@natwest_help Nat west dispute

[mickw85]

Hello All

I’m a newbie here just joined yesterday ,and having perused several forums I’d like to run our particular problem with Nat West past the members.

 

I’ll try and be as brief as I can but supply as much info as I can too.

I was married to a Filipina lady and we had a joint account at the outset ,set up with Nat West ,we have a girl who’s now 9 ,and we subsequently were divorced circa 2003 ,and for some reason the account was not closed and my ex kept it running and had the little girls child benefit still paid into the account ,which is currently circa £80 ,the statements were sent to her new address so I never had sight of them ,I do appreciate as the account was still in joint names I am I understand partially responsible for the accrued debt. We had an agreed Overdraught of £500 at the outset ,and over the subsequent years and at January 2011 she had clocked it up to circa £650 ,single mom ,on benefits ,and struggling like most people are to pay a mortgage ,albeit she worked part time at the restaurant at our local college ,and earned circa £120 per week for 15 hours .

 

 

 

In January 2011 the account stood at £650 ,and she was receiving the £80 child benefit only into the said account ,the last statement she received ,which i did have sight of showed the £80 pounds child benefit and with the overdraught being circa £150 over the agreed £500 the bank charged the account £40 interest leaving her with just £40 left of the child benefit for the said particular month.

 

 

 

My ex then changed her then current bank account from HSBC to Santander in February 2011 and also changed the child benefit to be paid into Santander from the Nat West joint account ,which left no monies being paid into the Nat west account ,then the S...t hit the fan ,Nat west wanted their money back in full straight away ,albeit they were quite content to take a 50% lump in charges while the benefit money was still being paid in ,and prior to this I’m guessing they were content to take a sliding scale of charges for the last 5 or 6 years ,again not having sight of the statements i was in the dark as to how much they had taken in charges.

 

My ex was made redundant from her job in October 2010 ,I lost my business so we were in dire straight’s ,and the debt was passed to the banks collection dept in Manchester , who’s staff have the social skills of a broccoli floret ,we offered £50 a month but they wanted £120 ,so I contacted the FOS and filled them in with all the details ,they have come down on the banks side (surprise surprise ) and the account stood at circa £1500 ,the bank have agreed to reimburse £800+ in charges and fees almost taking the figure back to where it was in January 2011 ,ie circa £ 650 . The initial assessor at the FOS passed it onto one of his colleagues whom I have spoken to on the phone ,via email and post in the past 7 months.

 

Wescot were involved and ironically they sent my ex a letter demanding she sort out a repayment plan for the £650 debt,I called them with a view to arranging a plan but as the woman was quite adamant she couldn’t discuss the matter with me as the letter was addressed to my ex ,albeit still a joint account ,and they needed her authority to speak to me ,the next day we were both present and Wescot said Nat West had withdrawn Wescots services in this matter ,the plot thickens !!

 

 

 

I called the FOS on what we should do next ,in the meantime i had cause to speak to my stepdaughter and apparently she had a similar issue with Lloyds a few years ago ,where they took her child benefit payment against a loan she had at the time ,and it appeared that Lloyds policy was never to take monies for a loan /debt if it was in the form of a benefits /job seekers allowance payment ,and her money was credited back immediately when she went into the bank and raised merry hell about it leaving her with no money.

 

I raised this point with the FOS assessor ,who said she had not heard of this ,so I called and arranged to have a chat with my manager at Lloyds ,who did confirm that Lloyds policy is not to take money for a loan /debt which is a benefit .That said she obviously couldn’t speak for Nat West’s policy on this matter.

I then emailed the FOS with the comments and asked them to reopen the case and find out Nat West’s policy ,I have had a response ,mainly mindless drivel repeating what I had said in my emails to them ,from them saying they could not ask Nat West for their policy regarding taking benefits payments for debts ,and she didn’t consider it to be relevant to our case ,and again coming down on Nat West’s side.

 

Sorry to drone on but my question is has any of the members here come across this benefits payment for debts situation as regards the above .

 

Thanks for reading and any input much appreciated

Regards

 

Mickw85

Edited January 9, 2012 by citizenB
formatted for easier reading

[citizenB]

Sadly we have seen from experience that the FOS is probably not the right place to obtain help from.

 

Have a word with National Debtline regarding the taking of benefits.

 

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/page.php?page=35_options_for_dealing_with_your_debts

 

It is my understanding that the banks cant take monies that would be required for essential/priority debts especially for charges.

 

You might also want to have a read of the BCOBs articles listed below.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/content.php?824-Does-your-bank-play-fair

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/content.php?826-How-Can-BCOB-Protect-You-From-Your-Bank-s-Unfair-Treatmen

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/content.php?825-BCOB-the-hidden-rules

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/content.php?829-Charges-successfuly-reclaimed-from-RBS-last-year

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/content.php?827-Examples-of-unfair-treament