Do you have money worries and a loan or credit card with your bank?

griff893

I would be interested to hear whether they can do this too as I'm in a similar position.

The other question I have is the debt are still in my maiden name and my current account is in my married name, would they still be able to off set?

Very worried don't want to find my account has no money and I'm unable to pay my mortgage & loans.

hillbilly5 wrote: »

Hi

We entered a dmp with cccs just over a year ago - all running well. We have debts with several banks and so opted for an account with Lloyds TSB to have wages etc paid in.

We do have debts with Halifax though and with their merger I have been trying to find out whether Lloyds could offset our debts against what we owe Halifax.

I had been told that because they have seperate licences from FSA and are keeping their own identities this isn't a possibility, but I must admit that I am worried that one day we will find our LloydsTSB account cleared out.

Can anyone clarify this - as I phoned FSA the other day and they confirmed that they have seperate licenses but wonder, in view of Martins comments, does this also apply to debts or only savings?? Help.

Twickenham_Ben

Lloyds TSB took all of the wages I received from my bank account as soon as I was paid leaving me with no money at all to live in. If it wasn’t for my parents I would have been destitute.

They did this AFTER I contacted them, telling them my situation and asking them to agree to a repayment program.

I was already £1100 overdrawn and they took another £400 out.

I have heard that they can’t off-set when you have a debit balance. Is this the case?

hanu

to be honest with you all, i think to a degree the banks have a right to do this. you have borrowed money from them for whatever you needed/wanted and agreed to pay it back but have broken your bargin. you signed the t+c's so you were aware of this. therefore it is not technically theft and they can do this

however there are some situations which i do think is wrong:
- taking from a childrens account
-taking from the sick and pregnant
-taking benefit money
-taking money from people who have money from the social to save their lives
- those who have requested help and support from the banks but in all fairness they do not have to agree to this and if they think that you are not doing enough then they should be allowed to reverse it to what they want.

From your comments it would appear you have not been in a position when your livihood has been taken away from you. Leaving a desparate situation of needing to feed your family. Having a bank bounce the same payment over & over again making the situation a 100 times worse and turning a small debt into a nightmare! Scrapping money together to put into the account to pay for the roof over your head. Only to find that money swiped away. Leaving even bigger hardship & stress, and could they care ....not a hope in hell at HSBC, which I might add at one time was Midland Bank ....the listening bank!! They did then but they don't listen anymore.:mad:

moo_cow

Hanu, I couldn't agree more. I don't know of ANYONE who has borrowed money with the deliberate intention of never paying it back. I had an excellent credit score and have always paid back every penny i've ever borrowed, ON TIME too I might add. BUT, recently our credit score has taken a nosedive as we have been in sudden financial difficulty like so many other thousands of people. As soon as my husbands pay dropped (by 40%) I immediately spoke to my bank (lloyds tsb yawn!) and explained the situation so as it could be sorted before any letters etc went out. The result, stung me with over £1000 worth of charges despite me cancelling all direct debits payable to them online (they took it anyway and then charged me unauthorised o/d fees) and then started just taking money from my account. I've had to open another account elsewhere and can't close the lloyds account as there's still a debit balance on it.
There have been fees upon fees upon fees. HOW DOES THIS HELP??????
I owed less than £200 on one credit card and because of fees they have continued to add (despite agreeing a repayment plan) this balance has already grown to £370 in less than 6 months (and this is with me making a payment every month?) I have been right through my debts and have estimated that over 10% of my total balances are due to charges which are still being added. The government seriously needs to sort this out. This is ridiculous. Being sloppy is one thing but being in serious financial hardship and struggling to keep the roof over our heads is another. What possible justification do these people have for charging the way they do?
It makes things worse.

RANT OVER!

sdooley

The legal right to off-set is worthwhile in some circumstances. If as a landlord your tenant owes you money and you owe your tenant money (or vice-versa) then it gives you a short-cut to getting some of your money back where one or the other has broken the terms of the agreement. Could be a similar situation between a trader and their suppliers.

With banks, the difference is that they don't normally stop business with their customers when customers breach the t&cs. Doing this as a one-off isn't so unfair - it would be unfair on a bank to see a bankrupt's savings, sat with them, used to pay another debtor in preference to the loan they might not have advanced if it wasn't for the savings being there. It's the way banks can arbitrarily take all someone's money, month after month, that's so mean.

The right of set-off is useful in a wealthy customer's favour if a bank goes under though as the customer can set off savings against borrowings, even above the govt financial compensation limits, if the bank defaults.

mariab8817

Lloyds TSB have done this to me 3 times over the past year. I have a loan with them and about 18 months ago for 6 months had agreed reduced payments. Now I have interest on top of outstanding payments but I have been paying the full monthly amount all agreed by Lloyds. The three times they have taken the money has been on a friday when the childrens maintanence has appeared and they have swiped the lot leaving me one time with £50. I did get the money back after numerous calls but it took 5 working days which didn't help at the time!!!

I have written a letter of complaint because at the end of the day they are going to get their money back and make a tidy some out of me as well.

kate2510

I did know that the banks could 'set off' but was not aware until I read this thread that they were doing it.
My business had failed and I was unable to make repayment on a BOS cc, a very rude woman telephoned me demanding payment and I told her I was consulting a debt councillor and they would be in contact with the bank. "Not good enough!" she replied "We will be taking payment from your other accounts with the Halifax as soon as possible" It was with some small satisfaction that I pointed out that I had NO accounts with HalifaxBOS.

fruitjuice01

guys i have read this post and, working for a bank, in general i hear loads of these stories. i can understand that life isnt perfect and inconvient things can happen, perhaps your wages go into your acc late which means the direct debit for credit card is returned and you pay the fees in this sort of instance you can always enquire into a refund from the company to 'blame' in this example the company you work for (always look into any paperwork you have or any t&cs to see what exactly it says. also terrible things can happen, i.e a loved one dying perhaps, which then is obviously no ones fault and is then quite understandable that you forget a payment on your credit card, in this sort of instance if you call your bank they should be understanding and put a credit to your acc, however this is a gift and is not what a bank is obligated to. any standard set of t&cs for a credit card will state that you are responcible for making your payments, if you default on these or are late there are charges and they can take it from any acc on which you are named! lets face it you must be an adult to have a credit card and as such you should be able to stay in conrol of your finances---take responcibility

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ALSO TO ANY ONE WITH A CREDIT CARD PLEASE SET UP A DIRECT DEBIT FOR THE MIN PAYMENT, it means you wont be late or ever get charges a late payment fee (as long as u have the money in ur acc) this can help your credit score and you can always pay additional amounts when you are in a position to do so. also to avoid interest you can get a credit card with an interest free period every month and set up a dd for the ful balance.

altowillie31

I feel very sorry for the people who are suffering from their respective banks removing much needed funds when they are in bad straits.
Some many years ago, I suffered sever financial difficulties and found myself continually kicked in the ribs by my bank.
Through hard work and prudence, I am now in a very secure financial position.
The people who have been relating their stories via the Money website seem to be very genuine and hard working.
My advice is that when you have recovered, which you will I can assure you , remember who helped you and who tried to force you head under the water.
Ditch the Bank which didn't help.

angelicmary85

Just posting here so the thread moves to page one for a new guy to post on it!