Barclaycard closed account

[Alacoque]

Hi,
I’ve had business Barclaycard for about ten years, problem-free until about three months ago (due to well publicised strikes affecting my income).

I’ve been in constant contact with Barclaycard about the situation. I'v been no more than 2 months in arrears on the monthly payments in the last few months and was acutely aware that 3 months of late payments would lead to the closure of the Barclaycard.

I was repeatedly assured by various Barclaycard advisors that if I made a payment by ‘X’, the account would remain open. In fact, I tried to make a cash payment before ‘X’ at a Barclay’s cashpoint but the ‘bill payment’ option was not working (the branch was closed at the time). I attended the bank the next day, the day I had been advised would be the last day before the next bill would be created, i.e., day ‘X’.

I inserted the Barclaycard into the branch’s internal cashpoint to make the payment in cash and the machine ‘retained’ the card.

I spent hours on the phone with Barclaycard immediately after this and was given all sorts of conflicting answers, including that a new card would be reissued. No one told me the card had been cancelled.

I called again the next day, was told that the ’system’ had cancelled my Barclaycard and the decision could not be reversed. I insisted on making a complaint, which was taken by someone so bored and incompetent it was shocking. They informed me someone from Barclaycard would be in touch.

I duly received a call from someone who seemed to reading from a script…..’I’m sorry it’s not the outcome you were hoping for ….etc.’ When I said that I had been following the advice and assurance of Barclaycard advisors, the person just reiterated his script. I insisted that they actually listen to all the conversations I had with the Barclaycard call centre. He reluctantly agreed to and called me back so quickly there is no way anyone listened to the numerous telephone conversations I had with the call centre. He said Barclaycard ‘appreciates I was misadvised’, offered £100 in compensation for the ‘misinformation’ and that the account would remain closed. When I suggested this was entirely unreasonable and Barclaycard was acting in bad faith, he muttered something about the financial ombudsman, followed by ‘I am now terminating this call’.

Dealing with Barclays is like dealing with a brick wall (no offence to brick walls) and I don’t know whether it’s actually worth it to….write to the head of Barclaycard, do something? I mean, it's outrageous for Barclaycard to admit I was badly advised and then penalise me because of their error. They clearly have a record of all my calls and my efforts to pay at the cashpoints.

I’m wondering if it’s worth pursuing - and if it is, what’s the best route (I’ve always found the Ombudsman utterly useless) or if it will just be a big waste of time….?

Thanks in advance for any ideas….

[echat11]

a) Send Barclaycard a Subject Access Request, they will send you all the details on the account. Make sure you get Proof of Postage.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ccess-request/

b) Write a Formal Complaint to the CEO of Barclaycard.

Explain whats happened, why it's 'unfair', the impact on you and what you want them to do about it.

Adam Lishman

Managing Director.

Email it to Adam.Lishman@Barclays.com

Reassess once you get a response from them.

[Alacoque]

ECHAT11, massive thanks for the advice and the info. And for motivation!

[Alacoque]

And one more twist.....a replacement Barclaycard arrived today. Barclays is a shambles.

[echat11]

And one more twist.....a replacement Barclaycard arrived today. Barclays is a shambles.

Something else to include in your complaint. Have you got Barclaycard account?, yes or no, you can't tell from their actions.

[Alacoque]

RE:
Adam Lishman

Managing Director.

Email it to Adam.Lishman@Barclays.com


Hi, my emails to him are bouncing back, saying 'invalid recipient'. I've tried varying the email format (e.g., '.net' and 'co.uk') but no luck. I've done some googling and can't tell whether he's still at Barclays or not. Any intel on this gratefully received....thanks!

[echat11]

Mr. C. S. Venkatakrishnan
Group Chief Executive
cs.venkatakrishnan@barclays.com

[Alacoque]

Aha! Thanks so much!!

[Alacoque]

I got absolutely nowhere with my email to Barclaycard.

I sent them a detailed chronology of how I was failed by Barclays when trying to make a payment at a cashpoint, with cash.

They’ve offered the following compensation:

£100.00 for the time spent on the phone to resolve your issues
£100.00 in respect of the conflicting information given
£100.00 in recognition of the poor service overall
The above is in addition to the £100.00 which has already awarded

And they've STILL closed the account. I cannot understand how they can say I was wrongly advised and not take responsibility for the consequences.

They’ve admitted my account was closed a few hours AFTER I tried to make a payment at the machine in branch where the card was retained. "Whilst we appreciate you were unable to make a payment at branch level to bring your account up to date and prevent account closure, we would not regard this as a valid reason for non-payment as there were other avenues available to you.” There clearly weren’t other ‘avenues' as I was trying to pay in cash.

They have (un)helpfully suggested I pay off the balance and reapply (completely ignoring the information in my email to them) and wondered why I didn’t make a transfer instead (because I had the payment in cash!) or I can arrange a payment plan with collections. Oh, and I should take my complaint to the utterly toothless Financial Ombudsman.

Talk about gaslighting.

I’ll go ahead with an SAR. Is it worth going the CCA route too?

[echat11]

I got absolutely nowhere with my email to Barclaycard.

I sent them a detailed chronology of how I was failed by Barclays when trying to make a payment at a cashpoint, with cash.

They’ve offered the following compensation:

£100.00 for the time spent on the phone to resolve your issues
£100.00 in respect of the conflicting information given
£100.00 in recognition of the poor service overall
The above is in addition to the £100.00 which has already awarded

And they've STILL closed the account. I cannot understand how they can say I was wrongly advised and not take responsibility for the consequences.

They’ve admitted my account was closed a few hours AFTER I tried to make a payment at the machine in branch where the card was retained. "Whilst we appreciate you were unable to make a payment at branch level to bring your account up to date and prevent account closure, we would not regard this as a valid reason for non-payment as there were other avenues available to you.” There clearly weren’t other ‘avenues' as I was trying to pay in cash.

They have (un)helpfully suggested I pay off the balance and reapply (completely ignoring the information in my email to them) and wondered why I didn’t make a transfer instead (because I had the payment in cash!) or I can arrange a payment plan with collections. Oh, and I should take my complaint to the utterly toothless Financial Ombudsman.

Talk about gaslighting.

I’ll go ahead with an SAR. Is it worth going the CCA route too?

a) Do the SAR request.

b) Go through the Barclaycard T's and C's (closing the account is a decision), but what they are saying, the reasons should be in their T's and C's which allows them to do that.

c) Write to Barclaycard quoting the FCA's BCOBS, that banks must 'treat you fairly',

https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/hand...t%20misleading.

d) CCA won't help.

[Alacoque]

Thank you once ECHAT11. Will do as you've suggested. The FCA handbook is interesting reading.....!

[Alacoque]

So, I sent an SAR to Barclaycard. No reply.

They called me incessantly but the line was dead if I answered. They never left a message.

I’ve just received a letter stating ’since we haven’t been able to discuss a repayment solution with you, we’ll be transferring management over to a ‘DCA’ this week’. If I’d like to prevent the transfer then I should call them within 7 days and ‘we’ll do what we can to help’.

I did look up their T&Cs (below) but got lost as to how that could apply to their unfair behaviour toward me, as per the FCA’s BCOBS.

Any ideas on how to deal with all this will be grateful received, many thanks.

9. Closing your account

When you first open your account you can withdraw from this agreement without giving a reason by calling or writing to us within 14 days from the day after you receive your first card. Once you’ve told us you’re withdrawing from this agreement, you’ll have 30 days to pay back anything you’ve spent on your card. If you don’t repay us within 30 days, we may charge interest in line with the terms of this agreement.

This agreement has no fixed term – this means it will continue until you or we decide to close your account. You can close the account by calling or writing to us, and we can close the account by writing to you. Unless we need to close your account immediately, we’ll give you at least two months’ written notice.

We may close your account and require immediate repayment of your total outstanding balance if we reasonably believe that you’ve broken this agreement regularly or seriously. We may also require this from you if:

As a sole trader or partner:

• You die;
• You become bankrupt; or
• You are likely to become bankrupt; or
• As a person or organisation (whether incorporated or not): any step, application or proceeding is taken by you or in respect of all or any part of your undertaking for a voluntary arrangement or composition or reconstruction of your debts, winding up, dissolution, administration or receivership (administrative or otherwise)
  
  We’ll always follow any legal requirements before we close your account.
  
  If you or we close your account, the following will apply:
  • You’ll need to make all payments that are due on your account
  • No further payments will be made from your account so you’ll need to cancel any regular payments and make other
    
    arrangements to pay
  • If you have paid an annual account fee, we will refund a percentage of it based on the number of months which have passed
    
    from the date the fee was added to your account
  • You should destroy all cards.
    
    This agreement will continue until you’ve paid everything you owe, including amounts added to the account after the notice to close. You will be liable for all amounts owed to us under this agreement. If there is more than one of you, you will each be liable individually as well as jointly.
    
    Transferring this agreement
    
    We may transfer to any other person any or all of our rights and duties under this agreement at any time (including, without limitation, our duty to lend to you). We may do this without telling you. Your rights under this agreement and your legal rights (including those under the Consumer Credit Act 1974) will not be affected. You won’t be able to transfer any rights you have against us to anyone else.

[echat11]

Lodge a complaint with the ICO, when you've made a SAR request they should comply within 30 days or tell you that it's going to take longer.

You might have to send a follow up letter, make sure you get Proof of Postage -

https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/ge...happy-with-it/

[Alacoque]

Thank you so much Echat11, will do.

[Alacoque]

The letter received from Barclaycard 'stating ’since we haven’t been able to discuss a repayment solution with you, we’ll be transferring management over to a ‘DCA’ this week’. If I’d like to prevent the transfer then I should call them within 7 days and ‘we’ll do what we can to help’.

The letter arrived NINE days after the date on the letter, making it impossible to call within the 7 day deadline. I spoke to a rude and unhelpful person on the phone number provided as soon as possible, only to be told the account had been passed to the DCA and he refused to discuss the matter further. Completely irrational. He insisted on filing a complaint, though he refused to read the complaint back to me.

The following day, I received a letter from ‘level1helpdesk’, courteous but again complaining they cannot reach me on the phone. I had answered an 0800 call earlier but the line was dead when I answered. The email apologises for ‘unfortunately referring the account’ - it doesn’t address the fact that the letter arrived too late for me to call them and avoid the account being sent to the DCA. They then offer £50 for the distress and inconvenience caused!

The email continues...'Please can I ask that you confirm receipt and understanding of this email, along with agreement of any actions to be taken. Once received I will send you a letter confirming the complaint reference number and details of the Financial Ombudsman Service. Additionally can you also please be aware if we are unable to contact you by 5pm, your complaint will be escalated to our Customer Relations team, who will be in contact in due course.’

Giving me 5 hours to reply. Ridiculous deadline, more pressure.

I emailed and asked for an extension, I needed time to read the email properly. And I asked for a phone number to call them on. No reply. I then emailed again, going through how unfairly I had been treated, quoting from the relevant FCA BCOBs’s clause and asking that the account be withdrawn from the DCA. Nothing back.

I don’t understand how Barclaycard can offer compensation payments (this is one of many) without admitting they’ve behaved incorrectly.

And I'm being bombarded by the DCA - calls, texts, letters. Am I able to write to them and request that they only contact me by post?