charges on un paid dd charges ????

[lesley1978]

hiya,

on the 27 th and 28 th of march i had two direct debits that were returned subsequently i was charged for these (£60 in total for both ) which was taken on the 19 th of may which although i wasnt happy about it i accepted it ....once they had taken it this resulted in me being overdrawn by £50.....which was shown on my mays statement no letter of charges etc .....today in the post i had junes statement dated the 21 st june (obviously they used pidgeon post )...which still was showing me as overdrawn by £19 from the previous statement( nothing more had come out in between these dates )along with was an unautherised overdraft fee dated the 31 st of may the ammount was £20.08 including interest....(on the 31st of may there was £31.35 credit in my account which had been in there for the 3 days previous)......I was obviously somewhat confused and annoyed so rang them up to see what these were actually for!! the lady i origionally spoke to didnt have the foggiest what these were for and couldnt sort it out without talking to the manager , she did and the manager phoned me back ....she told me she couldnt take the charges off as it was my fault I had not kept the money in for there charges ( needless to say they didnt return there charges unpaid) i argued that surely they couldnt charge me on charges taken to which they basically said they could !!! I thought this was an illegal practice though Im not certain ...any advice and directions to letters to send this would be greatly appreciated the only money I get put in this account are state benefits paid for caring for a disabled child and feel they are being unfair as they are aware if this fact....many thanks simon

[maroondevo52]

Hi, Simon.

 

They cannot take charges from Benifits, send them this......

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt-issues/36790-bank-taking-your-benefits.html

 

Start the process and claim these charges back.

 

Here's the step-by-step.........

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/faqs-please-read-these/31460-example-step-step-instructions.html

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

[Rhinoagainstcharges]

Tha acts to which you refer make it illegal for a Bank to take a charge OVER SSC Payments. (Primarily aimed at unscrupulous money lenders who would take away payment books and not give them back until they were paid). They are not aimed at Bank Charges which are taken from an account. It is unfortunate that the word charges are used in two different ways which has caused this confusion but the acts will not assist.

[indebtstudent]

Nationwide often does this, I cannot fathom how customer who doesn't have an overdraft suddenly does when charges are applied.

 

Essentially any charge is debited 28 days after your next statement which means the event which gave rise to the charge could be six weeks to two months ago. This is confusing if you're not used to it and thogh it is preferable to levying the charge straight away it leads to many people getting charge upon charge.

 

Tell me more about your circumstances, as Nwide HAS TO look at hardship cases. From my limited expereinece its only seen as hardship if you do the type of budget planner that debt advice charities use.

 

BTW I currently work for Nwide, although I've secured alternative employment to begin shortly because of this sort of thing.

[lesley1978]

hi ,

my circumstances are that i recieve benefit for my disabled son for whom i am the main carer ..... i have told them countless times that i am on benefit although i only been charged 3 times and that is because of an error caused by benefits who are in the process of deciding wether or not to refund me .....I just about manage with my income as do most people on low income ....its just £20 is only £10 less than i actually recieve ....simon

[indebtstudent]

Therefore it seems you would be a hardship case, they HAVE to look at it. The charges have tipped you over the edge with the tight balancing act most of us carry out every month.

 

Unfortunately the call centre and in particular collections is staffed by morons.

[slick132]

Hi Lesley,

 

If you only been charges a small number of chgs, why not go into your branch and talk to a senior staff member aksing them to refund.

 

Otherwise make a complaint about the charges to the FOS setting out how the charges are causing you hardship when you are already struggling.

See here for how to complain -http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faq/complaint-form.htm

Edited July 5, 2008 by slick132
add link

[lesley1978]

hi,

I did speak to the manageress when I called to ask why I had been charged , the thing I struggle to understand is they charged me for being overdrawn on the 31 st but my statement clearly shows i was in credit .....and the manageress was completely un helpful and wouldnt even give me the address to head office to complain and insisted I write to her to complain ....I was overdrawn last year and they didnt charge me interest on there charges then?.....so does this mean they can choose some random date and charge me??.....i also feel it is somewhat of a coincidence that the week before they refunded me a charge of £30 (which was charged for about 30p this was becuase I was still struggling with the £60 charge for the previous month )and then asked for £20 back for interest on previous charges ....I am going to swap banks because I have had about enough to be honest......simon

[slick132]

Hi Lesley (Simon),

 

What an unhelpful manager!

 

I would consider making a brief summary of the facts and send a formal complaint to the FOS on the basis of Hardship.

[indebtstudent]

Although it sounds like her manner was terrible the manager is giving the correct info re complaints, they are routed from the branch to the relevent area of the business. I know you are thinking they won't pass it on but really if they don't they're making a rod for thier own back if you continue to persue the matter.

[lesley1978]

sent them the right of appropriation letter as suggested but today they took the charges any way ...was wondering what to do next I will be trying to claim any charges back ...... but was wondering how to approach them taking my money dispite being sent the right of appropriation letter many thanks

[sea-sidelady]

You should report them to the FOS. Here is the link.

 

Financial Ombudsman Service

[lesley1978]

ok will do thanks

[BankFodder]

Hardship cases