Thread: Help!

I have an account with A&L. They took £75 bank charges from me which put my account overdrawn. I do not have an overdraft facility and tried to get one to stop any charges being incurred from the last lot of charges. They rejected it. I am on JSA and do not have the money to bring my account back into the black and have since incurred a further £80 of charges. I will never be able to pay this debt as it gets more by the day. I was initially unaware of the new charges (£5 per day) as it was printed on my statement and I never noticed it. I haven't spoken to them as I know I'll get upset and angry and that won't get me anywhere. How can I stop this spiral of debt? I really have no spare money to put into an account for which I am still receiving a daily charge.
I am about to start my own business dog grooming and will be on NEW DEAL where I will continue on Job seekers for six months. Any money the business makes will be held in an account with a joint signatory from Birmingham Chambers of Commerce so effectively I will be on benefits for the next 6 months. HELP.
I'm sure the banks just love people like me - they're making money out of someone who has none!

:o hi just to let you know i'm in the same boat! and unsure what to do as I have got £35 worth of charges going out on tuesday on top of about £150 which has already been taken, again like you if i nnet it i would pop, but can't speak to anyone via tlel phone banking due to them not sending me a new password - so do i pay the £35 in which i dont have or leave it and try and claim them back - i'm off ti look for the forum what was mentioned above

hi

i've had a quick! read through am not on benfits but very tight budget so will maybe ring e'm later to ask where secirty things are, and plead poverty strickened- which am thanks

rivig

hi

judt phoned up and checked through me statements seems to be an error on there part not informing me via statement of the charges to be taken - but blah blah blah letter fron the peoeple that deal with it so i'm ringing tommorrow and day after (even without secuitry code) to keep on top

riivg

Still don't know what to do. Are they likely to help me arrange some sort of payment? I mean, If I offered to pay them £20 per month will they stop the £5 per day charges? Otherwise, what would be the point? I am NOT going to keep giving them my money for nothing!

I think I am goping to draught a letter about reclaiming my charges. I know it will not be dealt with until the test case has been heard but at least if the banks lose I will get it back. The banks have gained the right to put a stay on dealing with reclaiming bank charges, does that mean we can put a stay on paying their charges? I think not.

Hi adg123 your not alone as your story is one repeated many times in here.

May I say that Scott has posted here showing you a link which will lead you to a letter of appropriation which you could use for now to enable you to withdraw funds if the bank do not help you.

First port of call is the bank, you MUST tell them of your situation and their response will depend on what steps you will take next.
You mention that you tried for an overdraft and they refused.
This time contact them and ask if there is anything they could do to help you, surely they can turn this negative balance into an overdraft with a step down each month to remove it, this I know has helped other people.
If they are not being very helpfull then simply hand over the right of appropriation and get a receipt for it.
Look into transferring any payments into this account to another account, if you dont have another try the PO.
When the OFT test case is over claim back what money they took from you.

I have contacted A&L and they are going to file a financial hardship form to another department. They are going to call me within the next few days. She said that being on benefits will go in my favour. It was easier than I expected. The other option was to make payment arrangement but they would then close my account when it reached 0! I need that account as my other is in a worse state.
I also contacted National Debtline who were really helpful and shed light on a few things I never knew - like I can make small token payments on a loan which is usually £48 per month. I just assumed I was stuck with having to pay that amount.