LLoyds are hassling us and won't acknowledge financial difficulty or CCCS!

[caprice1982]

Hi there, this is my first post so apologies if this is in the wrong place. We are having problems with lloyds (as per usual..*sigh*)

I am on a DMP with CCCS. I set it up in june. All of my creditors are accepting the plan, except for lloyds. I am in collections with them, over originally a 1700 o/d which i have got down to just £150. They put me into debt collections when i told them i was going to uni, then forced me to repay or they said they would take my student loan. This repayment came in the form of them dipping into my account every month, unstatemented, and taking anything from £50, to £15. its now £15. they have not acknowledged the DMP from cccs, as i rang up CCCS and they said they had no acknowledgement from them. CCCS told me them dipping into my bank account was outrageous and to open a new account and just pay them £5 a month as arranged via CCCS.

But today they took out that £15 (£3 of that is "interest") then took £3 o/d interest. erm, interest twice?? Then they are getting my CCCS £5 too.

as a result ive now been charged £15, plus £15 o/d fee. I have obviously had to pay this money back into my account to stop myself incurring more charges. We are really in serious trouble financially and cannot afford these charges, especially not over a £150 o/d.

CCCS said that sometimes, they don't acknowledge the repayment or they may be slow. So i'll have to wait and see, but i really am sick of lloyds and i was wondering if anybody else has been in this position before? My branch won't talk to me as i am in collections. and collections are only interested in getting as much money as they can out of you so will not listen to negotiation. I'm worried if i don't pay them this money, then they will simply keep taking it and pushing me overdrawn.

Our second problem with lloyds is this. OH and i have started hardship bank charges claims. Both sent off the first letter.

They owe us about £1000 each in payments. My OH was made redundant and they rang up to "check" if he was in financial difficulty. the woman had to concede that yes we were. I got no such phonecall, only an insulting letter that showed that they hadnt even LOOKED at my case- insultingly suggesting that i "may well" be in financial difficulty, (i'm on a CCCS plan) and why don't i contact their collections department if i cant repay? (erm, i'm already WITH collections) then full of crap like "our service is a fair one and our charges reflect the value customers put on our service" which was insulting enough to make me want to vomit.

The upshot of the letter was that they basically havent looked at our case, don't care and until theyre found guilty, they say they arent obliged to help us.

We definitely want to take it higher as lloyds have caused us nothing but trouble for years, but what should our next step be? the ombudsman?

We really are in such trouble with money to the point where OH has had to default on his loan for the first time ever, and we will have the fallout of that next month to deal with. Where do we go from here with lloyds? Any help would be gratefully appreciated!

[yourbank]

Stop using Lloyds to bank with if you haven't already - open a new basic account at an unrelated bank and leave the account alone. Then do as CCCS said and allow Lloyds the £5 per month that goes via CCCS.

The charges they charge they will be charging themselves and the account is fully in dispute because of your charges claim which would be persuasive in further enforcement action.


Did the letter you sent to the bank outline all of your circumstances, do you have priority arrears (utilities/rent/council tax etc)

Whats happening with your husband's claim now?

I assume you already have all your transaction lists from lloyds detailing the charges ? A court claim will be stayed, FOS will deal with a hardship claim although won't necessarily mean a refund and without knowing more about your circumstances its very difficult to tell if you would be in Lloyds definition of hardship or not. They are very difficult to claim from and their hardship criteria is one of the strictest.

There have been successes though.

If you leave the bank and just pay the £5 a month through CCCS ake sure you keep Lloyds aware you are disputing the debt in full (and more) and any enforcement action will be defended strongly.

Then try not to worry.

[maroondevo52]

Hello and Welcome, caprice.

I will move this thread to the Lloyds Forum.

Regards.

Scott.

[caprice1982]

Hi, thanks for your replies. yes we have both moved our accounts elsewhere and are doing as CCCS say, but it is worrying us somewhat. We sent our letters outlining our circumstances and listing all the charges. Lloyds seem to agree verbally that we are in hardship on the phone, (both now out of work and on DMP) but formally take no action. This £1000 they owe us each would help us out enormously, but instead they keep charging us. I'm terrified of these charges amassing into a big bill. We are wondering what we should do now and how we do it? Court or FO?

[yourbank]

Originally Posted by caprice1982

Hi, thanks for your replies. yes we have both moved our accounts elsewhere and are doing as CCCS say, but it is worrying us somewhat. We sent our letters outlining our circumstances and listing all the charges. Lloyds seem to agree verbally that we are in hardship on the phone, (both now out of work and on DMP) but formally take no action. This £1000 they owe us each would help us out enormously, but instead they keep charging us. I'm terrified of these charges amassing into a big bill. We are wondering what we should do now and how we do it? Court or FO?

Do you have priority debt arrears?
Are any of the arrears being repaid through any payment plans?
The more they charge you the more they will owe you btw.

In your letter you need to outline how the account spiralled, ie loss of job causing charges and the effect the charges had on being able to pay priority creditors and how that has spiralled. The approach I personally believe may work is that you list the charges in full and ask for an amount under financial hardship that clears your priority debts, that perhaps takes you under any unauthorised overdraft plus a suspension of charges for 3 months.

[di0430]

Hi there

Sorry to hear you are going through all this with Lloyds as well.

Unfortunately all of our creditors are those of Lloyds TSB and like yourself we are with the CCCS as well but do not have enough for DMP yet, we have been advised to pay directly the token payments to each creditor every month, with also enclosing copies of budget information and even copy letters of our mortgage arrears, where we are trying to sort this out as well as a matter or priority.

If your like us, they have been sending letters of payment demand everyday, we only started the token payments in June 2009, before that there were no arrears as we were using the overdraft to pay it, but we had to do something as that is coming to the limit.

We have also opened a new bank account elsewhere, which has nothing to do with lloyds tsb, and gradually things are starting to settle there.
But am unable to completely close it because of the arrears.
They so far have not accepted on anything or by freezing the interest etc.

We have received 26 letters now in just a month, some to say thank you for the token payments and the others to say they will not accept them, and others to ask for payment.
We received the first default notice already and today a solicitors letter asking us to pay for the full balance, but reading through different threads and sites, I found out the solicitors are those of lloyds, or used by lloyds, working for them then.

I have also been told by CCCS just to carry on as we are, as we cannot pay what we have not got, and things will eventually settle.

I will also keep an eye on your post if you don't mind.

I wish you all the very best.

Di

[2Grumpy]

Lloyds told me that all they have to do in cases of hardship is to offer financial advice ...

[di0430]

Hi there

Unfortunately Lloyds TSB would not even offer advice, although they did say go to a debt organisation then maybe they will help if we do this, done this with CCCS and for just missing one payment they have sent a default notice by 3 weeks of when it was due, never ever received one of these in my life and now a so called solicitors letter.
The default was giving until the 9th July, or hear from the solicitors, they certainly sent the solicitors letter out too soon, but there we go.

Caprice, how are things for you today?

Hubby lost his job like 1000's of others in this economical climate, I'm a full time carer for my autistic son, mortgage arrears are critical of over £3K, where this is still ongoing to being sorted out, soon we hope.