Help - Abbey default threat

[sammy115]

Following my redundancy in Jan we had problems with our bank. They withdrew our overdraft facility and we had no option but to pay money into a different account. I have started my claim against Abbey and it is at the allocation questionare stage at the moment.

I first approached Abbey with repayment proposals in May. They ignored me and I sent a recorded delivery letter with repayment proposals. Again no reply. I got a letter stating we were ignoring them, and I called them up. they asked me how my court case was going. I told them - you should know, its against the Abbey!' She didn't but said she would put the account on hold for two weeks and said that maybe we will have heard about the court case by then.

I got a phone call on Saturday and basically they have now told me that they are going to default our account. They have said that they will amend any default once the case has gone ahead and a decision has been reached.

There will still be a balance of about £2,000 if my charges are repaid. I have had to agree to pay this by the end of August if I am to avoid a default notice.

Does anyone have any links to sites about default notices, ie when you can issue one. They are basically saying that they can issue a default notice, because I have made no attempt to pay.

I thought a default couldn't be given if the balance was in dispute.

Can anyone help????

[Glenn UK]

Sammy

If youre working alone rather than struggle to sort things out I would try debt counselling.

I used Payplan and found them very helpful.

Beware of companies who charge or who dont tell you about how they are funded. Payplan are funded by the banks/credit card companies. Sounds like a nightmare, all i can tell you is they helped me get sorted out and it didnt cost me a penny.

Regarding defaulting disputed accounts somoene posted earlier i think its against the banking code to default accounts under dispute.

Hopefully someone else can give you some more details.

Glenn

[sammy115]

I too thought it was against the banking code to enter a default whilst we were in dispute, but they have rung me to tell me that they have taken legal advice and that they must continue their collection methods until the dispute is resolved. Even if the charges were paid back I would still owe them £3,000.

I have managed to negotiate a months stay by agreeing to pay my overdraft back in a months time. (I may just be able to manage this with freelance work and overtime that my OH has earned) but this may have been avoided if they had entered into a dialogue with me back in April, or if they had stuck to their word and not taken my overdraft facility off me.

Don't worry about us struggling - we have been, but light is at the end of the tunnel, we have gone through the worst and it is just Abbey who are now to be paid back.

[Glenn UK]

Sammy

FWIW you obviousley know your situation better than i do, all i can tell you is thast the banks will collect from you and force you into their way of working uless you have good advice.

As much as a debt is a debt and all that, i wouldnt want to pay something back if it wasnt just and fair, if you havent sought advice i would recommend it.

As i say its your choice.

good luck

Glenn