@barclaycard Barclaycard Missed Payment & Fees

[Wooks001]

Hi Guys,

 

Missed a payment 3 months ago so they charged interest and the missed payment fee.

Adding the fee took me over my credit limit so they added another fee for being over limit.

There is no way I'm going to be able to make a full payment for ages, and a letter today says:-

 

"You'll continue to be charged fees each time you miss a payment or go over your credit limit."

 

Is there any kind of legal ruling regarding fees charged, because if they are going to keep adding them I don't see any point in even trying to make a payment.

 

Thanks

 

Andy

[fkofilee]

Hi Andy

 

Have you considered making a formal complaint against these charges. You might find it more advantageous to engage in writing with them as they may decided to remove the charges to help you out?

We can help if need be by advising where to send it to etc

[Wooks001]

Thank you for the reply.

I haven't contacted them since I was unable to make the payment.

If I can potentially re-claim the charges then they must be unfair in the first place.

My credit limit is £650, so to me that is the most I can owe the bank, it is their charges that took me over the limit.

I can't do this myself as the transaction would be refused, so why can they do this.

They are currently adding over £40 pm in charges and interest on those charges.

[fkofilee]

Wooks...

 

The CONC Sourcebook states they must treat you fairly as a customer, but also must do the maximum to help you if you are in financial difficulties...

Its a downhill spiral. So tell us more about it. What happened for you to miss a payment?

[slick132]

Hi Wooks,

 

Can you tell us - when you missed the pay't 3 months ago was this is the first time you missed or paid late.

 

If not, when was the last time you previously defaulted.

 

[Wooks001]

Thanks for the reply.

One of my dogs is ill, she is quite old (15) so maybe there is nothing they can do but I have to try.

Blood tests in the morning will hopefully diagnose the problem, I've borrowed the money from family so I need to pay them back first.

 

A while ago I appealed against a charge (2 days late) and customer service was appalling to say the least, it took months to get a reply but they did eventually refund the charge and paid compensation for their appalling service. I don't know if they would refund the charges again, but it is not going to be simple or quick.

[slick132]

Hi Wooks,

 

I wish you the very best with your dog.

 

You've not really answered the Q's asked in my last post - please do so.

 

Generally speaking, if you've had a clean payment record over the last 12 months, they'll refund a default fee if you ring and ask nicely.

 

However, if you fail to pay what you need each month, your CRA files will be damaged for the next 6 years. So you need to decide who you should pay as your priority - your rellies or BC.

 

[Wooks001]

Probably not explaining things very well.

 

Until 3 months ago I had only been 2 days late on one payment, fee refunded as explained.

 

I don't know when this was,

I'll try to find the paperwork.

 

I've currently missed 3 payments, fees are £24 pm.

[slick132]

If this is short-term, you can keep paying the default fees until you're back on your feet.

 

To get them back, you'll have to threaten BC with court action and follow that through if necessary. It's a relatively simple process that hundreds of others have done here before.

 

If you go to BC now claiming hardship, they may stop adding charges and interest so you can reduce the balance over time. But they'll close the a/c which, again, will look bad on your CRA files.

 

[Wooks001]

Had a letter this morning, BC are passing the account to Wescot to act on their behalf and ask me to contact them.

BC have already acknowledged that my preferred method of contact is email, so will have to wait and see if there are phone calls etc.

I've been reading the template letters re hardship etc, and searching the forum for the same.

Doesn't look easy to re-claim the charges, but I'm considering sending an email to Wescot stating my current I&E and asking them to refund the charges and stop adding interest.

My main problem is that I simply cannot afford to make minimum payments, but if they will do as I ask it gives me something to aim for.

[slick132]

Hi Wooks.

 

You need to do this the right way to get the best result you can.

 

Your first task should be to use a letter saying your in financial difficulty and, to assist you, you'd like BC to put a temp stop on all default fees and interest. Letter in our Library.

 

As soon as you're back on your feet and able to make payments, you can tell BC you require a refund of the default fees. They'll probably refuse but, if you take court action, you'll get the fees back plus compound interest if you stick to your guns.

 

[Wooks001]

Thanks for the help everyone.

My version of the Hardship letter from the library has been emailed to Wescot.

Have to wait and see how it goes.

[slick132]

Hi Wooks,

 

Let us know how they reply ..............