thanks for the response. I did a bit more searching after posting and found some more info on it. Luckily i'm able to cash in some shares which have just passed the 3 year deadline of the holding period i had to wait before i could sell them and pay off what i owe so once that comes through i'm closing my account with barclays and moving to an account and won't be getting another overdraft or any more credit, it's more trouble than it's worth!! However, i guess my issues with is more to do with the actual legality of them being able to apply this to my account without my consent. I don't feel them sending letters and just doing it is acceptable, irregardless of if they have sent letters, or advertised it. Especially as if they wouldn't give me an extension of my overdraft for £50 to clear it, then giving me basically an extra £500. I've had problems in the past with their overdraft charges and have a claim in about that, but it seems they brought this system in to be able to keep charging people silly amounts for something that most people won't have wanted. Smacks of irresponsible lending to me. Plus with only finding out you can opt out and not incur any charges after speaking to their complaints department (even though it says you can opt out on their website, it doesn't make it clear that you can do this whilst in your reserve and then pay back x amount a month to clear it) isn't exactly plain english documentation about what they are doing to my account. Plus i've been told different things by different people about it, which makes me think that Barclays themselves don't really understand it. I do wish this was for a nominal amount as i'd still fight it, as i don't think that it's exactly legal for them to do. Unfortunately i've asked them on serveral occasions if i could increase my overdraft or to extend my loan to clear it, which they wouldn't do because i was in this reserve, even though my credit rating is good. No other lenders would give me a loan either, because of the reserve thing. But as they have given me an extra £500 on the provisio that they can charge me stupid amounts isn't treating me fairly at all. Like i've said i have asked for my charges back and will keep fighting this until they have refunded me, as it's something that i feel they have acted irresponsibly about. It will probably not come to anything, but i might as well try.

Hi Guys, Just found this forum as i've currently come into dispute with Barclays over their personal reserve [problem] they're trying to pull and since i'm guessing you guys will know way more about it than i do i wanted to ask a couple of questions. Basically i'm in the process of claiming back my fees going back a few months for going into this reserve. Apparently i should have received a letter about this when they first brought it in telling me about it, which i never received. The first i really knew about it was when i received a letter from them saying i had gone into said reserve and had started charging me for it. So i spoke to my branch who said they could do nothing about it. At the time they wouldn't convert it into my overdraft to stop me incurring anymore charges. So i had to leave it and i ended up at my limit pretty quickly, which is £500. I've also got an overdraft of £500 so every month i owe them £1,000, i get paid just over a grand a month after tax and my rent it £425 a month (sucks living by yourself!) so usually once my rent is paid and council tax i'm straight back into it and incurring about £100 a month in charges, plus having bills returned as they're not being paid and incurring more charges. My questions are about the legallity of this reserve. As they don't have my explicit consent to have added this to my account, as i believe opting everyone in to this scheme (especially as they wouldn't even increase my overdraft by £50, so how can they give me bascially another £500 unless it's to be able to claim charges from me) without actually asking them doesn't add up to explicit consent. Relying on people getting letters about it isn't good enough as you'd have to expect a percentage not reaching people. So can they actually do this?? if i take them to court would this stand up or would the fact they they just wrote me a letter suffice?? I'd hope that it wouldn't, but you never know. I feel this could be brought up under the Banking Code as the documentation and way they went about doesn't come under the 'plain english' part of said Code Also, i only found out AFTER i submitted a formal complaint that i can 'opt out' of the reserve at anytime to stop me incurring any further charges. This is after i have had a woman from their financial review team try and push a 'financial hardship' loan on me. Not once did she mention i could have opted out and set up a repayment plan (which i'd have done when the amount i owed was about £42 in said reserve). Since they don't make this clear at all (and having to find this out by making a formal complaint) certainly doesn't fall under the rules set out in The Banking Code and also falls very short of the Treating Customers Fairly the FSA are really into Banks following (and according to Alex Viall, Barclays regulatory compliance director something that Barclays are supposed to take seriously) So, i've asked for my fees to be refunded, i doubt i'll get anywhere, but i believe this is a different to the unfair overdraft charges thing that is going on and as such shouldn't be treated as such, especially as Barclays have fallen short on providing clear, fair information and advice. I'd like to know other peoples thoughts, ideas, experiences on this. I've searched through a couple of pages of posts before registering but didn't see much on this. Apologies if i'm being a bit blind on this!