Barclays refusing to honour a complaint settlement. ***RESOLVED***

[locco lady]

Hi Everyone I just hope some one has some ideas about my situation which began in May 2008 with the Barclays/Woolwich.

 

They offered me a settlement of a complaint after us all agreeing 60 pages of figures and head office agreeing

and now they say they made a mistake and their offer if settlement is not legal.

 

I had two mortgages with them one a joint repayment monthly offset,

the other,

solely in my name and interest only buy to let mortgage.

 

I wanted to re-mortgage the B2Let with UCB what in effect happened was Barclays/Woolwich redeemed the wrong one ie the residential.

 

I was alerted to this by Barclays returning my mortgage payment to the residential mortgage and telling me I was in errears on the B2Let.

 

When I told them their mistake they refused to re-instate everything.

 

I went through the rest of 2008 paying 2 mortgages on the buy to let as different departments were looking into it and I was worried about my credit rating.

In 2009 a conclusion to my complaint was I had no case and they doubted if I could get another residential mortgage with them.

 

Then I contacted the land registery to be told Barclays didn't have a charge on either property!

When I told Barclays this they refused to believe me but when they saw it was true their was a deathly hush. I, yet again, was doing the decent honest thing.

 

To cut to 2012

 

I contacted after many letters calls etc Bob Diamonds office they agreed Barclays had behaved badly offered a settlement and now say they have given me an unrealistic expectation.

 

Any thoughts would be great.

Edited July 21, 2012 by citizenB
formatting

[citizenB]

Hello and welcome to CAG,

 

I have put some spacing into your post to make it easier to read and also moved you to the Barclays Bank forum, where you will receive some assistance as soon as possible.

[locco lady]

Thanks... I had so much more but didn't want to bombard everyone....I am at the end of my tether but now think they may have contravened a BCOB guide line by offering me an unrealistic expectation.(This was their words)

[citizenB]

I contacted after many letters calls etc Bob Diamonds office they agreed Barclays had behaved badly offered a settlement and now say they have given me an unrealistic expectation.

 

Were both these statements in writing ?

[slick132]

Hi Loco,

 

As CitB says, we need to know if Barclays confirmed the settlement offer in writing by letter or email.

 

Anything discussed by phone may count for little or nothing unless you have the calls recorded.

 

Have the FOS been involved at all and, if so, did they draw any conclusions.

 

[locco lady]

Thank you both for your replies. Yes they put the offer of settlement in writing with an attached calculation explaining what they were going to do. Before this, we had a conference call with the mortgage team Kim Amos and Graham Neal who tried to explain the 62 pages of figures they sent previously. Graham Neal confirmed on the phone to myself and my joint mortgage holder what the settlement figure was. We asked them to put it in writing to head office FAO Abby Fry who was dealing with our complaint. She then sent the settlement to us which we returned on 27th May 2012 it went to the mortgage team on 1st June 2012 on 20th July they rang to say they had made a mistake.

The FOS said it could take a few years to deal with complaint as they were inundated with PPI etc. Maybe the BCOB as suggested by people on the forum may be the way to go. So far, I think Barclays have broken at least 5 banking codes but I expect I will need legal advise on that, which is expensive. Barclays have told me some calls are taped I would like to get these and my file maybe?

[locco lady]

Yes the settlement offer was in writing with attached reconciliation as to how they were going to implement the settlement.

[locco lady]

Yes settlement in writing but just telephoned to say they made a mistake . I have asked for this in writing and they responded verbally by asking to reach a setllement over the phone but they didn't want to offer something that was derisory. i said I wanted what they offered originally but they responded it wasn't legally binding.

ps I hope I am replying correctly in the correct places as I haven't done this before !

[citizenB]

Yes, you have responded in the correct place.

 

Ok.. you can in fact send a Subject Access Request to Barclayshark.

 

The request is for ALL information in respect of your financial dealings with them.. but you must also add any specifics such as...

 

Telephone conversations. You will want transcripts of any telephone conversations between you and Barclayshark. You might have to give them the dates the calls you are interested in took place.

 

Aside from that, you require ALL information in respect of any and all accounts held in your name.

 

There is a draft SAR request in the CAG library and you will need to send £10.00 with the request. They have 40 calendar days to comply.

[slick132]

Hi Loco,

 

To put matters into perspective, can you give us brief details of :-

 

1. What the settlement offer was.

 

2. Has the BTL mortgage been redeemed and refinanced via UCB or another lender.

 

3. Has the joint mortgage been reinstated in a manner acceptable to you and your joint borrower.

 

[locco lady]

The BTL has been rectified with Barclays agreeing they should have lifted this in may 2008 they have lifted their registered interest in this property and paid across some of the extra payments I made to it (although not all). I have asked for interest on this money but they refused this. Regarding the joint mortgage they suddenly chased us for arrears over the 4 years even though they denied this mortgage was in existence and sent back payments. We have always asked for everything to be put back to were it was when Barclays closed it in error.

In their letter of complaint acceptance they put

"In order to comply with your required resolution,i.e. that the account be put into the position it would be now if the error hadn't taken place,the second scenario explained by Graham and with the enclosed calculations,is the option thaat meets this requirement.

We will require written acceptance of your proposed resolution:please find acceptance form to be returned to me in the prepaid envelope provided.

The Bank will apply the required amount(£56,338.07) to the account as a part-redemption payment.

You will be responsible for maintaining the account on the agreed basis,i.e. capital repayment terms.

The monthly repayment that would maintain the account would be approx £854 but following the part-redemption of the account a Repayment Notice would be issued confirming the actual ammount due.

A further £500 will be paid to you,in recognition of the stress and inconvenience you have suffered.

I trust this clarifies the outstanding questions you had, and upon receipt of the enclosed settlement form, we will be able to bring this matter to a satisfactory resolution. Signed Abigail Fry Customer Relations Manager."

On the compalint acceptance form it said

" This is to confirm,in full and final settlement of this complaint,that we would like the bank to reconcile the mortgage account as per proposal two in the calculations sent with Abigail Fry's letter,dated 11May, and the offer of £500.00 for the stress and inconvenience cause."

 

We both signed this in front of a witness and Barclays Debbie Burland confirmed they had received it and sent it to be actioned by the Mortgage Team on June 1st 2012.

Hope this helps I can send the calculation if required.

[slick132]

Hi Loco,

 

Re my Q 2 above, am I right in thinking the BTL mgge remains with Barclays and this matter is settled except for the query about how much of the "extra payments" they've allocated to it.

 

Re the Joint Mgge, in my opinion when you signed the settlement agreement drafted by them, a contract was set in place whereby both parties (lender and borrowers) were bound by the terms of that agreement. I cannot see how they can now renage on it.

 

I have asked for this in writing and they responded verbally by asking to reach a setllement over the phone but they didn't want to offer something that was derisory. i said I wanted what they offered originally but they responded it wasn't legally binding.

 

Again, in my opinion, I think it is legally binding.

 

In fact, they have telephoned you about this but have failed to write, setting out why they now think the agreement is either wrong and/or invalid.

 

Have you received the £500 offered in compensation.

 

It looks like you now have to take this matter forward by pushing them to accept the settlement agreement is binding. I'd write to Barclays HQ again (Recorded Delivery) saying something like:-

 

Dear sir or madam,

 

Formal Complaint

 

I refer to the ongoing saga concerning my mortgages which has been dealt with by Abigail Fry, Customer Relations Manager.

 

We signed the settlement agreement on xxdate and this was sent on to the Mortgage Team for action on 1st June.

 

I have since been telephoned on xxdate by [Mr(s) Xxxxx of] the Mortgage Team who told me the offer made in the settlement agreement was wrong and that it was not legally binding. I asked this to be confirmed in writing but this has not happened. I was only contacted by phone and told they want to reach a different settlement agreement by phone.

 

After all the negotiations that went into reaching the settlement agreement, I am angry and astounded that someone has now decided they want to alter what was agreed. As far as we are concerned, the agreement which we signed is legally binding on Barclays.

 

Furthermore, I/we have still not received the £500 payment which Barclays agreed to pay in compensation. The way matters are going, I may be seeking an increase in compensation for the way in which the Mortgage Team have compounded the problems, instead of finally sorting them.

 

I require this matter to be properly investigated again and I expect a full response within 14 days.

 

Failing this, I will take further advice with a view to legal action against Barclays using the BCOB Regulations seeking proper compensation.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Please let me have your answers to my queries before sending off this letter.

Edited July 24, 2012 by slick132

[locco lady]

Thanks for all your help.

To answer your queries . The B2L mortgage is with UCB home loans who took it over in May 2008 and put a first charge on the property. It remains with them. We haven't received the £500.00 compensation. However;after another telephone conversation with the bank yesterday they said they would write to us this week with an alternative settlement figure.

[slick132]

Hi Loco,

 

I have slightly amended the letter suggested above.

 

Regardless of the promise that they'd write this week with an alternative offer, I'd send off the letter to Head Office anyway, for two reasons :-

 

1. The bank may delay writing to you and their behaviour so far gives you no reason to have confidence in their promise to do anything.

 

2. You have already reached a settlement and signed an agreement. Unless the alternative settlement offer is more advantageous to you, why should you even consider it.

 

That's my opinion anyway.

 

[locco lady]

Hello All, Just a quick update and a big thanks for all the help so far.

I have had another offer sent by email and the original is in the post for my consideration. It is less than before but with a £1,500.00 increase on the payment for stress and inconvenience.

I will keep you all posted

[slick132]

Hi Loco and please do keep us posted.

 

Did you send off the letter as I suggested or did you decide to wait first ?

 

[locco lady]

I decided to wait until the letter from the bank arrives and I reach an agreement with my joint mortgage holder who has been dragged into this. I will keep you updated!

[locco lady]

Just to thank everyone for their help . Writing on this forum made all the difference as Barclays told me they read the posts. I did settle for a lower offer as my joint mortgagee had had enough stress. I wanted to prolong the fight to get them to stick to their original settlement but after 4 years of getting no where I caved in!!! This time their settlement came through as detailed.

[citizenB]

It is an absolute disgrace that a company the size of B/Shark would not honour an agreement that they made in writing.

 

We have many experiences from other B/shark victims who have shared their story of simply being "worn" down into accepting a lesser amount. I am sorry to see that they have claimed another.

 

However, you are now free from the stress and you can finally get your lives back on track Well done for sticking with it this far.

[citizenB]

Did you receive the compensation of £500.00 or did they renege on that as well ?

[slick132]

Hi LoccoLady,

 

We are always disappointed when the bank's poor behaviour results in them getting a better result than they should.

 

However, what is far more important is that this is now over. You can move on and leave all the stress and hassle behind.

 

So I'm please for you and your joint mortgagee !!

 

Title changed to show this as **resolved** !

 

[locco lady]

Thanks again for all the support.