Question for bank staff about how this would work

[thecornflake]

I'm badly overdrawn with Nawtest at the moment. As in none of my bills will get paid this month. They called the other day and cancelled all our direct debits to stop any more charges this month.

 

Now I'm in the situation where when I get paid it will clear most of the overdraft and there will be no money to pay next month's bills, let alone this months.

 

What I was thinking of doing, as I have another account elsewhere (£0 balance but no overdraft) and I'm about to start claiming from NW, what will happen if I change my wages to go into the new account and start from scratch using that account when I get paid at the end of the month? then I'll be able to pay some important bills off.

 

The Nawtest account will then have a big overdraft and no money going into it, but I could pay a small bit off it each month. The claim will be a while - I'm only just about to send off the DPA - so I need to do something in the meantime.

 

Will they close the account and make me pay back the whole lot?

[Lula]

Hi cornflake, this is what we refer to as using a parachute account, you need to do this to take control of your finances, will your claim exceed the od amount as it stands? if it does (and indeed, if it doesnt) when Nat West got the hump and threaten you with all sorts of nastiness, tell them that the account is in dispute pending court action, tell them that you are willing to make a payment each month (make sure that you can afford this payment and keep to it).

 

If the account is in dispute then they cannot do anything to you, make sure that you put it in writing and send it recorded delivery so that you have proof of postage and then start your action quickly

 

Hope this helps,

 

p.s. you should start your own thread in the Nat West section

[thecornflake]

Thanks for the reply. I do have my own thread in the NatWest forum, this is a separate question regarding how they would react to me stopping paying my salary into the account when there is a big overdraft outstanding.

 

I do intend to use the other account as my parachute account anyway, but I originally wasn't going to change over until the claim was completed and the OD paid off. The claim is roughly 10 times the OD by the way.

 

The current situation where all the companies are asking for re-setup of direct debits means it would be easy to take advantage now and switch accounts rather than strust either bank to transfer them all over and risk missing payments etc. Plus I don't want my salary to just get swallowed up in the overdraft. I could excercie Right Of Appropriation but I don't want to wind up NW too much just yet as I'll probably be threatening them with criminal charges as part of my claim.

 

As long as I can make small payments to pay it off each month (until the claim goes through) I'm happy - I don't want to have to pay it off all at once.

 

EDIT: When can I refer to the account as in dispute? After the Prelim, or once the court claim is filed? I haven't even sent the DPA request yet so it might be a while till I can do this.

[Michael Browne]

I suggest you do as you are proposing and as soon as you have transferred your salary and dd's etc, forestall any action by Natwest by sending them something along the lines of:

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXX

 

Dear Sirs

 

Re: Account in dispute

 

I am writing to clarify that I am currently in the process of requesting a refund of bank charges unlawfully made to my account. I believe that the unlawful charges you have imposed on my account far exceed my current overdraft..

 

I need to make you fully aware that I am disputing the sum owed and, as such, you must refrain from any further action until this dispute is fully resolved.

 

If you do proceed by issuing a Default Notice or making any adverse comments on my credit reference files, I shall be forced to take legal action against you under the Data Protection Act 1998.

 

Yours sincerely,

[thecornflake]

Thanks for the reply Michael I will use that.

 

Are they allowed to add interest to it while it is in dispute? I figure not, but I'm not 100% sure. And they've just upped the rate to something stupidly high.

[Michael Browne]

Are they allowed to add interest to it while it is in dispute? I figure not, but I'm not 100% sure

 

Yes, it'll be in their T&C's, otherwise we'd all be sending letters of dispute!!! They may well continue to add charges,but you can claim those back.

[thecornflake]

Thanks for all your help. Posting the letter today.

 

They have also re-instated all direct debits two days after we requested them to be cancelled which is causing additional problems and charged us £700 in charges in one day which is against their latest T&Cs which say they won't apply more than £90 of charges per day, but I'll get this done first.

 

I also need to check if it is a requirement of the account to pay in a certain amount each month. I may need to downgrade the account to a standard current account (currently Adv Gold).

 

As for adding yet more charges I am thinking about testing a notice under the Fraud Act that adding charges that may breach the act will be a criminal offence (see http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/56786-stopping-charges-under-fraud.html#post473832).

[Guest NATTIE]

That is not right in relation to DD charges because the £90 is referral fees when the item is paid not if it is returned unpaid. If the DD were stopped or cancelled by you they should refund as it is bank error but you do need proof in this day and age. Not sure of latter question but ADGD clearly is not working for you and that is £12 a month.

[indebtstudent]

thecornflake make sure it was indeed the bank that reinstated the direct debits. It is not unknown, in my experience, to cancel a direct debit only for the company to set up a new one. Unpleasent sure but not the banks fault.

[thecornflake]

thecornflake make sure it was indeed the bank that reinstated the direct debits. It is not unknown, in my experience, to cancel a direct debit only for the company to set up a new one. Unpleasent sure but not the banks fault.

 

Thanks I'll look into it.

 

NWSM - Thanks for clarifying that.

 

I got a letter from them this morning. I'm not sure if this is related to my letter about the account being in dispute. The overdraft was increased before xmas, with an agreement that they would decrease it back down to its previous level in steps each month.

The letter reads -

 

We refer to our recent communication and write to confirm our new agreement in respect of your account.

 

The balance of your account is to be within your overdraft limit of £xxx by 28th February 2007.

 

If you are unable to meet this agreement please contact the above number in order that we can discuss.. bla bla.

 

 

I'm not sure if they are referring to my letter or not.

 

I need to know where I stand with the account in dispute, and whether it can be kept at its current level until the dispute is settled.

 

I also might try my luck with the Fraud Act to stop additional charges and see how they react to that.

[JenniMoss]

Hi cornflake.

 

i did the same as you are plannin, i contacted natwest to sort things out and the rude 'customer service@ rep just offered me a loan and threatened me with default.

so i wrote to the and explained the situation with the bank charges and told them i would advise them of the court date and then moved all my DD and my wage over to halifax.

 

since then they have applied £400 in charges to the account, even though i left it within the overdraft limit. one charge of theres took me £3 outside my overdraft but by the time they advised me of this they had applied another £90 and then thay have added £28 a month since.

 

i am in court on the 16th of april and when i win they will only be getting the money i owe them MINUS the charges they have applied!

 

good luck cornflake, dont let them intimidate you, cos they will try to!

[Delboy01]

Hi I also am in discussions with my bank re charges on my account which have subsequently taken my account over my overdraft and was charging me £3 a day,,, after phoning them they agreed to stop the £3 a day if I went to the CAB filled in a Income and expenditure thing and so on,,,which I dont wanna do, I just wanna pay off a bit each month, keep the £3 a day stopped, take them to court and pay off od and close account.

 

I need to know

 

1.Is the account deemed in dispute after S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) receipt?

2.If it is they can take no further action on my account? ie DCA

3.Can they inform the CRAs?

[Lula]

Delboy, the account is in dispute when you send them the first letter stating that you disagree with their charges not after the SAR

They shouldn't under the banking code, taking any action on your account or inform CRA's in practise however, things are rather different - there are letters that can be sent in the event of any of these things happening and you can also add it to your claim re defaults.

 

hope this helps