Barclays Partner Finance - Penalty Charge Reclaim Attempt Newbie

[davetherave87]

Hi guys.

 

I have taken the time today to come to my senses and attempt to arrange all of my finances once and for all...

 

I will create a separate thread, in the relevant section for each creditor.

 

For now though, I currently have an ongoing debt with Barclays Partner Finance, this was previously Clyesdale Financial until BPF took over.

 

I have a remaining balance of £314.77 and currently paying back at £1 per month due to my previous job coming to an end

and now in receipt of JSA. £1 a month is all I can afford to make at this moment in time.

 

I have never ever thought of the previous charges on this account until coming across the statements again today.

 

Date of first movement on this account was 28 Jun 2006.

 

I used the spreadsheet template to tally up the charges applied to this day a

nd using the interest rate on the agreement,

would see me only having to pay back a few pounds before cleared..

. however using the 24.9% rate, BPF would then owe me money it would seem.

 

I tried to access the prelim charges letter as I was hoping to integrate the hardship status I am currently in also.

. but I dont seem to be able to access anywhere.

 

Please can anyone help me, to advise as to which route I should go down with charges and how to approach given my current financial situation.

 

Thanks in advance.

davetherave87

[dx100uk]

put in a std claim link 3

 

 

follow the shelly thread too

[dx100uk]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?309037-Charges-older-than-6-years-***WON***-Compound-Int-t-and-**NO-SET-OFF**(1-Viewing)-nbsp

[slick132]

Hi Dave,

 

You should use a compound int't spreadsheet and you can either use the loan contractual rate, or a nominal rate of 24.9% which Barclays Litigation tend to pay after court action is taken against them.

 

Spready is here - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=34010&d=1330899255

 

[davetherave87]

Slick and DX, thank you - I will prepare the documents to send off. I do feel more encouraged about the court cases that have been won when using the nominal rate of interest. My agreement interest rate was 12.9% per year since 2006.

 

Using this interest rate, the total to be refunded would be £339.86, made up of £202.58 in charges and £137.28 in interest.

 

Using the higher interest rate, the total would be £551.45 (£348.87 compound interest)

 

Does this mean the latter would not only clear the remaining balance of £374 but then require BPF to refund the difference to me?

 

I am using the prelim approach letter, not including the default notice, but I am including my current financial situation as I am living on £71 benefit a week

 

-Davetherave87

[slick132]

Hi Dave,

 

To get them to refund any amount, you will most likely have to take court action. So you may as well use 24.9% nominal rate to claim restitutionary interest.

 

Forget your current financial situation as this will not influence a claim that includes compound interest.

 

As the reported default balance includes penalty charges, you could ask for the adverse CRA data to be removed. However, if this is only one of several debts, I can understand why you're not that bothered.

 

You should aim to get a full refund of the charges plus compound interest, less the balance outstanding at the time.

 

[davetherave87]

Well after sending the letter, which has been received,

 

so far all BPF have done is ring ring ring on there 0844 complaints number

- I have not answered a single call,

 

I will continue to wait for there reply by post.

 

If there is no letter do I go straight to the LBA letter,

 

or word it so it seems like im giving them benefit of the doubt,

 

give them 14 more days,

 

but then to treat that letter as letter before action,

 

if they dont act on it?

 

im confused

[slick132]

If 14 days have passed since the Prelim Letter, it's time for the LBA.

 

Update the spreadsheet to give the new higher interest figure, use that in the same letter with the LBA heading.

 

[davetherave87]

If 14 days have passed since the Prelim Letter, it's time for the LBA.

 

Update the spreadsheet to give the new higher interest figure, use that in the same letter with the LBA heading.

 

 

 

Cheers Slick!

 

-D

[davetherave87]

Recieved reply from BPF and they have stated that they will not uphold my complaint however as a gesture of goodwill they will remove six default sum charges @ 22.50 each.

 

They then go on to say that no interest was made on these charges as interest was applied at the start of the agreement.

 

Having used the compound interest calculator, the total charges they say they will remove only total £135 where as you will notice from previous post, i was trying claim more than that...

 

Any thoughts? do i reject totally and proceed with LBA?

 

BTW. hope you all had a cracking christmas

 

Regards.

Dave

[slick132]

Hi Dave,

 

Just for my own interest, can you confirm how you arrive at the figure of £202.58 for charges. I'd have expected the figure to be a multiple of £22.50, like £202.50.

 

Their comment about interest applied at the start of the loan is irrelevant. You will claim restitutionary interest which has nothing to do with what interest you actually paid them.

 

Ultimately, the choice is yours but I suspect you should proceed and file the court claim, to get back all charges plus restitutionary interest at 24.9%.

 

[davetherave87]

Hi Dave,

 

Just for my own interest, can you confirm how you arrive at the figure of £202.58 for charges. I'd have expected the figure to be a multiple of £22.50, like £202.50.

 

Their comment about interest applied at the start of the loan is irrelevant. You will claim restitutionary interest which has nothing to do with what interest you actually paid them.

 

Ultimately, the choice is yours but I suspect you should proceed and file the court claim, to get back all charges plus restitutionary interest at 24.9%.

 

 

 

Hi Slick,

 

Right, upon first glance at the charges etc, there was a direct debit payment of £25.08 which got returned, but looked like it came under as a charge, BPF explained what that 22.08 actually was in the letter.

 

So the total penalty charge is actually £202.50, this will be fired off in a revamped spreadsheet with the full 24.9% applied I think.

 

Obviously there was a sum of interest applied upon opening the line of credit, if this has nothing to do with me claiming then is this simply a tactic they are trying in the hope I will just accept there initial goodwill offer?

 

Regards,

Dave

[slick132]

Re the interest being front-loaded, Barclays are right - no interest was applied to the penalty chgs made against you. But you are not claiming back any interest they charged you. If you file a court claim, the folk at Barclays litigation will understand about restitutionary interest even if BPF don't.

 

You now have to decide whether to proceed and file the court claim, or not.

 

If you want to proceed, I would go ahead without bothering about a new LBA. If the discrepancy is only £0.58p, proceed with filing the claim once you have sorted your POC's properly.

 

[davetherave87]

Received another reply from BPF today and it seems they are not budging on anything nor have they taken into account that the total figure they have removed isnt even the full charge amount. I never accepted or agreed them removing "some" of the charges as a full settlement to my complaint, they have just done it anyway...

 

"""Thank you for your recent letter dated.... I am sorry I have not been able to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction.

 

I have looked into your case and im afraid I will not be able to agree with your claim for £334.78 (£157.50 in charges + £177.28 interest)

 

As stated in my previous letter, I have removed all default charges totalling £135.00 from your account. This has now meant that all charges have been removed from your account.

 

I am unable to agree with your request for a refund of the interest fees that have been applied to these charges as I can confirm no interest has been applied to these amounts. I have enclosed a statement of your account to show the charges that have been removed """

 

 

First of all, I did not state in my letter I am trying to claim interest applied to any charges as I know there wasnt any interest applied to these charges, I simply attached a spreadsheet, with the 24.9% applied to the whole amount as restitutionary interest.

 

This letter was a response to my LBA. I have not agreed with them that simply by removing charges the case is settled, I thought I would be able to claim interest also.

 

Can someone please advise as the letter before action has already been sent, if the interest amount was also refunded or removed, this would clear my debt entirely.

 

This would be my first attempt at issuing a claim through the court, what do i do now?

 

Dave x

[slick132]

Hi Dave,

 

If they have now refunded all penalty chgs from your a/c, that's good but you are still entitled to seek restitutionary int't from the bank if you wish.

 

You will have to take court action and you'll have gathered from other threads how this may progress.

 

Barclays will defend and probably only negotiate and settle once a date is set for a final hearing. You'll have to pay out all the required court fees (unless remission applies) but you'll get these back if you win.You'll probably have to prepare court bundles ready to File and Serve to the court and the bank.

 

My concern is that they have now refunded all the chgs, leaving restitutionary int't as the only remaining cause of action. If, unusually, Barclays Litigation decided to defend, a judge may not agree that resitutionary int't is payable, particularly becuase int't was not paid by you on the chgs.

 

The choice must be yours and, if you decide to proceed, we'll offer all the support we can. However, my inclination is to accept the refund and just work on repaying the rest of the a/c to clear it.

 

[davetherave87]

Hi Slick,

 

I really appreciate your response and the heads up into the inner workings surrounding a court case if i decided to pursue.

 

I will take a day or two to consider my options.

 

Dave x

[slick132]

Very sensible and we'll be here when you come back............

 

[davetherave87]

Hi guys,

 

its been a good while since we were last here..

 

but a check on my noodle credit report shows that these slimey **** bags have registered another default notice on 27th Febuary 2014.

 

this comes literally a month or so after refunding those charges...

 

what can i do? as this would suggest another 6 years from that new default date? is is a new default or are they simply putting a new date on the old one?

 

any help would be VERY helpful.

 

regards

David

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Hi guys,

 

its been a good while since we were last here..

 

but a check on my noodle credit report shows that these slimey **** bags have registered another default notice on 27th Febuary 2014.

 

this comes literally a month or so after refunding those charges...

 

what can i do? as this would suggest another 6 years from that new default date? is is a new default or are they simply putting a new date on the old one?

 

any help would be VERY helpful.

 

regards

David

 

 

 

Hi David,

 

 

If this debt has been defaulted previously (if so when?) then a new default cannot be placed One debt/ One default /One Default Date.

 

 

Are sure this is not just the date the file was last updated?

[slick132]

Hi Dave,

 

Am I right in saying the a/c balance before the penalty charges were refunded was approx £374; and the refund applied to the a/c was £135 ?

 

In which case, over 35% of the balance owed was made up of unlawful penalty charges. Hence the figure reported as the default sum is inaccurate and must be at least be amended, if not removed entirely.

 

If they play hard-to-get, it may be that court action seeking charges, restitutionary interest AND the removal of associated adverse CRA data may be worth the risk.