Barclays Overdraft & Missed Payment Charges

[mb018538]

Hi Guys,Sorry if this has been asked a million times before - which i'm sure it has.

 

I have a graduate additions account with Barclays which stems back from my University days. I have a £2,000 overdraft limit on the account.

 

 

I got myself into a horrendous mess with a credit card, a loan and lots of payday loans.

....all of which inevitably led to me getting into massive trouble.

 

 

Barclays kindly decided to add a £150 'reserve' onto my account some time ago, which meant every time i went 1p into it, they would fine me £22.

For every 5 working days I was in this reserve, I'd get fined another £22.

 

They would also fine me £8 for every bounced direct debit etc.

This spiralled so badly that I was maxed into this reserve for ages, paying £100+ a month in fees, and £30-£40 a month in bounced transactions.

 

 

Therefore I was over £250 in extra debt every month, and on my wage just couldnt afford to dig myself out of the hole with all my other debt too,

so the cycle just repeated itself over and over.

 

I felt unbelievably depressed around this time, and thought about some horrible things.

Thankfully, my other halfs parents helped me out massively and lent me £250 to pay this stupid reserve off, and I cancelled it,

paying them back in afordable bits for the next 6 months.

 

 

From owing nearly £9000 to around 12 different companies, I now owe just under £3,000 to 3,

and am determined to clear my debt, get myself sorted and NEVER do anything so stupid again.

 

Is there anything I can do with regard to claiming anything back?

I'm sure Barclays will just say it was in their terms blah blah, but I never asked for the reserve,

and had so much money leaking from my account at the time, I probably just went into it immediately without a blink.

 

 

After my rent, bills, phone, car etc had been taken out of my wages, I was left with about £400 a month to live.

 

 

Over £100 went to Barclays in charges, and most of the rest to various debtors, leaving me broke the day I ad been paid.

There is nothing more depressing than working 45 hours a week for a month to be left with nothing!

 

I'm sorry there aren't any spaces - my computer keeps condensing my text into a huge block. Help!

Edited February 24, 2015 by Andyorch
Paras added

[Andyorch]

Hi mb018538

 

Firstly you need to quantify all their charges..this is done by requesting a DSAR (data subject access request)..if not already done here is the the template...follow the instructions.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?387306-Full-Subject-Access-Request-**Updated-January-2015**

 

Once you have all the totals to hand then you need to read the process others have followed.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[mb018538]

Thanks for your helpful reply!

 

 

This may sound stupid, but can you not just go into Barclays and ask them for statements going back to say 2010?

 

 

Will they not provide those for me?

 

 

What exactly can I expect to receive by requesting a DSAR?

[Andyorch]

Yes but it will cost you an arm and a leg...the fee for DSAR is £10 and will supply all data in connection with the account.

[mb018538]

Thanks again! I assumed it was too easy to just pop down the bank and get a print out.

 

 

Seems I was right to even dare think the banks would help you in any way.

 

 

Looks like I will have to pursue the SAR route and take it from there.

 

 

By my reckoning they took somewhere between £500-£1000 from me in just a few months..

 

 

..this coupled with all the extra PDLs etc I took out to keep myself above water,

 

 

hopefully I've got a reasonable chance of something.

[Andyorch]

Get your data...quantify all the charges...and we can take it to the next level.

[slick132]

Hi Mb,

 

The SAR to Barclays should get you all data for any Barclays bank a/c, loan a/c or credit card a/c held within the Barclays Group.

 

You can reclaim all credit card or loan a/c fees from Barclays or other lenders.

 

Reclaiming default charges on a bank current a/c is far more difficult. It's one thing to get the bank to stop adding interest or default charges when you're in Financial Difficulty. But getting them to refund is very rare.

 

Use the time waiting for the SAR replies to read up on reclaiming bank loan and credit card penalty fees.