Help needed - issue with RBOS not closing account

gemsy62

Hello,

I have a problem with the Royal Bank of Scotland and needed some advice.

When I was 16 I took out a cashback card, one of these cards you can just get money out of the cash machine and nothing else. When we moved house in 2002 I was at university, and forgot about this account. The last statement I had reads £8.63 credit.

In April 2007 I received a letter telling me that I owed around £400 due to being overdrawn on the account. When I rang customer services I was told this is due to the fact they had started charging me to use the account. I did not see how this was possible as I had not received any statements or letters concerning this. They wiped the debt and advised me not to worry about it and that they would close the account.

In April 2008 I received a further letter, this time advising me that I owed around £500 for the same reason. I went mad at the poor man on the phone and again had the debt cleared. This time I was informed that to close the account I had to go into the branch. I went into my local branch and closed the account, to do this I had to take time off work as the branches are only open during working hours and the branch is over an hours journey to and from therefore I could not do it in my lunch hour.

I went into the branch with my sister and signed the closure of account forms and was assured that this was completely concluded.

On Thursday I received a further letter advising me that I now owe RBOS £350. I rang up and was really mad about this, I was due to go on holiday the next day and was really upset to discover that this had not been sorted out the previous year.

As I have been in Spain for the last few days my Dad has made some enquiries as to how I can sort this out. He's been to citizens advice who said consult a solicitor. The solicitors we have rung are not interested in pursuing the matter.

Please can someone advise me what to do? The debt collection agents are constantly ringing my Mum and Dad's house phone trying to collect the money which I do not believe I owe to RBOS. It completely ruined my holiday and I have no faith that if I close the account this will be the end of the matter as I have already done that twice now.

simax

gemsy62 wrote: »

When I was 16 I took out a cashback card, one of these cards you can just get money out of the cash machine and nothing else. When we moved house in 2002 I was at university, and forgot about this account. The last statement I had reads £8.63 credit.

That's where the problem started. Had you been more careful, you'd have told RBS your new address, and you'd have got the letter informing you of the changes, and then you'd have closed the account.

They've already written off quite a bit as goodwill (Note I say goodwill, as it wasn't their fault you moved).

I hope you get this sorted, and get them to refer to your previous notes on the account regarding this.... if they've refunded this before, there will be a justification note somewhere.

Maybe a stiffly worded letter to the Chairman may be in order?

Certainly one mistake you won't make again

Good luck :j

gemsy62

I've since informed them of my change of address though and have not been receiveing any statements since I supposedly closed the account so had assumed that this had all been sorted.

I understand I can't do anything about the issue that was my fault when I moved house. But since then I have tried to cancel the account twice, and certainly the second time surely the fault lies with the bank as I have done everything possible to ensure that this is sorted.

never-in-doubt

simax wrote: »

That's where the problem started. Had you been more careful, you'd have told RBS your new address, and you'd have got the letter informing you of the changes, and then you'd have closed the account.

They've already written off quite a bit as goodwill (Note I say goodwill, as it wasn't their fault you moved).

I hope you get this sorted, and get them to refer to your previous notes on the account regarding this.... if they've refunded this before, there will be a justification note somewhere.

Maybe a stiffly worded letter to the Chairman may be in order?

Certainly one mistake you won't make again

Good luck :j

To be honest I think you're totally wrong. You are missing the obvious point, I am sure the OP realises that she may have made a couple of mistakes and doesn't need smart comments reminding her of the fact!

1. Basic account - cannot suddenly be changed to fee paying account without your signature

2. You do not have to inform your bank of moving, if you forgot about the account - bottom line is you never had a debit balance and therefore after 24 months of inactivity they should have wrote and asked if you intended to keep account. When letters were returned as 'gone away' then the account should have been placed as dormant pending your visit to the branch to re-advise new address

3. They have broken the laws set in place to protect consumers.

Bottom line is you need to write to the bank and tell them as far as you're concerned there is no debt and you demand they look into this immediately and confirm the account is now fully closed with a suitable offer of compensation for your troubles.

See what they say then post back - that is the law and the facts.

HTH - Good luck.

Remember do not worry, you've done nothing wrong and you do not have to tell a bank, you no longer want to use, about any change of details. If you don't then they simply make the account dormant. That is the law.

jonesMUFCforever

never in doubt - sorry to say but you are spouting quite a lot of rubbish today.
Dormancy - law - broken the laws to protect consumers???

Care to enlighten us with the actual piece of legislation that you are referring to?
Remember the Banking code is a voluntary code and is not on any statute book.

It is plain stupid not to tell any financial institution of a change of address - as OP and others have found out.

gemsy62

Yes but I have since told them, and still not received any correspondence.

It is not the first instance I have the issue with, its the continuing treatment since my previous error.

That is what I asked for help with but no one seems to have got past the first part of my story. I wanted to explain the whole story to see what my options are. Basically I am having real trouble getting RBOS to close this account, and do not want to visit the bank for a 3rd time and find in 12 months time I receive the same letter yet again.

olly300

gemsy62 wrote: »

Yes but I have since told them, and still not received any correspondence.

It is not the first instance I have the issue with, its the continuing treatment since my previous error.

That is what I asked for help with but no one seems to have got past the first part of my story. I wanted to explain the whole story to see what my options are. Basically I am having real trouble getting RBOS to close this account, and do not want to visit the bank for a 3rd time and find in 12 months time I receive the same letter yet again.

There is more than one way of going about it but you are going to have to write RBS letters and send them to them by recorded delivery. As you need proof of postage and delivery. *

You will need to keep a copy of all correspondence including recorded delivery slips.

The method I would use as it has definite timescales is:

1. Write to RBS data controller and tell them that the information they have on you is incorrect and ask them under the Data Protection Act 1998 to correct the information.

In the letter give information about yourself i.e. name, address, account number. The state what you want corrected i.e. the acount is closed and you owe them no money. State in the letter that you have and include a photocopy of any evidence that the bank has provide you with the fact you owe them nothing. Also state if you don't hear from them within 40 days that they have corrected the information or you recieve another letter from RBS stating you owe them money then you will complain to the Information Commissioner about breach of the Data Protection Act and may take legal action.

2. Then if you don't hear from RBS after exactly 40 days send them another letter giving them a further 2 weeks to respond to you.

3. 21 days after step 2 go onto the Information Commissioners website and raise a formal complaint if RBS's data controller hasn't corrected the information or replied to your letters - you can make the complaint on line if you can scan in your recorded delivery slips and copies of the 2 letters you sent to them.


Information Commissioner website = http://www.ico.gov.uk/

RBS Data Controller Address
= 36 ST ANDREW SQUARE
EDINBURGH
MIDLOTHIAN
EH2 2YB

*Recorded delivery doesn't really prove that a letter got delivered but in my experience of using different regulators this seems enough to convince them that you sent the letter and the company recieved it.