Cca?

[v8monkeyboy]

Hi all,

 

Just a quickie.

 

IS it possible to request a CCA for a sole trader account?

 

The amount is in dispute with NatWest, letters were sent to them at the end of last year, with no reply. The case was handed to the in-house collections in June this year, and when they were called, they requested to see the original letter which was duly faxed and posted through (recorded del).

 

Today, a letter from Moorcroft giving 7 days to pay the amount in full or go to court. If the matter is in dispute, and the letter has been received, surely they can't do this?

 

Any help appreciated?

 

T x

[maroondevo52]

Hi,

 

Bank accounts are not covered by the CCA, do you know how much they have added to the account in charges.

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

[v8monkeyboy]

Thanks for your reply.

 

The amount in question is £517, but it is for an overdraft that was actually paid off, and the account was requested to be closed. The bank didn't do this, and continued to pay money out of it - money which was also being paid out of a private account.

 

The thing is, the overdraft was never renewed, there was no renewal fee taken, and there were no letters concerning the overdraft until it was realised by the customer that this had happened.

 

If there is no renewal, therefore no renewal fee, no letters to say it was an unauthorised overdraft, and no signature taking on the overdraft, and also no overlimilt fees etc - then what?

[maroondevo52]

Hi,

 

If the account was paid off, and left with a 0 Balance, It should have been closed. I don't understand how they continued to pay items from the account.

 

I'll try to get you some more help.

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

[v8monkeyboy]

Hi Scott,

 

Many thanks for your help. It is much appreciated.

 

T

[slick132]

Hi V8MB,

 

Firstly, you should write to Moorcroft confirming that the balance they seek to collect is In Dispute with the bank and that any recovery action taken by them will be a clear breach of the OFT Debt Collection Guideline.

 

Accordingly, if they DO take any further action, you will make a formal complaint to the FOS.

 

You say money continued to be paid out of the a/c - to whom ?

 

Do you have a copy of a letter confirming your request for the a/c to be closed.

 

If the money was paid out but there were no default charges, it sounds like the bank continued to treat the O/D as active.

 

This sounds like a complaint should be made to HO to have the a/c closed in accordance with your earlier instructions. But we need to know what happened to the money that was paid out.

[v8monkeyboy]

Hi V8MB,

 

Firstly, you should write to Moorcroft confirming that the balance they seek to collect is In Dispute with the bank and that any recovery action taken by them will be a clear breach of the OFT Debt Collection Guideline.

I called them yesterday, after having spoken to Triton (the people who are now dealing with the debt - they are in-house for NatWest), and told them the amount was in dispute. Was initially told that they didn't care and that they now owned the debt. When I questioned this and told them about Triton, they backed down and have put a hold on the case for 7 days.

 

I also called Triton as asked why my letter had not been responded to, even though they received a copy of the original letter and a covering letter the day I received their last letter. I was told that it takes them 10 days to read letters, but he would e-mail to see if a hold could be put on the case.

 

Accordingly, if they DO take any further action, you will make a formal complaint to the FOS.

 

You say money continued to be paid out of the a/c - to whom ? It was debt repayments which had to be made, but were being made out of a different account at the time.

 

Do you have a copy of a letter confirming your request for the a/c to be closed. No. Simply because (and I know now this is not right), I had such a good relationship with my business manager and his team that most of our sorting out was done over the 'phone. I was told that the acc would be closed there and then. When I initially began to query why it hadn't happened, I was told that it should have been in writing. But when I started to question their practices, the account was automatically closed, with no correspondence a month later.

 

If the money was paid out but there were no default charges, it sounds like the bank continued to treat the O/D as active. Neither was there an overdraft renewal fee, and the overdraft was paid off the day before it was due to be renewed.

 

This sounds like a complaint should be made to HO to have the a/c closed in accordance with your earlier instructions. But we need to know what happened to the money that was paid out.

 

Hopefully I can sort this out without too much stress. The thing is though, that NatWest have over the years acted incorrectly with a lot of oyr accounts. The one which I know to be wrong was that they transferred money from my parents Ltd. company account into a joint account with my name on it, when it was going to go overdrawn. When we all queried this we were told that as I was a signatory on my parents account, they were allowed to do this.

 

Thank you all for your help.

 

T x

[slick132]

Hi V8MB,

 

In my opinion they had absolutely NO RIGHT to transfer money from the Ltd Co a/c into your joint a/c.

 

I fully understand about the personal relationship you had with your mgr - it was just the same with me and my business mgr.

 

I think you should take this up with their HO if your own branch won't help. Make a brief summary of events on a dated schedule so you have a concise chronology to explain events.

 

The only issue is what happened to the payments made after you thought the a/c was closed. If they've paid out money and it has benefitted you by clearing a different debt, they will want the money back.

[v8monkeyboy]

Hi Slick,

 

I see what you mean regarding the debt being paid to someone else. It was in fact to our accountant, although I suspect that won't make any difference.

 

As for the transferring of money, I think what makes it worse is that it wasn't even an account I had anything to do with. I'm simply a signatory in case anything should happen to my parents.

 

Sadly, the above are just 2 occasions which show how all our NatWest accounts were mismanaged - there have been other occasions where transfers have been made OUT of the business account to someone else who we had no connection with, then the money returned only when we shouted.

 

The way NatWest behave/behaved has left me speechless, and I'm sadly not the only one. My sister had some similar problems with them until she moved accounts.

 

The letters have been written, and if I don't get a satisfactory answer, I think I'll go to the Financial Ombudsman.

 

Thanks again for your advice and support.

 

Tracy x

[slick132]

It was in fact to our accountant, although I suspect that won't make any difference.

Unless the accountant returned the money, the bank may require this to be refunded. I assume you were given credit for the money rec'd by the acc't from the bank.

 

Even though they shouldn't have paid it out, they are entitled to it back.

 

However, they should not get any interest or charges from you if this was the bank's error.

[v8monkeyboy]

Hi again,

 

I can see the bank are entitled to their money back, but as they made these transactions without my agreement, is it my responsibility to get it back for them?

 

There was no credit from the accountant, as we owed them more money than that.

 

Thank you for all of your help and explanations.

 

Tracy

[slick132]

From my understanding of events, the money paid to the acct't would have reduced your debt to the acct't, and would therefore have benefitted you.

 

I suppose you could argue that the bank should not have paid out this money and the a/c should have been closed in accordance with your verbal agreement with your a/c mgr. That would leave the bank seeking repayment from the acct't. But if the acct't then repays the bank, you'll owe the acct't the money again.

 

Did you clear the balance owed to the acct't.

 

Roughly how much was paid in error to the acct't and how much on top is interest and default charges.

[v8monkeyboy]

The total wanted by the bank is just over £500. That's what was paid out, plus interest, but there have never been any charges levied on the account, which technically there should have been as the overdraft was not arranged.

 

Yes, the debt was cleared with the accountant.

 

I already have a payment plan with NatWest for another debt, so when this is resolved, I will ask them to add it to the amount owed.

 

Thanks for your all your help.

 

T x

[slick132]

You're V welcome and let us know how it goes.