Written by John Kruse, one of the leading experts on Bailiff Law, this consumer friendly guide is essential reading for anyone who comes into contact with a bailiff.
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Yesterday, not for the first time, Natwest took my daughters benefits from her bank to pay penalty charges; I have tried in the past to find out if there is a legal point that would prevent the bank from doing this without any success. These benefits are the only income in her name and is made up of tax credit and child benefit, it represents a vital part of her income due to her husbands low wage.
I went to http://www.govanlc.com/index.html
and I have also mailed him to ask about LETTER TO SHERIFF OFFICERS that explains exactly what has been happening to my daughter; but as it is written to reflect Scottish law, I asked could it be (modified) and then used in English Law?
I also looked up SECTION 187 OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION ACT 1992 and under Miscellaneous "QUOTE"
Certain benefit to be inalienable; (had to look that one up, it means incapable of being repudiated or transferred to another or Not subject to forfeiture)
187.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, every assignment of or charge on-
(a) Benefit as defined in section 122 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;
(b) Any income-related benefit; or
(c) Child benefit, and every agreement to assign or charge such benefit shall be void; and, on the bankruptcy of a beneficiary, such benefit shall not pass to any trustee or other person acting on behalf of his creditors.
However I am a little unclear as to if this can be quoted and prevent the bank from taking her benefits; also as this is her only income paid into her account would / could they default her account and close it. This was already threatened to me yesterday when we discovered that a 'reduction plan' my daughter had in place was withdrawn without warning with what we believe to be a disputed charge because the account we feel was kept below the overdraft.
The 'knock on effect' is that her overdraft became unofficial borrowing; and her only outgoing a loan was defaulted and a transaction two days prior to the o/d being removed became a card misuse, total so far of £95; hence her child benefit of £68 plus Tax credit of £42 was wiped out and she is still £52 o/d, and the loan of £42 has not been paid.
The helpful 'chappy' worried me with his approach to this all being her fault and that the bank had done everything to help. His offers of help were to 1, have time to pay the money back; 2, Do I have a debit card and would I like to pay the outstanding amount; (yeah right!!!) or 3, he would default the account; so far we are on 1 til May 10th to pay back money and pay the bank loan/s outstanding and the one due on May 7th
My daughter wants to close the account and move her benefit payments to her husbands account setting up a D/D to pay for the loan; which is the next challenge I have once the penalty charges are sorted. I am going to seek to have the loan retracted and to seek restitution because the loan; sorry the bank called it 'consolidation' was only taken out to pay off an overdraft that was exceeded because of bank charges!!
I think your daughter should open a basic bank account elsewhere for the benefits to be paid into as Nat West are obviously not helping. I have been trying to look at this general issue of benefits and bank accounts for a couple of weeks but I haven't got too far yet. For example I registered with and posted a question on the rightsnet forum but I got kicked off because I am not a "professional" rights adviser! I will take up the cudgels again this week and see if I can get any further this time.
I don't think that there is anything to prevent the banks from plundering your daughter's benefits.
However, now that we have the OFt ruling I think that we are able to take more confident action.consumer forums
consumerforums
Partly because your clm has been going on so long, partly because we have become so busy and pasrtly, I'm afraid to say, because your posts in the past have been so wordy. I have lost the thread of your claim.
What happened to the solicitor you took on?
How much is at stake?
What action have you taken so far and where are you in it now.
Please don't pm me about specific questions unless you have posted and it has not been dealt with or unless the matter is confidential. Please include a link to the post you want me to look at. If you have received a defence, contact me.
Advice & opinions of BankFodder, The Consumer Action Group and The Bank Action Group are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Use your own judgment. Seek advice of a qualified insured professional if you have any doubts.
Also, has there been any default entered?consumer forums
consumerforums
Please don't pm me about specific questions unless you have posted and it has not been dealt with or unless the matter is confidential. Please include a link to the post you want me to look at. If you have received a defence, contact me.
Advice & opinions of BankFodder, The Consumer Action Group and The Bank Action Group are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Use your own judgment. Seek advice of a qualified insured professional if you have any doubts.
This is a classic case. And should be an object lesson for all those smug gits who
write in and say don't go overdrawn in the first place. They have the benefit of an income that can absorb a £35 clump without a problem. But there are others
whose income and outgoings are pretty evenly matched. And the banks take full
advantage of any slip. Once the first charge comes in, they just keep coming because there is insufficient income to pay the charge and the next bill. So
the bank hit you again. And again. And again. They do know the situation but it does not stop them. They have the power to refund the charges, but they don't.
You end up paying bank charges on their bank charges- a point which they always
deny!!!! They know exactly what they are doing-they pick on the weakest and
take them for every penny they can get. Each branch has to produce profits and
it is really easy to achieve their figures when they have people on tight incomes.
A couple of hundred accounts yielding £125-£200 each per month gives them £25000-£40,000 a month in charges, plus
the accounts in credit enable the branch to make further profits by placing
their money on the foreign exchange markets overnight. That should help to bring
the branch manger a promotion to a bigger branch and of course a bigger salary.
What they are doing with your daughter Jo is completely normal for them. They need a damn good kicking so they can see just how wrong their methods are.
And the OFT have certainly helped to bring the banks malpractices to a wider
audience. Sadly in the short term it does not help your daughter, though the bank
will at some time have to repay those charges. It will not make up for the anguish
and desperation that she must be going through now.
In another post I remarked that the BBC are looking for people who are having the kind of run in with the banks that you are experiencing. If you want to contact
them, you may find the bank will wish to settle her case quicker to avoid the
kind of publicity it deserves, and it will be cheaper than using a solicitor.
Thanks for the replies so far. B/F the sum so far is £4.409; yesterdays escapade adding £95.
The solicitor as you thought was not prepared to challenge on the 'unsympathetic or (failure) on duty of care' nor regarding her (substantiated) mental health issues and the detrimental impact it has caused her. As expected she felt it would not be able to be proved and there is every likelihood defended vigorously.
We are looking at starting up with another bank and I will sort this out this week; I just did not want to give the banks the opportunity to pull the plug and enter a default.
Nor do I feel they should be able to 'get away' with what they have done; but that has always been my main point; the injustice of the banks...
Jo
Have you ever known a bank to admit they are in the wrong??
Hi any suggestions are we allowed to carry on after already accepting a deal off the Abbey we accepted £283.00 we thought it was the end of the matter this week they took my family allowance and my childs tax credit and my husbands job seekers we already had a overdraft of one thousand four hundred to stop us getting more charges they set up a arrangement to extend the overdraft for just under £400.00 so there would be no more charges after already charging us twice to accept this arrangement we had to downgrade our account giving in all our debit cards and cheque book since this week because we let them reduce the overdraft by a £100.00 a month because we paid other items with the money we got back from them they have took £287.00 this week and still our account is minus £70 they also want £100.00 per month to reduce all the overdraft even though we were told it was only for three months please could somebody help me as i dont know were my next money is coming from and im very confused
Benefit 'theft'(?)
took my daughters benefits from her bank to pay penalty charges; I have tried in the past to find out if there is a legal point that would prevent the bank from doing this without any success. These benefits are the only income in her name and is made up of tax credit and child benefit, it represents a vital part of her income due to her husbands low wage.
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