Thanks Lula - will do that. I have now opened a basic bank account with NatWest online. I've had enough of Abbey and intend to have my benefits paid into there for the time being. This will then safeguard them. My child benefit is already being paid into my sisters account because I've had this problem before. They took £80.00 from my benefits in one week for charges and refused to give it back and I'm not having it again.

Since I requested a cca from Moorcroft nearly three months ago I have heard nothing after paying them £15.00 a month for the last three years. Amazing!!:-?

Hi everyone I received my statement from Abbey two weeks ago stating that I had gone overdrawn by £5.00 by writing a cheque which had gone through for £11.08. The cheque appeared to me to have cleared remarkably quickly - on the third day?? Anyway this put me overdrawn by £5.00 and Abbey have placed £50.00 charges on my account for this £5.00 which were due to come out on Thursday of this week. I wrote to the Complaints Department as soon as I received my statement two weeks ago disputing the charges and explaining that I did not want them to take out the £50.00 as this would put me straight overdrawn again as I would not have the funds in. I then received their standard letter stating they needed 4 weeks to investigate blah blah. No mention was made of the £50.00. Anyway they have taken out the £50.00 despite me asking them not to and I am now overdrawn by £50.00. What do I do now - do I ring them up or do I write to them again? What do I say? What worries me is that the next payment into my account is my tax credits for £63.00 which will be swallowed up with this £50.00. Can anyone help?

Thanks for the replies. A financial settlement was agreed that the loan was acknowledged to be in joint names and would be paid accordingly. I have always paid every month despite being a single parent and on tax credits, etc as the loan was so big I was frightened of being taken to Court over it. My ex then proceeded to put himself on indefinite sick leave and pleaded that he couldn't pay anything because he wasn't working and so its continued with me making all the payments Surely there must be some law or ruling which can point me in the right direction?

OMG!!!! Thats appalling - I think that would just about finish me off

You're a little star! Thank you.

Thanks Russjo

Thanks Russjo for your reply. The debt is legally in joint names- I have had this checked out and I also hold a copy of the original signed Agreement with both signatures on it so as far as I am concerned he is as much responsible as me for it but because he is not working they are pursuing me.

I wonder if anyone can help me with this one? My ex-husband and I split up in 2003. We had a joint loan with the Royal Bank of Scotland for £14,000 which has now grown to about £19,000. My ex-husband has put himself on benefits and is no longer working. I am working full time and have a small amount of equity in my house I have arranged with RBS to pay £20.00 a month off the arrears. However upon requesting a statement from them I note that my ex husband has not paid anything at all off this loan, I have been making all the repayments since 2003 and every time a payment is missed they send me a threatening letter. I have raised this with them and every time the response is the same - "we are pursuing all parties - we cannot give any information out about your ex or his whereabouts or why he is not paying". What is my position here? Why should I be making all the repayments and he is getting away wth it???? Is there any way I can make the RBS give me this information or where can I raise this issue? Is there anyone who can do something about this I can contact? Thanks.

Hi everyone Just to let you know I logged on yesterday morning and the whole of my account has been updated and I had £28.00 credit which I did not expect. I do not know what went on here but I do know its so frightening that a Bank can just fiddle around with your balance without notice and your money can just disappear into thin air for two days and suddenly reappear. I suggest everyone keeps a close eye on their balances as this could be happening to anyone. I am so disgusted. To top it all, Abbey have levied £50.00 charges on my account for going overdrawn by £5.00 for one day. I have put in a written complaint about this stating in the letter that I did not want the £50.00 taken out until an agreement was reached about my complaint. Needless to say Abbey have ignored my request and taken this out of my account today so I am now £50.00 overdrawn. They have sent me a letter saying my complaint will be investigated and will take four weeks!!!!

Thanks Jo - I'll post an update tomorrow.

Thanks for your support - I've clicked your scales . I am so fed up with Abbey lately - everything seems to be a problem with them. I plan on going back into the branch tomorrow - I refuse to ring Abbey again - I've spent a small fortune on phone bills hanging on for at least ten mins at a time. I'm finding this terribly stressful as I hate confrontation.

I need some help. I have an overdraft with Abbey of £1,400. I logged on yesterday morning to my online account and checked my balance. It stated that my balance was currently £1327.62 overdrawn and that I had a balance available of £17.72. According to my calculations I had a balance of £72.38 available not £17.72!! I worked out pending visa payments and cheques which were still to go through and it transpired that one from Tesco for £12.29 and one for Amazon for £11.58 were still to come out. This still left me £45.82 available or thereabouts. Where was this then? Why did I only have £17.72 left in my account? I rang the call centre straight away. What a joke - I was left holding on for about ten minutes before I could get through. When I got through I was just going through all my transactions with the assistant when I got cut off (conveniently). I rang back later on that day and spoke to anohther person who looked at mt account and said this would be updated tomorrow (meaning today) as there may still be a few payments to go through. I explained that I had already been through the payments and there was still a discrepancy of £45.82. I said I was a single parent and needed to draw that money out today. She said "can't you get some money out of another one?!!" She said I had to wait until my account was updated. I logged on again this morning and things were still the same - my account hadn't changed and I still only had £17.72 available to me. I was fuming. I rang my local branch and was put through to another call centre. I explained the whole scenario again and the assistant said my account would be updated tomorrow !!!!!! I said I was promised it would be updated today - she said "no - tomorrow". I put the phone down and rang back again and attempted to speak to someone else. This man was a bit more helpful - he thought that I had been billed twice by Amazon and that £30.00 cash withdrawal had gone on my account twice. He told me to ring Card Services who would rectify the position as he couldn't. After work this afternoon I went into my local branch and asked to speak to the Manager. I explained what I had been told and asked him to ring Card Services for me and sort the matter out. I explained that this needed to be sorted out TODAY as I had a direct debit going out tomorrow for £50.00 and needed the money in the account to prevent me from getting charged. He took my number and said he would call me when it had been sorted. Upon getting back home there was a message on my answerphone giving ME the number of Card Services presumably as he hadn't been able to get through he fobbed it back onto me. This is still not sorted - I am at my wits end - no-one at Abbey is listening to me and I have been passed around so many people. What gives them the right to remove £45.82 from my account and not be able to account for it??? What can I do?

Wonderful - I shall watch the outcome of this with interest.

AIC - I've never spoken to such an obnoxious bunch of bullies before in my life. Whenever their number flashes up now I pick the phone up and slam it straight down again

Well surprise surprise - I just logged on and the Bank have taken all their charges out of £50.00 and taken my benefits in the process despite my letter. I immediately telephoned my branch and spoke to the Manager. I asked why my correspondence had been ignored and she said Head Office dealt with all that side of it. I demanded an immediate refund of my benefits back into my account quoting the Act. She said she would make enquiries and get back to me. She has just telephoned and said that if I go down to the branch they will give me my benefits over the counter. She said this will then put me overdrawn again but she will make sure I am not charged for this. I couldn't believe it!!! I was all geared up for a fight in the branch. I was even dreaming about it last night it stressed me out that much!!. Surprise - now you know whats happened with me it shows that Banks can be bullied into backing down - don't give up. A load of bundles of statements have just arrived in the post and I will be doing my letter to ask for all my charges back today. Many thanks to all of you for your help. Its much appreciated.

This is why we must not let them win - we must fight for our own money.

Thanks Perseus - I've applied to open a Post Office account but it takes a few weeks - in the meantime though Abbey are still helping themselves to my benefit money. You're right - it is frustrating. Thanks for the info about Trading Standards - I'll be onto them and also the CAB if it happens tomorrow. Apparently the CAB can help too?

Thanks. I'll let you know. You never know, our communications may by some slight chance have gone to someone with a brain and a conscience but I'm not holding my breath.

This is outrageous. I'm waiting to see what happens tomorrow - as I said earlier I have sent a letter to the Abbey head office and my branch quoting the Social Security Act and telling them not to take my benefits as they are going into my account tomorrow and surprise surprise Abbeys charges of £50.00 are going out then too. If I log on tomorrow morning and find out they have taken their charges out there will be hell to pay. I'll be on the doorstep of my local branch at 9.00 am.

Thank you everyone for your kind replies and help. I've rang the Child Benefit people and they are paying my Child Benefit into my sisters account until I can get a post office account set up. The Tax Credit people are sending me an "invitation to open a giro account" straight away. Both organisations were disgusted when I told them what had happened and very helpful. I have sent a letter of appropriation to Abbey Recorded Delivery and also handed in a copy to my branch. Watch this space. I'll let you know what happens.:-?

I've got a credit card debt with Tesco which was passed to Newman & Co and now onto AIC. Yesterday, I was informed I had a phone call from a Miss McGuinness. I took it thinking it was a client but when I said my name she said "right this is Miss McGuinness from Allied whatever". I said I was not prepared to talk to her and am not able to take personal calls at work. She totally ignored me and went on to ask me for security details. I said again I was not prepared to talk to her and she asked me why I had put the phone down on her last time she called me. I said I would be putting the phone down EVERY TIME she called. I then terminated the call. This woman was extremely rude and tried to talk over me all the time. This whole call took place in front of my senior boss. It was so embarrassing having to explain what had happened to my employer who has no idea of my personal situation. I think its disgusting these people are allowed to do this and get away with it. I have sent them a request for credit agreement now and up to now have not heard anything.

Tide - thanks for your reply. I had £80.00 taken out of my account last month - I sent in a letter of complaint to them but they refused to refund the charges on the basis that it was not an "emergency situation". I asked what was an emergency situation - my son needs to be fed - surely that is an emergency situation. Someone had to have died before they would reconsider refunding they said. They are still in the process of investigating my complaint or so they say. I did not send in a Right of Appropriation in time for the other charges not to be taken out but I intend to this time. I'm sick and tired of having my benefits taken off me. I have been in touch with the Ombudsman who has given me a case number and has said to let them know if the Abbey do not refund me my benefit money but they state that Abbey has to have the chance to investigate first. I intend to take members advice on here and open a Post Office account and in the meantime I am in the process of drafting the first letter requesting all my bank charges back over the last six years. What if they ignore my right of appropriation though? I can't afford to have another lot of benefits taken yet again. I feel as if I'm talking to a load of muppets when I phone - they just do not listen. I'm so angry I could scream.

Hi everyone - what happens if the Bank takes your money anyway even if you have served them with a Right of Appropriation letter. Abbey have now indicated they are taking a further £50.00 of charges out of my account on 5 April and funnily enough its again on the same day my Child Tax Credit goes into my account. What action can I take if this happens?

Thanks. I'll do that now.