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

DarkConvict

Offsetting should be scrapped, it abuses the system of fair payment to creditors in a world where everything is done electronically it needs to be held in a bank.

Everyone has to ask/goto court, so should the banks. Dipping into peoples funds without knowing that it could be benefits/priority debts to be paid is wrong, and then there is the length process getting it back.

Tixy

Hi
The bank should not be using your benefits to pay off their arrears. You should be able to explain to the bank that that money is needed for essentials only.

There is a letter you can send in to the bank known as a first right of appropriation, which basically means you can earmark money you need for essentials and they cannot touch it. Now usually this is done before the money goes into the account, but I would think that you should still be able to use the same rights to get the vast majority of your money back.
If possible I would go into the branch in person on Monday. I'll see if I can find some guidance you can take along to help get back your money. If I can I'll post again in a moment.

(welcome to MSE by the way)

Tixy

Ootie

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=25675857&postcount=84

This is the letter in question.

http://www.corby.gov.uk/SupportingDocs/docs.supporting.released.2008-3.21193.Corby%20%20right%20of%20appropriation.pdf
Might also be worth a read

natweststaffmember

Tixy wrote: »

Ootie

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=25675857&postcount=84

This is the letter in question.

http://www.corby.gov.uk/SupportingDocs/docs.supporting.released.2008-3.21193.Corby%20%20right%20of%20appropriation.pdf
Might also be worth a read

That Corby letter is unfortunately incorrect. The bank should treat customers fairly and they should allow access to money but it is not unlawful to take money from benefits. The Social Security Administration Act 1992 specifically relates to an assignment of a debt which would be done through a court. However, it does not cover Bank charges and therefore whilst yes Appropriation is something you can do the bank does have the right to put charges on benefit money.

I would reclaim charges on the credit card though including the £12.00 fees.

alfresco

Can anyone help, please? I have a number of debts for which I am considering an IVA. One debt is with NatWest. I need to open a basic bank account and the Think Banking account looks as if it has all the things I need. However, it seems to be linked to RBS, although Think Banking say they think there would be no right of set off. The terms and conditions imply that Think Banking hold the account with RBS but it also says my ID would passed on to RBS. Does anyone know if there would be a right of set off?

kolin_2

I wish i was a victim of setting off.

I had £660 in my HSBC Savings account
I went over my overdraft limit in my HSBC Current Account by £30 when a mass-load of transactions all went out in one go 2 days before my pay was due to go in.

why didn't HSBC move some of my savings to cover the overdraft, instead of charging me £25 for a temporary overdraft extension.

I've complained and told them to remove the charge. not heard back yet.

kerry1982

i have a credit card with llooyds tsb. i unfortunately got in trouble with this and arrange with the bank to have a re payment plan of £20 a month. this was going really well and i was making regular affordable payments...

untill this month when i got paid, they decided to take £50 out of my account without notifying me.

i rung the bank up i got through to someone who was speaking poor english so it was very hard to have a proper discussion.... i however gathered that the re payment plan expired in january!

i was notified the re payment plan had expired nor was i told i had to increase my payments. it had been 5 months that was accepting the £20 from me, untill may they thought they would take more.

its terible the way i have been treated. surely the bank should have wrote to me in january notifying me tha payment plan was due to expire and would paying them extra per month be ok ? but no, they just take it out of my account.

i have a mortagge and other household bills to pay, im trying to make ends meat but then i get this!

banks are supposed to help people in trouble , not make things worse!

Humberstone27

My wife has a credit card and an arranged £250 current account overdraft with HSBC. I have a flexible savings account also with HSBC where my weekly state pension is paid in direct.
My wife is currently struggling to keep up her credit card monthly payments.
My question is, can HSBC take money out of my savings account to pay my wife's debts on her accounts.
None of these accounts are in joint names but I do make transfers to her current account when I can.
Has anyone had setting off in these circumstances?
Humberstone27

chriswa1

I had a particularly unusual experience with Lloyds TSB. I fell behind with loan payments, and was in a Debt Management Plan. I did have a current account with them too and was overdrawn, but within my overdraft facility. One day they used my overdraft to pay off my loan. Shortly afterwards they re-introduced (they had frozen for a while) the interest on my current account, thereby making me considerably worse off. They ignored my pleas for assistance. I had thought that 'setoff' related to seizing an asset so I asked the FOS to highlight whether Lloyds TSB could do what they have done. The FOS haven't even understood my query - or choose not to. Any thoughts?

With regards to the offsetting by taking monies from Halifax and moving them to Lloyds. Perhaps this could be done, however Lloyds are clearly so disjointed and unable to manage their own accounts, as I have found on numerous occasions, there is no way they would pick up on you having money in a Halifax account!

thepinkperil

My experience of this was several years ago when my nan was terminally ill - my mum and aunty became signatories on the account for reasons of practicality. My aunty's bank took thousands out of my nan's bank to pay off her credit card in its entirety - the payment due was less than £100 but it turned out due to a fault with the Lloyds TSB credit card processing (which they later admitted) and my aunty's bank, the payment that had been due to go out had failed. My poor ill nan thought she had been robbed, my aunty was horrified - she banked elsewhere it was only her credit card that was with Llloyds TSB not her main account and she was only a signatory and the set up was that it required both my mum and my aunty to sign on anything they had to do on nan's behalf - yet they had nicked all my nan's money. Bank said there was nothing they could do. Aunty was distraught she could not afford to pay it all back. Nan was upset and felt violated but her account was thousands less and no-one gave a toss!