can banks do this with benefit money

earwig · 2 October 2006 at 1:52PM

hi
just wanted to know can bank take charges from my mum acount benefit is is paid into her acount as the goverment stoped paying by order book now she is 70 years old dose not understand cash machines at all and reguary get in a mess with them the bank has took 28.00 of her again stright from her bankacount causing a direct debit to bounce and now she will get charged again can they do this thanks

Scarlett1 · 2 October 2006 at 1:59PM

no they are not allowed to do it, and there is a post in this section regarding this.

could you not help your mum draw the money out each week to stop her getting into a mess, I dont think the bank will let her continue going overdrawn (which it looks like) and not to claim the money back

cifpower · 2 October 2006 at 2:02PM

Maybe it would be a good idea for your mum to open a Post Office card account into which her benefits can be paid. You could help her with the direct debits by taking money from the Post Office account and lodging it into the current account.

earwig · 2 October 2006 at 2:05PM

hi thank you where can i find the section where they are not allowed to do this

LondonDiva · 2 October 2006 at 7:45PM

Can you explain a little bit more?

I think you are saying that she's going overdrawn because she's having issues with understanding how cash points work, but am not sure from your post.

If so, your best bet would be to have a word with them and explain the situation (did she get an increase in her benefits at around the same time that could have led to her thinking she was getting more money in?); sit down with your mum and give a demonstration of the machines; and then encourage her to make withdrawals from the branch and checking her balance before each withdrawal (which she can also do on the machines).

Aside from that all you're doing is relying on their generosity for an unauthrised overdraft.

Good luck

peter999 · 2 October 2006 at 9:30PM

earwig wrote:

hi thank you where can i find the section where they are not allowed to do this

Look at this thread:

Bank taking your Benefit? Quote this -
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=269424

Hasn't this bank reduced their charges to a more reasonable level ??

Maybe arrange a small overdraft facility to cover situation when payments in/out
don't exactly coincide, so you don't get charged for going overdrawn for few days, with you keeping an eye on account to make sure it runs smoothly.

My brother had same problem keeping an eye on the balance & when direct debits were due. He got charged nearly £100 -for going overdrawn, then 2 direct debits hit the account, across 2 monthly statement periods

-outrageous, I "persuaded" bank to refund half the charges.

peter999

earwig · 3 October 2006 at 12:38PM

hi
my mum
hasnt got an overdraft basicaly what happens is she gose to the cash piont the bank tell her she can withdraw x amount so she thinks she can spend all of this she dosnt get it that her dd have to come out of this money she think the bank has allready took it

my mum has mental health problems and she is 70 year and just cant get it when you expain it to her so the companys come in for the direct debits there not enough in the bank to pay them the bank pay them then take it stright out of her pension when it next paid and then charge her 28.00 pound for doing this this week because the bank has paid 4 dd of hers they took 108 pounds of her benefit money so leaving her short for this week

Ames · 3 October 2006 at 1:10PM

Maybe you could set up two accounts for her, one for her pension to go in and bills to go out, and then one for everything that's left to be transferred to and only give her access to that one?

And try and claim back the bank charges.

Scarlett1 · 3 October 2006 at 2:37PM

earwig wrote:

hi
my mum
hasnt got an overdraft basicaly what happens is she gose to the cash piont the bank tell her she can withdraw x amount so she thinks she can spend all of this she dosnt get it that her dd have to come out of this money she think the bank has allready took it

my mum has mental health problems and she is 70 year and just cant get it when you expain it to her so the companys come in for the direct debits there not enough in the bank to pay them the bank pay them then take it stright out of her pension when it next paid and then charge her 28.00 pound for doing this this week because the bank has paid 4 dd of hers they took 108 pounds of her benefit money so leaving her short for this week

can you not get your mum to cancel all her DD's and pay all future bills another way ?

I would do what cifpowe suggested an open a post office card account for all her money to go into, then she wont be able to take out anymore that what she has in there.

seven-day-weekend · 3 October 2006 at 3:32PM

I for one would arrange for your mum to pay her bills in another way.

Work out a budget with her and tell her to ONLY draw this amount out; it doesn't matter what the cash machine tells her.

Ames · 3 October 2006 at 3:42PM

The problem with working out how much she can withdraw is that it'll be different every week depending what dds go out when, and if the pension's paid two or four weekly then it'll be different every single week of the year, because bills go out monthly and eventually you end up with bills going out before money's paid. It does get really confusing.

can banks do this with benefit money

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