Abbey, Stop Standing Orders, D/D freeze account

[SlacMac]

My job changed to a lower paid one April 2005. Abbey informed me that my Overdraft would be reduced from £2150 down to £1300. When the time came, they actually reduced the Overdraft to £0. Leaving me with a balance of -£1650. After a phone call to them on a wet August afternoon, they decided to restore my O/D to its original state. However they told me that they would reduce said O/D by £120 per month to the £1300 mark. I agreed with this amount under duress.

The months past and the O/D was down to £1550 at the end of January.

As Christmas being the time of year it is, I slightly over spent, nothing major but enough to cause 2 small direct debits to be paid while there was insufficient funds. This as you can guess incurred two charges to the account. This took the February balance over the agreed O/D limit, to which I received a letter stating, that as I had went over the agreed limit, all my Standing Orders and Direct Debits were now cancelled and that my account had been stopped. They also require the full amount of £1660 paid to them within 28 days or my account will be passed to a Debt Collection Agency and my Credit File marked accordingly.

Abbey have over the years consistantly charged me obscene amounts of money for some D/D being unpaid or paid while being overdrawn. One item was as low as a £5.00 D/D.

Is there anyway I can stop the above happening as my Credit File isn't the best as I rent. Also is there a way of getting some or all of the charges back. Many thanks in advance for your help in this matter.

[Docubot]

Give them 14 days to return all the charges to you.

If/when they refuse, start legal proceedings against them for recovery - the amount owed to them is now in dispute legally.

If they then pass details to a credit reference agency they are breaching the banking code.

[comanche]

You also need to open another account pronto and get your wages paid in there. If they end up being paid into your old Abbey account then the sheisters will swallow them and set them against your overdraft. If you don't have another account then you could probably get a basic Nationwide flex account or a Woolwich card saver account very quickly.

[SlacMac]

Went to NatWest on Thursday last week. They gave me a Advantage Gold, even surprised the guy who was opening the account. lol.

Anyway all my standing orders and Direct debits are now with them the only dealings I'll be having with Abbey are by letter or the courts. Then maybe Watchdog depending on the outcome. Its about time the banks put their hands up and delivered.

Dick Turpins days are over!! I think???