Balance of risk?

[rss1979]

Hello and thanks for reading.

I have just recieved a response to my letter before action......same old "we believe our charges are fair"..........."we consider that the amounts debited to your account have been applied strictly in accordance with your agreement" nonsense.

Now, my question is probably unanswerable....

I have a rather bad credit rating, no, I have a very bad credit rating and about the only company in the world willing to give me credit is RBS. I hold a Debit Card, Cheque Book, Overdraft, Loan Account and several other accounts for my family with this bank..........not to mention a Child Trust Fund account.

If they were to close my account and recall the OD I would be screwed.

I dont want to avoid legal action on this basis but I have to be honest, I cannot afford to lose this account because I would not get the same services with another bank.

My claim is for around £350 and I just cant satisfy myself that its worth loosing the account and benefits to reclaim this modest amount.

What would you guys do in my situation?

Obviously I am not looking to hold anyone accountable......ultimate ly the decision is mine, but I would appreciate some opinions.

[dave]

Try and get another account with the facilities first.

How much is outstanding on the loan - is it more than the amount they owe you in charges?

[rss1979]

About 8k outstanding on the loan..............why?

[dave]

I was wondering if the amount of charges outweighed the outstanding balance of the loan and the OD.

Obviously not, in this case.

I am in a similar position with FD at the moment - they have taken about 65 quids worth of charges, yet I have an OD of £1200 with them which they will, without doubt, call in if I start proceedings against them.

I intend to sell things on ebay and save a little and when I have paid the OD off, then I will claim my £65 back with interest.

[rss1979]

For £65 I would just call them up and ask for it back!

I am planning on sending a final “final” letter to someone higher up at RBS pointing out that the charges are illegal. I am also going to point out that I pay a monthly fee for my Royalties Gold account and I would expect that fee to cover any “additional work” required on my account.

I am confident the bank would rather avoid upsetting me......if they were to close my account as an act of retaliation I would certainly do everything possible to make this VERY public knowledge.

Clearly, this is somewhat like blackmail in as much as I am asking that they pay me money (which is rightfully mine) or I do everything within my power to spread the knowledge about illegal charging.

One thing that does concern me; RBS clearly see this action as contrary to our agreement and I am sure this will be the reason they give for closing my account. It would be interested to know if we could pre-empt this action by making it less appealing to the bank.

[BankFodder]

You should start to explore the possibility of accounts with other banks. Ask the Co-Op for a basic account.
Your loan account is probably untouchable but check the T&Cs.

So if you find that you can get one or more accounts elsewhere, that your loan is untouchable, then how much else is at stake?

Can they touch the child trust fund? Check the T&Cs. See if you can move that out somewhere else. You probabl;y can. It is a secure kind of account for a bank. Money in and noe going out.

When you have solved these problems and read your T&Cs, you may find that it is not such a risk to claim back your charges.