Housing Benefit Cancelled.......Help Needed Urgently **RESOLVED**

[Shoelover]

Yes i used to have a bank account with natwest and a bank loan but both are no longer relevant following my bankruptcy in 2011.

 

The council are saying that the accounts are in my wife's name not mine

 

It's probably a data match. Have they said what year the match is in respect of?

 

 

Has your wife had any nat west accounts?

[theronstar]

Can you go into a NatWest branch or ring their call centre to see if they can write you a covering letter?

[silentmovieman]

THe Wife has never had a natwest account, will the credit report show this?

 

Ill need the full account numbers from the council to be able to get details from natwest wont I?

[theronstar]

If you got a letter from NatWest to say that she has never had any dealings with them, it will back up your statement. It will be the council's fault that the letter will not be as specific as they would want it to be!

 

My Experian credit report showed me all the financial institutions that I had dealings with. Though there are a few providers out there. CallCredit and Equifax. Someone else will know how comprehensive all their reports are.

[martin2006]

You can get yours and/or your wife's credit reports free and instantly from http://www.noddle co .uk and from http://www.clearscore.co.uk.

Housing benefit is not suspended or cancelled by the council, its done by the benefits office which runs directly with HMRC. As soon as any change in circumstance is reported, your claim is automatically suspended and can take upto 12 weeks to be sorted out, not a great help to anyone, it causes massive problems and puts people in arrears with either their council housing office or private landlord etc. They care not about that tho.

 

Get your reports online and check whats showing re: Natwest then come back.

If theres nothing on the reports go to your nearest natwest branch and have them check for accounts in your wife's and as you'll be there anyway, your name aswell. If no accounts show either at the bank or on your reports, get natwest to write confirming no accounts exist or get details of all accounts, when opened, how opened etc, u get the drift.

You will then have something to present to HB and HMRC.

You can get all of this in one day

[Mr.P]

If theres nothing on the reports go to your nearest natwest branch and have them check for accounts in your wife's and as you'll be there anyway, your name aswell. If no accounts show either at the bank or on your reports, get natwest to write confirming no accounts exist or get details of all accounts, when opened, how opened etc,

 

It would be a good idea to take your wife with you along with photo ID and proof of address for both of you. Banks are unlikely to confirm or deny any accounts belonging to your wife without her being present.

[silentmovieman]

I've ordered the £2 experience reports for us both so hopefully they'll be here today or tomorrow then I'll let you know what they say.

[silentmovieman]

You can get yours and/or your wife's credit reports free and instantly from http://www.noddle co .uk and from http://www.clearscore.co.uk.

Housing benefit is not suspended or cancelled by the council, its done by the benefits office which runs directly with HMRC. As soon as any change in circumstance is reported, your claim is automatically suspended and can take upto 12 weeks to be sorted out, not a great help to anyone, it causes massive problems and puts people in arrears with either their council housing office or private landlord etc. They care not about that tho.

 

Get your reports online and check whats showing re: Natwest then come back.

If theres nothing on the reports go to your nearest natwest branch and have them check for accounts in your wife's and as you'll be there anyway, your name aswell. If no accounts show either at the bank or on your reports, get natwest to write confirming no accounts exist or get details of all accounts, when opened, how opened etc, u get the drift.

You will then have something to present to HB and HMRC.

You can get all of this in one day

 

Like i said they did this last year too so this time around i tracked down the contract details for the benefits manager, his boss and the chief executive. Actually got a response from the top man who was the one who broke it all down for me.

[martin2006]

Why have you paid £4 fir something u can get for free online?

[theronstar]

I had one more idea overnight.

 

Have you contacted Action Fraud? If you file a report there with the information that you received from the council, they could probably do an investigation and maybe come up with something useful.

 

http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

[Shoelover]

I had one more idea overnight.

 

Have you contacted Action Fraud? If you file a report there with the information that you received from the council, they could probably do an investigation and maybe come up with something useful.

 

http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

 

They will just refer it back to the council.

[silentmovieman]

So whilst awaiting the Experian reports I followed your advice and pulled up our details on Noodle. There is no reference to Natwest on either my wifes or my reports and I do not appear as a linked name on my wifes records.

 

Mind you it also says that there are no records of insolvencies or bankruptcies on my wifes report despite the pair of us being in an iva together until 2010.

[theronstar]

Lenders feed information into the credit reference agencies. I guess in this case the IVA was not fed into Callcredit - who run Noodle.

 

Maybe it was fed into Experian or Equifax.

 

I don't know if filing in a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman can help if things drag on. Though this could require a deadlock situation with the Council first though.

[silentmovieman]

Lenders feed information into the credit reference agencies. I guess in this case the IVA was not fed into Callcredit - who run Noodle.

 

Maybe it was fed into Experian or Equifax.

 

I don't know if filing in a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman can help if things drag on. Though this could require a deadlock situation with the Council first though.

 

If noddle use callcredit and clearscore use equifax then once ive got my experian report ill have all basis covered wont i?

 

Shouldn't the council provide me with evidence of where they're pulling their info from?

[speedfreek]

If noddle use callcredit and clearscore use equifax then once ive got my experian report ill have all basis covered wont i?

 

Shouldn't the council provide me with evidence of where they're pulling their info from?

 

Yes they should but..... in your case they are asking you to try and prove a negative!

 

Since the accounts are not yours Natwest can not give you any details as it's illegal under DPA laws to give you details of another person account!

 

So stop trying to find information you can not legally get.

 

What you have from the Credit Reference stuff and a signed statement by both you and the wife is all you can really be expected to produce.

 

1, formally appeal the decision to stop your benefit. Include the above and the fact that this happened before.

 

2, throw in a SAR to both the Council and HMRC

 

3. Write a formal letter of complaint to the head Head of your Council:- copy that/send to as well your local Councillor and your local MP.

 

Keep it short sweet and to the point!

 

This may take some time so 3 is very important but... also investigate local support for emergencies.

[martin2006]

Its beginning to look like u need to go and get sonething in writing from natwest to show yr wife has no accounts with them, u will need id when u go

[silentmovieman]

Got the Experian reports today and lo and behold there is no indication of any natwest accounts on either mine or my wifes records. Guess its time to get on with the advice above.

 

On a separate issue there is no mention of any insolvency or IVA of any kind on my wifes report. Mine however shows both the original IVA and of course the bankruptcy which I am really confused about.

 

I always thought they had messed things up when the did the IVA in joint names and since it was defaulted all traces of my wifes connection to it seem to have vanished despite the fact that I still have copies of the original paperwork regarding the IVA with her name attached. Having said that it was in her maiden name but as it has all the addresses listed that we lived in at the time etc that shouldnt make a difference should it?

[Shoelover]

Has your wife ever had a loan account with Nat West?

[tezza1234]

Why have you paid £4 fir something u can get for free online?

 

Bit of a harsh comment as Noodle and Clearscore are not as up to date or as 100% as ordering a £2 report, how do i know this, i have done it myself.

[Shoelover]

In any event, not all interest bearing accounts leave a credit foot print. I'm guessing they have a data match which suggests the o/p has interest bearing savings.

[martin2006]

In the context of the thread tezza the OP didnt need it to be upto the minute accurate, just needed to find out if any of the accounts his wife is assumed to have by HB and HMRC actually existed, so not harsh at all, just a quicker and cheaper way to find out.

[id6052]

has your wife had any PPI claims over last couple of years?

[silentmovieman]

To answer all the questions raised -

 

She never had dealings with natwest but i did which were part of iva then bankruptcy

 

No she hasn't made any ppi claims

 

She does have savings but with smile and the council are fully aware of them

[silentmovieman]

So I've gone back to the chief executive of the council who was the one to provide me with the natwest link. That was a couple of days ago so i guess it's time to chase or is there no point and i should wait for a response.

[silentmovieman]

I have also contacted natwest today and they have absolutely no record of my wife