benefit and bank charges

oxooxo

my daughter rather stupidly got an overdraft facility when xmas became too much for her. she is an 18 yr old single parent who's income is made up of child tax credit, income support and child benefit. she then stupidly went overdrawn on the overdraft, and the bank took the charges directly out of her benefits. £105 charges by the way. after reading info on this site yesterday, she rang the bank.....they have agreed to pay her the child tax credit, but not the other benefits. she has to walk to the bank to collect it as she has absolutely no money rather than getting it from the local cashpoint.
the bank werent happy, and she has arranged for her benfits next week to go into my account.
meanwhile, she is stuck for money to live on, has no gas nappies etc and needs the rest of the money too. we are hoping that they at least give her the tax credits as promised.
wish i could help her financially, but i'm in no position to do so.
she needs help immediately to try to get this money....where does she go from here?

elaina79

This seems t be a bit of a grey area on here. Some people like me believe they they shouldn't deduct these charges from someone who's only income is state benefits. The banks just don't really care where the money comes from as long as they are making the money then they are happy.
Hopefully by going into the bank she may get some help, I would suggest that she gets rid of the overdraft facility on her account to stop this from occuring again.

She should go on the debt free wannabe threads on here and post an SOA. There are lots of people who will be able to help her manage her money that bit better. It's not easy being a parent and there are lots of people in the same situation on here that can help her.
I wish her good luck

krisskross

I would suggest she opens an account with the Post Office for her benefits to be paid into and comes to an arrangement with the original bank as to how the debt is going to be managed. She should also start the reclaiming process.she needs to do this now, otherwise she will lose a lot more to charges.

the Post Office account will not allow her to spend more than she has.

Tozer

elaina79 wrote: »

This seems t be a bit of a grey area on here. Some people like me believe they they shouldn't deduct these charges from someone who's only income is state benefits. The banks just don't really care where the money comes from as long as they are making the money then they are happy.
Hopefully by going into the bank she may get some help, I would suggest that she gets rid of the overdraft facility on her account to stop this from occuring again.

She should go on the debt free wannabe threads on here and post an SOA. There are lots of people who will be able to help her manage her money that bit better. It's not easy being a parent and there are lots of people in the same situation on here that can help her.
I wish her good luck

Its not a grey area at all. Simple statutory interpretation reveals the true purpose behind the legislation and its meaning in law.

borgbaiter

hi

have to agree its not a grey area unfortunately. however i would suggest it shouldnt be too hard to prove financial difficulty given the circumstances. i suggest a complaint using this as grounds may be quicker than a normal complaint about bank charges.


Borgbaiter