Is the bank taking your Benefits ?

[steven4064]

As a rule, the banks will allow you to do this once. You may be lucky, but you won't know if you don't ask

[conradsfate]

just letting you know that this week my mates missus got paid her child benefit of £54.00 and the halifax bank has charged her £39.00 for a cheque not going through. now she had only £15 to live on till she got paid her inc/support on thursday. she was low on gas, light and food and had to borrow of family.

 

what i cant understand is my dad had a letter from halifax about his card charges and they say that they will give him some back as they have now dropped the charges to £12.00. so why is the bank accounts still charging the £39.00.

if halifax says they are now charging £12 on its card charges shouldnt they be doing the same with the bank accounts.

the woman above said she would have rather lost £12 than £39.

[steven4064]

Tell you mate to get his OH to ring the bank and ask for it back. Chances are she will this time at least.

[conradsfate]

shes done that and they refused.

the banks think they are all big now as the courts are staying all claims. think they can still charge high and get away with it.

i hope they get what they deserve.

[steven4064]

i hope they get what they deserve.

I hope so too

[russ2101]

got a letter from alliance yesterday and they've refunded me £802 no questions asked, so i withdrew it eventually as they closed my account they didnt seem to realise i couldnt get to the money.

now im writing another letter thanking them and asking for the rest, hey atleast they backed down alittle

[JonCris]

Just to clarify ALL means tested benefits/credits are sacrosanct & cannot be taken by the banks or even the courts.

 

It may seem daft to some but the state benefits paid are not the property of the beneficiary/you but remain the property of the state. They are provided by the state for the beneficiaries upkeep & not to pay penalties or fines

[steven4064]

JonCris - see post #574. Also I received this letter from HM Treasury via my MP which is pretty clear on the subject of bank charges and Tax Credits. The same applies to other benefits, unfortunately. You are right that they cannot be taken by the courts, though.

[wobbles]

HI all Quick update.I received bank statement this morning from A&L account they said they had closed.21st Sept 07 Previous statement balance £583-28 OD 26th Oct 07 Transfer Refund Bulk £583-28 2nd Nov 07 Current statement Balance £0-00 Now does this mean they have wrote off the charges of £590 or does it mean I can expect a letter from a debt collection agency in the not too distant future, just wondering because the word refund in in the statement.

sorry if all the text is squashed together but the return key seems to be playing tricks on me, it returns but when the post goes on all the returns are not in.

[JonCris]

Steven read the letter more carefully as it does not say that benefits CAN be used to pay penalty charges, The writer makes a bland statement that penalty charges can be deducted from a bank account. It does not address the legal position about such penalty charges being taken from bank accounts.

 

I'm not going to go over this ground all over again but not even the fellow Minister colleagues of this MP agree with her

[bigbuba]

hello fellow freedom fighters. i just thought i'd share my experience with you, maybe it will help. over the past six months nationwide (the bank that cares!!) have charged me four times at £30 whilst i am in reciept of income based job seekers allowance. only recently did i do anything about it( charged me on 30th for a dd that i had cancelled, i am very busy trying to make it as a music producer but this really got my back up.) So i went into my local branch to get them back, the assistant repeatedly insisted that the bank was entitled to charge me even though i am in reciept of jsa, i was not in the mood to argue with some retarded assistant so i kept quiet and merely requested them back. one week later i recieved a letter declaring that the bank had made a mistake and would refund me... in ten days. HA! i thought, fat chance, you will not gain interest from monies stolen from any longer you fat cats!! so after re-reading this forum i armed myself with quotes, includein wood v the royal bank of scotland + social security administrtion act 1992 ( martin is right, they are only swayed by legal jargon) plus other quotes, and phoned them. i argued forcefully, (important to state, not aggresively, this will not help, you must keep your cool) and was told i could recieve an 'emrgency' payment within 24 hours. no i said, this is not good enough, you have admitted you have wronged, why should i wait. at which point i was yold a manager would contact me within half an hour. it never happened, i phoned them and demanded to speak to a manager, was put on hold then cut of after 20 minutes, i phoned back immidiately and was connected to a manager this time who informed me that they had tried contacting me (funny i had my mobile and there were no messages in the answer machine, even thought i made the guy who took my number repeat it to me) and that her phone was having troubles, isn't it always the way!! anyways she confirmed what i knew, that she could have my money in my account within an hour. well of course they can they are the bloody bank after all!!!

 

do not worry people, i am still gonna screw them to the wall for interest and compensation. but for those of you who are desperately in need of your owed money's i am saying iot worked for me, do not take no for an answer and be determined. they are in the wrong and they do know this.

 

peace out, buba

[vandermerwe]

Hi Bigbuba

 

Thanks for keeping the forum advised.

 

Hope you get what you rightfully deserve.

 

You have one big advantage over me, though, you can obviously 'keep your cool' when dealing with fools and idiots: I cannot.

 

I can, and do, write the most excoriating letters but all I get back is a computerised job.

 

I admire your composure - really do. Have a 'click' on me!

 

Regards.

 

Vandermerwe

[MARTIN3030]

Nice one Buba and of course welcome to the site.

Let this offer some encouragement to all those facing the same.

[skp27]

Hello, newbie here! Probably a silly question, I want to send a letter regarding right of appropriation to my bank, but I'm not sure where to send it. It's HSBC, should the letter go to my local branch or another address?

[Guest littlesally]

skp27, the best way to get advice is to start a thread of your own.

There is an HSBC forum, that way everyone will hopefully read it as they will see you are new.

 

Click here, scoll to the bottom and click on 'new thread' and away you go.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/hsbc-bank/

 

BTW, it doesn't really matter where you send it as your local branch will foreward it on.

 

All the best,

Sally x

[maybelline]

halifax have told me they 'intend' to take my benefit, so I have written to say you may not, we will see?

[steven4064]

halifax have told me they 'intend' to take my benefit, so I have written to say you may not, we will see?

Let us know how you get on - I'm interested to see which banks (if any) take any notice of a first right of appropriation letter.

[steven4064]

halifax have told me they 'intend' to take my benefit, so I have written to say you may not, we will see?

Have they put that in writing? If so, can you post the letter here (suitably anonomatised (is that a word?) of course)

[steven4064]

Following from my previous post, does anyone on this thread have a letter from a bank where they claim they have a right to take money from benefits?

 

If so, can it be posted here?

[Guest littlesally]

HSBC completely ignored the request for benefits back for my homeless guy, treated like a usual request. Said he had to wait until after the test case.

He has replied to that.

Sally x

[vandermerwe]

You're right little Sally.

 

Exactly the same happened to me when I addressed a specific letter to a person. A computer replied.

 

Wonder why someone doesn't think of establishing a HSBC political party - they are so skilled at answering questions that were never posed and avoiding those that were?

 

Good luck.

 

Vandermerwe

[steven4064]

HSBC completely ignored the request for benefits back for my homeless guy, treated like a usual request.

And presumably, HSBC are contributary at least to the fact that he is homeless. But, hey, we wouldn't want HSBC shareholders not having enough money for their golf club memberships would we.

[Guest littlesally]

It was only one charge of £38, never had charges before.

But because of that charge being taken he was unable to pay £2.50 to the nightshelter, the council insist we charge that. So he was street homeless.

The thread is here, but don't worry if you haven't time Steve, although I may call on you if the latest letter fails

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/legalities/117512-bank-charges-benefits.html

 

Sally x

[steven4064]

I think your local newspaper might be interested in this.

[Guest littlesally]

We have discussed this and that is the planned next step if they don't pay out - he doesn't want them to pay out now, as he thinks he will be a star!

 

Sally x