Nationwide Credit Card and overdraft (N.I Belfast)

[hhh_88873]

would the social security administration act not be a decent string to add to this bow as well?

 

I have been in touch with them, and they want to see my income and expenditure again. I told them them my income was only £71 a week, as they can see from looking at my account.

 

Anyone got an email address for Nationwide?

[Lilythepink]

This is what the Nationwide have sent me, when I asked for them to refund the charges on my overdraft, as I only have benefits coming into it at present.

Dear

 

Thank you for your message.

The terms and conditions of our current account incorporate Nationwide’s Rules (one of our constitutional documents, which govern the relationship between Nationwide and its members). In particular Rule 5(b)(iii) states that:

 

"The Society may withhold all or part of any current account and use it to pay or reduce any debt owed to the Society which is due or overdue for payment."

 

This means that Nationwide can use any money deposited in an account to set off any debt owed by the account holder to the Society.

 

Nationwide does, however, have in place a number of policies relating to the fair and reasonable treatment of customers who are in poor financial circumstances.

 

Please see the following page on our web site for a more detailed list:

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/payment_difficulties/default.htm

 

I would like to thank you for contacting us. If you need anything else please reply to this message.

 

Regards

Vikki Legg

Customer Consultant

Nationwide Direct

E-Cont@cts

http://www.nationwide.co.uk

Edited December 17, 2012 by Lilythepink
deleted my name

[dx100uk]

cheeky buggers

 

they are NOT immune to BCOBS though!!

 

adapt and send this:

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?353395-Letter-to-send-if-you-are-being-charged-bank-fees-whilst-on-benefits

 

dx

[Lilythepink]

Have sent it, and keeping fingers crossed.

[Lilythepink]

Hi, they have just come back with the same thing that they sent before, I have replied, as I think they are going to go on with the charges. I have moved everything, except the joint a/c which pays all the household bills.

How can they just ignore BCOBS Here is the reply

 

Dear Mrs ,

Thank you for you recent communication about the charges incurred on your current account.

 

After careful consideration, we cannot agree to refund your charges. Only in exceptional circumstances do we refund charges and on this occasion we feel it would be unfair to other members who find themselves in a similar situation and whose charges still remain. We realise that our answer may disappoint you, however we'd like to take this opportunity to clarify our position:

 

We understand that some customers may experience unforeseen financial difficulties and it's certainly not our intention to make things more difficult. At the same time when you opened your account you agreed to abide by the terms and conditions which clearly set out how the account should be operated.

 

Whilst I am sympathetic to your current situation, I note that we have previously refunded charges to your account. Therefore I believe you are now aware of our charging structure and the steps you need to take to maintain your account within the agreed limits. In view of this I cannot agree to refund any further charges.

 

Charges are applied to an account when the account exceeds its agreed overdraft limit or a payment is returned due to insufficient funds.

 

We notify you of the charges incurred in your monthly statements, which can also be viewed online. For information on how to view your statements online please follow this link to our 'online statements' article http://www.nationwide.co.uk/search/DisplayArticle.aspx?article=1214

 

The charges are debited from the account 28 days after the statement is produced. We'll try wherever possible to help you manage your account but it is ultimately your responsibility to ensure that funds are available to cover these charges and any further payments that are due.

 

I would like to thank you for contacting us. If you need anything else please reply to this message.

 

Regards,

Steven Payne

Customer Consultant

Nationwide Direct, E-Cont@cts

 

www.nationwide.co.uk

[dark vader]

I am not that well up on this post , but i wouldnt of thought that they could take payment or funds from an overdraft to pay a debt with them as in theory this is not your money, as this is causing you more debt and is bad practise or am i incorrect in saying this ?

[citizenB]

dark vader, this was my understanding as well.. that they couldnt take charges to pay themselves, whilst taking the account holder deeper into the red.. I think you will need to have a read of the BCOBs articles in my signature to confirm this.. there is in fact a letter that was written to RBS along this track.. and the charges were refunded.

[Lilythepink]

That is what I thought, as it is borrowed money but within its limit. They don't seem to take any notice of anything I say.

 

I have written to them, including those points, but they are still charging me.

[dark vader]

may i suggest you open a bank account in another bank whilst all this is taking a lot of your money ! that way you have control of your finances and not them until its sorted, otherwise they are just taking all your money and you have no control

[Lilythepink]

I have done that already, because they told me they had to charge me on my overdraft. I am reporting them to the FOS. Opened also a joint a/c to pay household bills as they might take that money to pay the charges.

[dark vader]

can you agree with them to loan the debt , thus making it a cheaper debt and more manangeable for you and there silly outrages legal charges will stop !

[citizenB]

can you agree with them to loan the debt , thus making it a cheaper debt and more manangeable for you and there silly outrages legal charges will stop !

 

It is absolutely ridiculous.. banks wont convert overdrafts into loans simply because it is more profitable for them to charge on overdrafts.

 

However, if they were to conver it into a loan.. then they might revoke your overdraft facility.

[Lilythepink]

No, they won't change it to a loan, as I now have a very bad credit rating, due to being off ill. I hope to get back to full time salary next month, but I am not going back to Nationwide, and will pay off my overdraft minus the charges.

They know the situation I was in, and in future I will borrow from the credit union, as they have been brilliant.

Nationwide are breaking their own code of practice, and are charging us for being in financial difficulties, which I am at the moment. I am a regular payer of all my debts, until I took ill.

[citizenB]

In which case it might be worth making an official complaint - they are not prepared to offer you a loan whereby the interest would possibly be less and you would have a chance of getting out of a cycle of charges - yet are prepared to continue letting you go outside the O/D limit which keeps you in the cycle of charges.

 

You have advised them of your situation and you believe they have not been treating you fairly - read the BCOBs articles in my signature.

 

It is always worth the effort to encourage them to be a bit more lenient, however, if you have already reclaimed charges, I would think they will consider they have already given you the opportunity to turn things round

[Lilythepink]

I did reclaim a £30 charge last year, and I have just received a very nasty letter from them,

saying that they are quite entitled to charge further charges on my overdraft,

even though there are only benefit money going in, and money I have borrowed to cover my priority bills.

 

They say that are acting under the Social Security Administration Act 1992, when it refers to a chare on benefit payments.

 

Essentially any reference to charges in the Act relates to lien on the benefits.

 

This makes it an offence to offer or accept a benefits entitlement as security.

 

It does not mean that a Bank or Building Society cannot levy charges on an account if social security beniefts are being paid into it.

 

 

What on earth does that mean lien?

 

 

They say this is their final answer.

Edited December 24, 2012 by Lilythepink
To make the details in bold from the letter from the NATIONWIDE

[dark vader]

i had a overdraft with the natwest converted to a loan , why do you say they wont do it !

 

 

they did it for me, thats why i suggesedt it !

 

 

yes they will revoke the overdraft but i would of thought that to be least of your worries.

 

 

i have a shattered credit rating and they did it for me at there suggestion.

 

 

If you are saying that the nationwide will not convert it to a loan then it becomes a very expensive method of borrowing money

and for your own ends if its causing you financail hardship by paying it ,

is to stop paying it until eventually they will issue a ccj

 

 

and that way interest and charges will stop and you will pay an affordable payment ,

 

 

thus of course as you say all other options have failed

Edited December 24, 2012 by dark vader

[Lilythepink]

Anyone any advice, can't find the act they are talking about?

 

I have changed to a basic bank a/c, and will pay the overdraft back, once I get my first proper salary.

 

 

My credit rating is dreadful, but as I don't want any more credit, as I have no money at the moment,

as I went back to work on 10/12, and want to start paying my mortgage again.

 

 

Nationwide are saying this is the last communication on this subject, so I have no option but to go to the FOS.

 

 

It has stressed me out and made me ill, and they just don't seem to listen.

 

 

Even if they did turn it into a loan, I have no money at present to pay them back.

[dark vader]

my opinion would be to stop paying anything off the overdraft and then they WILL start a recovery process through the courts to recover the debt,

in the long run this would be the cheaper option if your not bothered about your rating which is prob as bad as mine at this time

this would be the best way forward as i have stated in my above post,

 

 

i certanly wouldnt worry about it , you will never be made to pay amount back you cannot afford

 

 

.And would say if you dont countercalim the process would take approx 4-5 months

[Lilythepink]

Is it true whenever they issue a default notice on your a/c, that they freeze the interest, this has happened with my credit card with them.

 

 

I am in an arrangement until I can pay more, but got a letter today saying charges and interest nearly 1000. They really are robbers.

[dark vader]

No the default is just for non payment under the consumer credit act that your have defaulted on the payment !

by law they have to issue such notices !

 

 

Alot of people do worry just like yourself but please understand theres very little a creditor can do ,

unless you stop paying the agreed amount set by the court, which is along way off .

 

 

if you try again to sort out with the nationwide it sounds like they just want to take your income to the cleaners

as you are just throwing money down the drain and not paying nothing off the debt as things are .

 

 

i have not read a better option so far on this thread for you so far unfortunately

Edited December 24, 2012 by dark vader

[Lilythepink]

I am in the middle of changing all my dd and SO from that a/c to my new a/c. I also have a joint a/c to pay shared bills, priority debts. I am moving that as well, as they seem to think you can live without gas, electricity, mortgage payments etc.

I will not be paying more than I can afford off that overdraft, and I will keep reducing it, until I can wave the Nationwide goodbye.

[citizenB]

They dont need to issue a default notice on an overdraft as these are repayable on demand. They should however write and give you at least a minimum of 7 days to do this.

[citizenB]

Sorry you asked what a lien was..

 

Here is the dictionary definition

 

lien

/ˈlē(ə)n/

 

Noun

A right to keep property belonging to another person until a debt is paid.

 

[Lilythepink]

They don't have anything of mine, except the money I owe them. I will be paying my overdraft back, but at the moment I have no money to pay them back.

 

thanks for the info, will keep updating. Boxing day and I'm worrying about money, didn't hardly spend anything this Christmas, cut out all gifts etc, just told people I had no money as I had had a very bad year.

[Lilythepink]

The Nationwide have sent me a letter saying that this is the end of their communication re this complaint,

 

 

and there will be no more communication re it.

 

 

So I will just go ahead with my complaint to the FOS, or anybody that will listen.

 

I read the letter that got the charges back from the RBS, but as the Nationwide will not talk to me anymore, what choice do I have?