surprised if it didn't!

I used this calculator

Compound interest calculator

ticking '12 rests' and a '360 day' year and calculated the charges up to 3 weeks in the future to allow for their dithering.

The rate of interest I used was the rate for 'cash' they charged me on my most recent statement.

*Although I accepted Barclaycard's refund of charges with just a small amount of simple interest,I did manage to persuade them that this money was mine and that they had no right to just deduct it off my outstanding balance [several thou].When they insisted that was all they could do I asked if they could point out in the T & C's where that was detailed.

After being passed upwards from call handler to line manager to manager or whatever they eventually refunded to my [non Barclay's bank account]--not a common occurrence I believe!

[Tools]

Re: Tools v Barclaycard ( Overlimit / Late Payment Charges ) **Refunded In 9 Days**

Fantastic news tierisch and thank you very much for letting us all know of your speedy success.

Barclaycard are at present entitled to set off the refund against the outstanding balance, they did this with mine but I was happy with that too.

However, Legal Beagles are at present responding to a consultation issued by the FSA dealing with this very issue regarding the use of set off.

You can read about it and discuss here

IMPORTANT - Right of Set Off - Consultation on BCOBS - respond by 6th Sept

Re: Tools v Barclaycard ( Overlimit / Late Payment Charges ) **Refunded In 9 Days**

Well done you - a fabulous excellent result and another record broken, they soon will be refunding before asked to do so lol

Tuttsi

Another one to thank Tools for the letter. I couldn't believe it but it only took four days!!! Sent the letter first thing monday morning and reply back thursday post. They sent me a print out of charges etc and a refund of just short of £200 so am a happy bunny. Well kind of as they then offset it against the debt balance but that's 200 quid less i have to pay!

[leclerc]

Re: Tools v Barclaycard ( Overlimit / Late Payment Charges ) **Refunded In 9 Days**

Another one to thank Tools for the letter. I couldn't believe it but it only took four days!!! Sent the letter first thing monday morning and reply back thursday post. They sent me a print out of charges etc and a refund of just short of £200 so am a happy bunny. Well kind of as they then offset it against the debt balance but that's 200 quid less i have to pay!

Great news and as you said that is £200 less that you have to pay and only four days so very very good.

[tierisch]

Re: Tools v Barclaycard ( Overlimit / Late Payment Charges ) **Refunded In 9 Days**

Another one to thank Tools for the letter. I couldn't believe it but it only took four days!!! Sent the letter first thing monday morning and reply back thursday post. They sent me a print out of charges etc and a refund of just short of £200 so am a happy bunny. Well kind of as they then offset it against the debt balance but that's 200 quid less i have to pay!

Re: Tools v Barclaycard ( Overlimit / Late Payment Charges ) **Refunded In 9 Days**

Lowry that is fantastic news, great stuff you certainly have broken Tools original record and that is just amazing.

My claim with Barclaycard was just over 3 years ago, it was just about to be heard in court before Barclay Card relented and paid out and that took many months of hard work and preparation of court docs.

Tuttsi x

[Tools]

Re: Tools v Barclaycard ( Overlimit / Late Payment Charges ) **Refunded In 9 Days**

Have just got in and Ame has given me your news Lowry, really pleased for you and thank you for letting everyone know. Have you actually received a refund yet or just a letter confirning they will refund you?

I really hope this helps you out and that it prevents you, and the others who have been successful reclaiming their charges from Barclaycard, incurring any further charges or hardship.

As for the site, it is all the members who contibute help and advise to the site that make it what it is.