Paid off my sons OD AGAIN

[beepee53]

I've just finally opened a letter addressed to my son who has co-incidentally been avoiding me.

 

I only opened after receiving several suspicious bank letters that he collected and quickly disappeared with.

 

To no shock or horror and even less surprise it was a letter demanding payment of 4 figures that he had been ignoring.

 

This is the third time this has happened. More fool me I suppose for baling my son out but what I find despicable about this is my ex wife on the second occasion went into the bank and asked them to close the account, which of course they refused due to banking regulations etc etc etc'.

 

My ex explained that he is not the most stable boy and a possible risk to his own life if this happened again so if they insisted on keeping him an account open then make that it was so that he could not possibly go OD. She made quite a scene and was eventually assured that they would do something. Obviously in their minds shutting my ex up and getting back to their office seat for another cup of coffee was ok with them and job done.

 

Is there nothing I can do to take them to task over this. It's not the money it's purely a principle of humanity.

 

Or am i really such a foolish old idiot?

[Bazooka Boo]

IMO If your son is over 18 then he is an adult so can do as he wishes, and he has to deal with the consequences.

 

Apart from that, the OD you've generously paid off for him, will in no doubt, have been full of the banks own reclaimable fees/charges which would have reduced the total owing, so much so that I strongly doubt it would have been four figures!

 

Is YS under any care at all? Or have some reason as to why he should be regarded as 'vulnerable'?

[slick132]

Hi Beepee and welcome to CAG

 

Unless you have an Authority to Act, or similar, the bank will normally be both unwilling and unable to discuss the a/c with you or your ex. Do you have any such authority.

 

If YS is 'vulnerable' as suggested above, you could consider a Lasting Power of Attorney, granted by YS in favour of either you or your ex or both.

 

If he's not vulnerable and is simply rubbish with money, nothing will change until he takes responsibility for his financial choices.

 

Have you considered closing this a/c and, instead, opening a basic a/c that will not allow any o/draft.

 

[BazzaS]

What incentive does he have to manage his own financial affairs if Mum & Dad keep bailing him out?

What agreement did you reach with him the first (and the second) time this happened, and do you expect things to be different this third time?

[Bazooka Boo]

What incentive does he have to manage his own financial affairs if Mum & Dad keep bailing him out?

 

Perhaps he doesn't have the mental or cognitive ability in order to run a bank account, I look perfectly ''normal'' and can act perfectly ''normal'' to the rest of the ''normal'' population, but there are times where I will need an 'appropriate adult' to ensure my best interests are served.

[BazzaS]

Perhaps he doesn't have the mental or cognitive ability in order to run a bank account, I look perfectly ''normal'' and can act perfectly ''normal'' to the rest of the ''normal'' population, but there are times where I will need an 'appropriate adult' to ensure my best interests are served.

 

Absolutely : except then the adult with power of attorney could have set "no overdraft" or arranged for a basic account with no overdraft facility.

 

If competent : the parents are as much at fault for letting him get away with it three times.

If not competent he's not at fault at all, the fault remains with the parents..... If he has an account with an overdraft the parents need to get it removed and need to show he may be over 18 but they have power to manage his affairs

[Bazooka Boo]

Or the corrupt rotten to the core banking industry? I'd blame them each and every time, regardless.