This topic was closed on 03/08/19. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 03/06/19. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support their. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 03/06/19. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support their. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 03/05/19. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support their. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE, NECESSARY LONG POST Hi, I first joined CAG in 2006 when I was claiming Bank Charges for my daughter who suffers from mental ill health. This nightmare took from late 2004 through to September 2008. I was supported in this claim by FOS whom I first contacted in January 2005 and the FOS adjudicated in our favor in July 2008. The FOS also raised several (complaints) case files that were also upheld. We were sent an offer late 2008 from NatWest, we were pleased as the temperature was heating up about making claims, so we were quite positive. Before I accepted the settlement I asked the case worker from FOS relating to the method of payment asking if we could elect to have a cheque made payable to my daughter or myself (I was acting as her 3rd party representative) The reason for this request was that her account had been passed over to Debt Management and any money deposited would subject to them taking their 'cut' thus kissing goodbye to almost £800 relating a loan she was 'encouraged' to take out to pay off her bank debts caused by penalty charges; (or as I preferred to call it "Loan Sharking"!!) Once I had conformation from the FOS I was within our rights to request the cheque I telephoned a dedicated number given by NatWest for accepting offers based in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. I was greeted by an apple munching female who totally dismissed my request insisting it 'could not be done', everything had to go through the bank account. I tried to reason with her, suggested her manager phone my case worker at the FOS (by this time I had her direct line!) and she refused. She said she could not process our claim and ended the call. I returned to my FOS contact who raised yet another complaint against NatWest, she commented that the bank "was not making this an easy process" I contacted the same people who made a note of my case number from FOS and was advised to give it a week I would get a letter from them. I assumed that this was to give the Bank an opportunity to see the case raised and to have a reply. After 10 days and nothing from the bank I telephoned them on the same number, but to my horror there was a recorded message saying that any Claims were now suspended because of the involvement of The Office of Fair Trading. All this happened around July 2008, and there simply was not any alternative contact number to call. I believe the cases were classed as "stayed" pending a test case. But this related to those that had applied through the courts and had a judgement awarded because the Banks simply did not show up!! Also I did not go through the Courts as the bank was in communication with me, well more like I kept on their case!!! I think about this time I then lost the will to go on and left it for a while, expecting to return to it within a few weeks. But then our lives changed dramatically, my husband became redundant after 25 year with Citi Bank, I had to come to terms with becoming a permanently disabled wheelchair user; my daughters husband escalated abusive behavior towards her that led to divorce. We bought into a Pub only a few months before the rescission took hold (2008/9) and we lost everything trying to survive. We moved out of the Pub and a few days later it was set on fire, our quarters were destroyed with a lot of our possessions still in them. My daughter went on to meet someone and became pregnant; but when she was 34 weeks pregnant (August 2012) with her daughter she attempted suicide and she almost succeeded. I know it must sound awful; but she wanted to end her life and waited until she was 34 week and the baby was viable. Both I am pleased to say they both survived, but the thought and worry is always with me of 'what if'... She has now been diagnosed with Bipolar as well as personality disorder; all attributed to when her depression first started when she had financial problems that became intolerable and exacerbated by the Banks penalty charges, she was known to be a self harmer, but again she got worse. So, my question is .......... can I resubmit and reclaim? I am gathering the information together, some of the documentation was lost in the fire, but almost everything is on my PC. Who might I submit it too? As I had a written 'offer' (now lost I'm afraid) will that account for anything? I have all case and reference numbers and as I said original files on my computer, including spreadsheets. This group helped me so much in the past, Bankfodder, Steven Hone and I went into the Office of Fair Trading in Fleet Street to present them with a 'dummy' cheque. I was the token wheelchair disabled person they invited in, Bankfodder was quite angry and was 'invited' to leave the meeting early(!!) oh what fun!!! I know how hard people work on this site, my thanks in anticipation. Jo

I am almost embarrassed and feel a failure in not resolving this complex situation on behalf of my daughter. I have been with this group since January 2006 and was one of the three who went into the OFT to present a dummy cheque. (There is historic information for those who wish to check out my posts) But just when I thought all was safely being dealt with it has all come back to haunt me and I have now hit an all time low and need advice. An apology in advance for in-depth information but it is all relevant. Has anyone had a letter from NatWest asking them to complete their details so they can be ‘paid out’ ?(my term not theirs) What they are asking for in my opinion is for us to commit to accepting their offer as in this letter they are asking us “to confirm the amount we are seeking” My daughter has already had 2 offers so far for £4630.30p; the first just an offer; the second informing her about the OFT and the test case but with the same amount offered. The arrived on June 14th 2007 and a second arrived the beginning of August, both with several weeks to accept. We never went as far as going to court, but I did send the two preliminary letters ( in March 07) together with a spreadsheet detailing the sum of £5265. I was told the lesser amount was because we had exceeded the 6 year rule. However because we are challenging the bank over a mis-selling of a loan where they were the only beneficiaries, (the ‘loan’ was used to pay themselves for the amount the account was overdrawn because of penalty charges). Prior to these offers at the end of May I also had an offer ‘to reduce the outstanding balance on the loan or forgo further recovery’ The NatWest then went on to say that ‘However this is subject to you/your daughter not furthering any complaint in relation to charges on the account’ Believing this to be called ‘blackmail’ I made contact as I have done in the past with the FOS whose advice was to submit a complaint to them relating to the Mis-Selling of the loan and to pursue the intended plan of recovering the penalty charges through the Small Claim Courts. It was then the first offer to pay us £4630.30p arrived from Customer Relations at Borehamwood; they also added that it was a ‘full and final settlement of your complaint’ Then hot on the heels of this was a demand notice arrived dated 20th June 2007 for the balance of the loan standing at £1790.04p. The Credit Management Services who sent the letter were contacted on June 25th 2007. During what was yet again a protracted phone call a recommendation in the form of a verbal offer was made. The recommendation was that the £4630.30 stipulated should be paid into the account and the outstanding loan of £1790.04p would then be removed from the account. (The loan was originally for £1550 over a 5 year period.) That offer was declined; an ‘alternative’ offer was that the amount to be paid was £782.84 that represents the balance minus the interest of £1007.20 and the amount of £767.16 that has already been paid. This was a verbal offer and was not agreed to but asked for it to be put in writing strangely this offer never arrived???!!! At this point in the same call I was repeatedly coerced into agreeing to make some kind of payment as I was told that it would not be possible to make any assurance that no further action would be taken without such an arrangement. I put it to the advisor that whilst this complaint was being compiled and sent to the FOS I was not happy to enter into any financial arrangement. However I was told that the debt could be passed on to a recovery company who would visit my daughter, and in order to avoid this action I offered a token amount of £10.00 per month that would be paid into the account to prevent any further legal action taking place. Following on from this I again contacted FOS who asked me to send in all the information and they would deal with all the aspects of the complaint. As it pre-existed the OFT test case I was confident this would be handled as such; this however has not been so. I have had to argue with the FOS that I was informed my complaint would be put through; I now feel that might not be so because of the ruling. I posted something a day ago because we have since had one Solicitors headed notepaper from CMS pretending to be ‘Green and Co’ and now two ‘action’ letters from Wescot Debt recovery. I again contacted the FOS who to my surprise have ‘suggested’ that we take the money to make the harassment “go away” As it happens I did contact both the bank and Wescot, the bank said on Monday (20th August) that the debt was recalled on the 7th August. However Wescot told me that they were only asked to return the debt on the 20th August… strange that!!! Contacting and passing all the information over to FOS was I felt going to get this all sorted and most of all justice; but now I am confused. If we accept surly the bank has nothing to answer for as we will have taken the money as “a full and final settlement” FOS say they will look into the complaint because of financial hardship; which is apparently the only way you can now penetrate FOS and get them to act. Also what about the mis-selling of the loan and the fact that they will get the balance of £1790.04p; as the person at FOS said ‘if’ they decide the loan was mis-sold it will be dealt with. So what do we do? This has caused my daughter such trauma; she is acknowledged by her doctor as being a depressive and is also a self harmer whereby cutting herself is her way of dealing with the situation. It has never been just about the money; important though it is; the Bank also has to be accountable for their failure in their duty of care…

Hi Martin, Thank you for the information from the OFT; unfortunately the link did not work so I telephoned them. I gave them the information and they are going to call me back within 5 days; best they could do. I contacted the FOS yesterday also but the person dealing with my case is away until September 4th; requested someone call me; but so far we have only got each others voice mail!! I do feel that my only hope is with the FOS as my comment to the bank about taking out an injunction did hit the mark, but it was my knee jerk reaction and I am sure they knew that. Regards Jo

This sorry saga continues and it seems each week brings something else. Considering this dates back to early 2006; it has been a long haul to get where we were hoping the end was in sight. For those of you who want to know the background it can be found here; http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/natwest-bank/99-help-advice-needed.html This problem is both pressing and frustrating; and trust me I have worked hard to try and resolve this problem and now feel helpless. I am dealing with the NatWest & the FOS behalf of my daughter. We are challenging them on a mis-selling of a bank loan. The only beneficiary was the bank because all the money went to them to pay off 'penalty charges' The loan was for 1550 pound over 5 years taken out in 2004; to date the loan stands at 1708 pounds. We have an offer for the penalty charges to be paid back without going to court that amount about 800 pounds less than the figure I came up with of 5198. The reduction was they said because we exceeded the 6 year rule. However they have said that they will take out the balance of the outstanding loan from the any money they repay. At the same time of getting this offer another letter arrived from the bank 'demanding' the loan repayment. I contacted the Bank and informed them the FOS were dealing with the case. After a lot of duress I agreed to a repayment of £10.00 per month as I was told it would be the only way to prevent a Debt Recovery service making contact. (I asked for this agreement in writing it never arrived.) However within days of this agreement this is exactly what happened; my daughter had a letter from 'Green & Co' Solicitors, or to be exact a headed notepaper with the solicitors name but the Telford CMS details. I called they said it was an error, had a verbal apology, asked for it in writing, never arrived. A little over a week later another letter arrived this time from Wescot Debt Collection. I called again and asked what was the most recent information they had only to be told that 'the case had been forwarded to Wescot for recovery' I was truly amazed as I was ready to blame Wescot for the problem. I asked her to go back to earlier records, she went away and came back with an apology that it had been (another) 'error' and the records would be amended. I insisted on talking to a manager, the person kept saying she could deal with this problem; I said so far the department had three tries and had failed every time. I eventually spoke to someone who acknowledged the problem with more 'I am sorry' and assurances of someone would be contacting me. This time I had the letter dated 7th August saying "Please accept my sincere apologies for this oversight and for any inconvenience this might of caused you and your daughter. I have advised our agents not to contact you again" On Saturday we had another letter dated 16th August from Wescot saying we have 10 days to pay. The bank has said they will investigate and say Wescot were told on the 7th not to continue; but they seem unstoppable. In all of this the most important thing is that my daughter suffers from depression and is also a self harmer. I have repeatedly asked that they put all correspondence through me, she is the one getting these distressing letters. Despite my pleas and putting a plan in place with the bank nothing seems to be working. If as they are suggesting they will show up at my daughters this will be devastating for her. I did think of taking out an injunction but in reality it is not a practical solution; although it would make me feel a whole lot better!!! If anyone can help or advise I would be so pleased to get anything. Regards Jo

Eeekkkeee; is it really a 'back sloping lawn'??? My husband will love that idea of letting go of my wheelchair at the top!!!

I have just seen this; I would love to be with you all; a bit like a retake on the protest at the OFT in Fleet Street!!! If I can get a wheelchair pusher I will be with you!!! Regards Jo

My thoughts are with you; Becky had PND; that developed into being medically classified as unfit for work due to her suffering full blown depression. She is also a self harmer; her way of dealing with her condition when it gets too much for her. She had 'dark thoughts' but did not act on them until about 2 years ago when her bank problems took hold and she could not cope; her scars are now with her for life... I went into the banks and pleaded with them to help explaining how bad her mental health was; they made polite noises but did nothing; they did not even reply to the FOS complaint, total contempt. However I do hope you get somewhere all the best, Jo

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

I dare not ask my husband to take me and wheelchair on the train a la OFT protest!!! But be assured you will be in my thoughts... Jo

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 © 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!! Any advice would be helpful and welcomed, Best wishes, Jo

I guess you have to see what the branch say, but I doubt if they will 'fall' for that one. Also at least if you go the DPA route they have to comply, eventually!!! When we requested the statements via the DPA my daughter took the request in to her branch together with a £10 note; poor girl did not know what to do with REAL money!! We also had her sign and print her name; date and time stamp the document and asked her to make a copy for her records and return the original; we drew the line at getting it witnessed for a tatty tenner (literally!) However for the first time my daughter was in control of her bank account; priceless... As for being worried about packaging its a thought to have it delivered to branch considering all our statements were loose without anything holding them together for all to see; at least the first lot arrived in a plastic postage bag. Jo