Massive interest charges on a 'loan'

nuttyslack

Almost 4 years ago I wrote a cheque in good faith that was not supposed to have been paid into the recipient's account until a certain date. They went ahead and paid it in before this agreed date. At the time I didn't have an overdraft (as I have an IVA), but Natwest chose to pay the cheque, as opposed to bouncing it. Needless to say this ended me in a whole world of trouble and due to charges and my needing to live on a very small amount due to my IVA, I ended up having the account closed and setting up a payment plan to pay back what I owed.

To date I have paid almost £1500 to Natwest for this. I only owed just over £1000 in the first place, but having spoken to them about it just the other day I have found out I still owe them £799 due to the fact that almost 50% of my monthly repayments have been going on interest. I have got to speak to them again to find out what interest rate i'm repaying at - I was too shocked at the time to ask. I'm hoping that I'm going to be able to pay off the outstanding amount in the next month, in order that I'm not paying their massive interest charges for the rest of my life.

In addition to this in the four years that I have been paying this, I have never had any written confirmation of anything with them - since my phone callthe other day I have requested the last 4 year's worth of statements.

I know this problem is partly due to my own stupidity, but I wonder whether anyone knows if there's any come back on the massive amount of interest that I clearly have been charged? Thanks!

Rafter

Why didn't the funds the cheque was supposed to be set against ever get paid in?

It seems really odd that Nat West would pay a cheque for £1000 if you didn't have the funds.

You might have some luck reclaiming fees and charges depending on the outcome of the current fees enquiry, but if you haven't paid the money back you owed initially then as long as the interest rate was not extortionate, you have very little hope of reclaiming.

R.

sdooley

In France it's a crinimal offence to write a cheque where you don't have cleared funds to meet it.

CLAPTON

You need a complete statement of you account going back the four years and see how much is interest and how much charges.

You can make a SAR - subject access request, under the data protection act which costs £10 for all the data they hold on you for the last 6 years.