Judgement by default, am i the only one? **PAID UP**

[exBarclaysBanker]

After having a current account with Barclays for about 10 years, I had finally had enough in December 04 and switched to First Direct - MUCH better!

Anyway, I saw the link about claiming charges back on moneysavingexpert.co.uk and am interested....
I was charged loads of times for going over my authorised overdraft. Sometimes £75 per week if I was over for 3 days running. The charge was £25 per day. They wouldn't help me get myself out of it by extending my authorised limit either, so i struggled for months with this. I'm guessing they got over £500 out of me. I luckily still have all my old bank statements. With me closing my account a few years ago, I doubt they will be wanting to make any goodwill gestures will they?

[dolly]

Who knows if they will make a goodwill gesture. You have nothing to lose by writing to them asking for your charges back...and so much to gain.

Keep us posted.

[richardc]

You may well have closed the account but you can still claim. Your first step is to send a Data Protection Act request - See FAQs & Library

[exBarclaysBanker]

Sent request for refund of charges letter to Barclays on 10th March, I already had all my copy bank statements so no need for Data Protection Act letter. I was claiming £685 in total.

Received reply 28th March from Head Office Customer Relations (I live outside the UK so it took a few extra days in the post). It was the standard letter I think. But as usual the goodwill gesture refund was for £255, about a third of what I am claiming!

Their letter goes like this.

'I am sorry that you feel the bank charges you have incurred are unfair and amount to a penalty. I note you are claiming a refund of £685 for the period xxx to xxx. In your recent correspondance you have referred to the charges as being unlawful at common law. Statute and recent Consumer regulations. Barclays is aware of all the information you have drawn to our attention. I must inform you however, that we disagree with your legal analysis.

When an account is opened with us, our customer is provided with a copy of the Terms and conditions relating to the use of their a/c including details of our charges. This info clearly explains our obligations to our customers, as well as their obligations to us. If we make any changes to the T&C's we provide details of these to our customers in line with the banking code. Details of our t&c's and charging tarriff can be obtained at any branch or on our web site.

Putting the above to one side, on this occasion and as a gesture of goodwill, I confirm I am willing to refund some of your charges totalling £255. I believe this offer to be fair and resonable. If you would like to accept, please let me know in writing in the pre paid envelope provided. I will then arrange for the payment to be credited to your Barclays First additions account.'

However I closed my account about 2 years ago so they will not be able to refund anything to it.

I am going to respond today with the second letter asking for charges to be refunded in full before I take legal action.

Any advice on this would be appreciated.

[richardc]

Go ahead with the LBA and start preparing you N1 Claim form/

[HD]

Originally Posted by exBarclaysBanker

Sent request for refund of charges letter to Barclays on 10th March, [BOLD]I already had all my copy bank statements so no need for Data Protection Act letter[/BOLD]. I was claiming £685 in total.

Received reply 28th March from Head Office Customer Relations (I live outside the UK so it took a few extra days in the post). It was the standard letter I think. But as usual the goodwill gesture refund was for £255, about a third of what I am claiming!

Their letter goes like this.

'I am sorry that you feel the bank charges you have incurred are unfair and amount to a penalty. I note you are claiming a refund of £685 for the period xxx to xxx. In your recent correspondance you have referred to the charges as being unlawful at common law. Statute and recent Consumer regulations. Barclays is aware of all the information you have drawn to our attention. I must inform you however, that we disagree with your legal analysis.

When an account is opened with us, our customer is provided with a copy of the Terms and conditions relating to the use of their a/c including details of our charges. This info clearly explains our obligations to our customers, as well as their obligations to us. If we make any changes to the T&C's we provide details of these to our customers in line with the banking code. Details of our t&c's and charging tarriff can be obtained at any branch or on our web site.

Putting the above to one side, on this occasion and as a gesture of goodwill, I confirm I am willing to refund some of your charges totalling £255. I believe this offer to be fair and resonable. If you would like to accept, please let me know in writing in the pre paid envelope provided. I will then arrange for the payment to be credited to your Barclays First additions account.'

However I closed my account about 2 years ago so they will not be able to refund anything to it.

I am going to respond today with the second letter asking for charges to be refunded in full before I take legal action.

Any advice on this would be appreciated.

One of the mods, BF I think, advised me to do a Data Protection Act anyway as you can get details of manual interventions that may form part of their defence

[exBarclaysBanker]

Updating as I go....

I posted a letter back to Barclays last Wed 29th March saying that their offer of £255 was not acceptable and I would give them 14 days to offer the full amount before I started legal action.

Reply received within 7 days saying that they are 'sorry that their offer is not acceptable to me but that was their full and final offer. '

So today I take a deep breath and write a letter to my Barlcays contact telling her that i am sorry to say that I have been forced into legal action and am proceding with action today as promised.

Any advice from those who have already progressed to this stage would be greatly appreciated.

I'm concerned about legal costs as I don't have a UK bank account, or any £££'s for that matter. I am living outside the UK. What are the upfront costs with Moneyclaim? And if Barlcays settle out of court, I assume that these costs would not be refunded?

Im so worried that Barlclays are doing something about all these claims behind the scenes and this will all backfire on me.
it would be just my luck.

[charlotte owen]

hello, i am at the same stage as you as i received my letter today saying that £220 was their final offer ! I am going to send them a letter as you have although i am not too sure how to word it saying i am taking them to court. I really don't know how to go about the next stage although i will stick with it too the end !

[kaznelson]

I dont know how you will go about this being outside the UK but if you have a look on the Moneyclaim website they may have some more info for you.

Charlotte, You can inform them you are proceeding with your claim within 7 days and then go straight ahead and enter your claim

All the details are in the FAQ's section.

Good luck

[exBarclaysBanker]

OMG I actually did it. I hit submit and filed a claim with Her Majesty's Court.

I have to say Im a bit scared now......

How are you getting on with yours Charlotte?

[Bookworm]

Well done to you.

Can you pm me your claim details, pls? Claim number, amount claimed, date filed.

Thanks.

[exBarclaysBanker]

I have my own thread already, so im sorry to start a new one...

I just thought it was strange that I am the only person on this forum, from what I can see, who is requesting judgement by default from Barclays. The 28 days passed and they didn't defend. The Moneyclaim site is asking me to fill in warrant of execution details. I'm really quite worried about clicking submit!

What will happen next?

[mahala]

plenty of people have won judgement by default from other banks.

Click the button to get the default judgement. DON'T contact Barclays when you have that judgement - alerting them to it will no doubt see them requesting the judgement be set aside (as Abbey does each time). Apply for the Warrant of Execution and get your money that way.

[jayne67]

Hi
Sorry to sound a bit dumb, but what happens when a judgement is set aside?

[Movingon]

When a judgement is made, if the defendant says "Oy! We didn't know about this!" or "Oy! We have a defence and didn't get a chance!" or "Oy! We have new evidence just at the last minute!" they can apply to the court for the judgement to be "Set aside" - which actually means that everyone has to go to court all over again because the first judgement effectively didn't happen.

[funkyparott]

I started another post elsewhere where I asked about personal service of summons. Severeal people stated it was not worth me doing and littered with pitfalls.

In view of the judgements banks are getting set aside, would personal service of summons be the way to go ?? Surely, once you served the papers you could get a signature on some form of certificate of service. That way, the banks couldn't use the old 'we never received the summons' BS.

FP

[jayne67]

Thanks for that, just wondered what happened. (especially since Abbey was mentioned). Cheers.

[CrispDust]

So exbarclaysbanker, update us, what happened, did you get judgement by default?