Thread: PLEASE HELP =( halifax and blairoliverscott

Hey, well after yrs of burying my head in the sand ( not answering the phone, opening mail or even bank statements) I applied for online banking to TRY and regain control of my debts by allowing me to see whats happening in my acc's, heres what I discovered =(

I have a credit card with Halifax, the limit is £500 the balance is £1100 (600 being in charges)

I also have a current acc which has an overdraft limit of £1250, i went over this 18 months ago and could not keep up paying the charges so had all my money paid into my cardcash acc, then in feb 08 i paid £200 into my current acc bringing it back within the overdraft, it is now sittin at £1500 again the 250 is all charges=(

I pay 80 per month to moorcroft for my current acc aswel as transferring 40 per month into that acc myself so in total 120 per month.

I then looked at my credit card acc and set up a transfer from my card cash acc of 40 per month to help pay that HOWEVER I noticed on my cred card that I apparently paid 100 on 2/2/09 an 100 on 29/1/09 with the next payment being marked as due on 28/2/09. there was a phone number which i called and it was blairoliverscott!!

I have now viewed my cardcash statements and can see that blair oliver have helped themselves to 200 in 3 days and it appears they are going to continue doing so.

Is there anything I can do?? I know its my fault I am in this mess but I am trying to get out of it =(
j

Hi,

Others will advise more here, but you need to open another bank account with a bank that has no connection with HBOS.

They will say that their terms and conditions say they can offset credit card debt, and they can take a percentage of your "disposable" income. However, they cannot do this until you have paid your mortgage, council tax, and other major expenses. If they can see debit card payments to restaurants, fashion shops, cinemas, etc., they can argue their point. However, if all you are paying is living expenses - groceries, utility bills, petrol, etc., that is much easier for you to argue.

You should contact the Financial Ombudsman Service first thing tomorrow and explain the situation to them. Barclaycard did the same to me, and after I spoke to fos they refunded it.

Good luck.

DD

thanks I'll call them tomorrow, I was also going to call blairoliver do you think this is pointless?

j

I have never authorised them to take any money from my acc EVER. It is concerning a Halifax creditcard which i had 3-4yrs ago the limit was 500 I now owe 1100 so the 600 extra is late payment fees etc, initially i tried to pay but the fees along with charges just eft me in a vicious circle so i buried my head. when i added the card to my internet banking to start making payments (i set up £40 pm s/o) i noticed that it had two 'payment recvd with thanks' dated 29 jan 09 and 2 feb 09 which i did not make!! i checked my cardcash acc and noticed to withdrawels of £100 on these dates, having read through stuff here I now kno blair oliver are bank of scotlands in house debt team, it says on my cred card the nxt payment is due on 20th feb and the min payment is 900 as this is what is now outstanding =( I'm guessin that they will just help themselves again unless I move all my money elsewhere?
j

also can anyone advise on how to deal with the constant phonecalls from DCA?? currently I do not answer my home phone and reject calls from numbers that are withheld, private or unknown to me on my mobile, can I answer and tell them to stop calling me? and do they have to listen?
j

thanks I will try this hopefully it will work
juls

so should i claim charges for my card cash, current acc and credit card? I applied for a cardcash acc with RBS today online, it has been provisionally accepted so hopefully it'll go through.

I also have savings acc in my kids names with BOS but I am trustee does this mean they can technically recover money from these acc's as my name is on them??

If RBS approve the basic cardcash acc I will just empty the kids acc to and move them all to RBS.
juls

I have taken advice, and they should not touch your kids accounts, but some have been known to.

If they were to attempt to touch this money make an immediate complaint to the fos. The FOS will uphold your complaint as the bank have no right to touch this money under their right of set off as it is not your money.

thanks for your help, god its such a minefield!!!!

credit should come with a health warning!! lol

I'll keep you posted I'm going to go to RBS tomorrow and try and open acc's for the kids and at least get that money moved asap
juls

hey spoke to the bank today and have discovered that they have taken a total of £900 from my acc not 200
does any1 know, can they legally do this without informing me ?? it shows up on my statement as cash so i've been thinking i have withdrawn the money the previous month, i have requested a copy of my terms and conditions and agreement

UPDATE not sure if i did the right thing or not but i called fos and they have lodged a complaint with the bank on my behalf with regards to the charges on my cred card as i only had a limit of 500 and they have so far taken 900 with the view to take another 900, totalling 1300 in charges even i thimk this is extreme. the bank have 8 wks to resolve the matter with me or i go back to fos, have i done the righ thing???

I think you have done the right thing. I would have done that. Hopefully they will back down rather sooner than eight weeks.

DD

well got the kids money moved ok just need to try and get mine b4 they do lol