Barclay card - wrong defult, lowered limit - refuse to raise

[2ltr16valve]

Hi all,

 

Asking this on behalf of my brother.... bear with me

 

 

Brother got a b card around Jan 09... with a £800 limit. Limit was never gone over and the monthly payment was always at least £150... even though min amount would of been around £20.

 

Come June 09 and brother pays £300 off card to bring balance down to £500.... then he gets a letter in the post stating that they have reviewed his limit and lowered this to £500 ! So just taken £300 off him then lowered the limit to the new amount, the letter said that this was due to information on his credit record.

 

He checks his credit record as he is up to date on all his accounts to find that experian has put a default on his account.... that is for his wife.... they both have the same first name with a different spelling... and clearly the same last name...

 

He gets onto the credit report company and they admit that it should not be on there, send him a letter to confirm removal.

 

Brother contacts B.C... and they refuse to raise his limit back to what it was at the start of the account...! Even though he has proven to them this was not his default ..... They have also refused to allow him to withdraw cash now also... All they have offered is to give him longer on his 0% interest for purchases on the card... now that was nice of them seeing as he has no avail balance, so would have to pay yet more off to use it... so he would just buy it cash !!!

 

Where does he stand with this ?

 

 

Cheers all

[rebel11]

Hi 2lt,

 

I'm sure your brother is entitled to compensation for having the default

wrongly registered on his account. Your brother can put in a complaint

to the FOS, all the facts are in his favour, I can't see the FOS cocking this up thats the only reason I would refer it to them. Write a letter

to Barclaycard telling them you are going to refer the matter to the

FOS if they don't reinstate his credit limit, tell them the FOS will charge

them £500 for looking into the matter.

 

Someone will tell you how to claim compensation for a wrongly registered

default. You have all the facts in your brothers favour.

[slick132]

Hi 2ltr,

 

I think the FOS would do nothing useful in this case.

 

The ICO may be the more relevant authority to complain to.

 

I see 2 separate issues here:-

 

1. The registering of wrong info against YB's name, which should be corrected by the bank or DCA that reported it to the CRA. He could seek compensation for this, particularly if there were consequential and quantifiable losses - eg he had to take a loan at a higher interest rate because of the adverse CRA markers.

 

The case of Richard Durkin v DRG Retail and HFC Bank was an example although an appeal by DRG and HFC was successful last month so check the appeal as well, and not just the original ruling.

 

The other case to see is Kpohraror v Woolwich Bldg Society.

 

In reality though, taking legal action against Barclays for this could be expensive and risky.

 

2. YB could argue that BC were wrong to drop the credit limit, if this was based upon incorrect CRA data. However, BC may well argue that their decision was taken with regard to other lending criteria and not just the CRA info.

 

It would be hard to argue otherwise but a SAR to BC may reveal info about why BC dropped the credit limit.

 

Edited August 1, 2010 by slick132

[Durkin]

Technically, it should be possible for your brother to claim £8K in the court against the financial body that registered the wrongful default and damaged his credit reputation. For a lot less stress it may be worth settling for £5K in the small claims court. Quote my case and let us know how he gets on. It should be quite straightforward. Good luck.