Barclays Guaranteed transaction fees

[Estane]

I'm having some issues with guaranteed transaction charges recently been applied to my Barclays current account.

 

First some background : I'm currently in repayment plans with several payday loan companies after a medical diagnosis forced me to suspend my university studies. I was dependent on at least some of the student loan to pay off my outstanding commitments, however a week before it was due to be paid I recieved a letter stating I wouldn't get anything at all. This left me in a position where I would not be able to make interest repayments every month, let alone tackle the debt itself, so repayment plans were the only option.

 

I was able to secure plans with all but one of the lenders, and budgetted my wages accordingly so that I would not go beyond my overdraft at all, however the lender who didn't want to play ball decided to scupper these plans and take money £20 I didnt have anyway.

 

This particular transaction, however, seems to have triggered not 1 but 3 fees. I spoke to Barclays about this immediately upon receiving the letter but they refused to budge. Now that the transactions have cleared properly and I can see exactly what my balance was, I'm trying to reclaim the money.

 

The first fee is for £30 to lender 1. This went out of my account on 21/05, and at the end of that particular working day my balance was -£1456.61. I have a £1500 overdraft facility in place.

 

The following day lender 2 (who wouldn't agree to a payment plan) took two payments, 1 for £40, then another for £20. The same day I also incurred £32 worth of charges. This left me at -£1550.61

 

On my online statement only the £40 payment and the charges themselves are shown to take my account beyond my overdraft limit, which is what I was expecting to pay a fee for. I do not know why, but I have not been sent paper statements in several months.

 

Do I have a case here or should I just sit back and take what they like? If I can't reclaim the money I'll have no choice but to apply for further credit with another lender as I have bills due before my next pay date that I can't quite afford.