Unable to close my old bank account

ktez

Hi

I changed my bank account about 3 months ago to join my husband's account in a different bank. I have a loan with my old bank so when I wanted to set up a direct debit to pay it from my new account, I was advised that I would not be able to do that and I had to set up a standing order. Also at the time of taking out the loan, I joined up to a members club thing that meant you would pay £12 a month and get vouchers and money off restaurants etc
I was told that I cannot cancel this as it was part of the conditions of the loan (I really didn't know this at the time)

I now have to pay £12 every month and I have incurred charges as the 1st month my standing order went in a day after the loan was due to come out of my account and it's just spiralled now where I am paying charges each month.

Anyone any advice on how I can get out of this bank for good? I have another 5 years left on the loan!!

McKneff

Ask to see the signed paperwork regarding this membership. If they cant supply it then they cant stop you from cancelling it. It seems a bit suss to me to get you to sign into this for quite a number of years. One year i could understand but over 5, well that's just outrageous. It may be that it has been missold. I would also complain that you didnt know about it being a condition of the loan, but like i say ask to see the paperwork. If not then get advice from CAB

[Deleted User]

ktez wrote: »

I joined up to a members club thing that meant you would pay £12 a month and get vouchers and money off restaurants

Would you have even saved £12 a month with the vouchers?

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain

would agree, get the paperwork, but sounds reasonable to me..

With my bank I'm a member of their monthly thing which comes with various bolt ons.. One of those is between 2-3% off their typical APR... You may find you can cancel the membership but the rate on the load increases.

If thats the case you just need to work out which is cheaper!

natweststaffmember

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain wrote: »

would agree, get the paperwork, but sounds reasonable to me..

With my bank I'm a member of their monthly thing which comes with various bolt ons.. One of those is between 2-3% off their typical APR... You may find you can cancel the membership but the rate on the loan increases.

If thats the case you just need to work out which is cheaper!

That is a common misconception since most loans are fixed rate. As you can see from my signature I don't bank with NatWest but I have a staff loan which was a fixed rate loan, the rate cannot change since the type of loan was fixed. Used to be an old trick to avoid people converting their bells and whistles account which was to state we would have to re do the loan.....you don't have to.

scott_lithgows

My wife had this kind of problem with Clydesdale bank.I suggested to her at the time she could set a standing order from a new bank covering the amount needed,in the end she chose to let the loan rundown and moved to the Nationwide straight after it was finished.You could also visit the credit card forum on here where you will get plenty of ideas by being a card tart.

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain

natweststaffmember wrote: »

That is a common misconception since most loans are fixed rate. As you can see from my signature I don't bank with NatWest but I have a staff loan which was a fixed rate loan, the rate cannot change since the type of loan was fixed. Used to be an old trick to avoid people converting their bells and whistles account which was to state we would have to re do the loan.....you don't have to.

Meh, dont doubt for a second. But then that said, imo it would be perfectly reasonable for some clause to be written in to change the rate if you do change, after all the discount given to "members" no doubt has the income from membership built in.

OP - Do update the thread when you challenge them :-)

ktez

Thanks for the advice folks. I will dig out the paperwork first and go from there and no Billbennett, I never used any vouchers or gained in any way from the membership so it was a total waste of money!!!

Extant

Which bank is this?

ktez

Ulsterbank

merch

I'll take a guess that when you say 'members thing' you mean 'ufirstgold' or 'ufirst' which are [STRIKE]rip-off [/STRIKE]extra-benefit accounts. Ask to downgrade to a standard fee free current account.
From your new joint current account, via standing order, send enough money to cover each month's loan payment in plenty of time (7-10 days beforehand). Do this until the loan is paid off.
Are you paying for PPI on the loan? Do you want to? If you have paid PPI unwittingly, do you want some or all of the premiums back?...
A friend of mine is in a similar situation with RBS (Ulsterbank is part of RBS group...) He was on Royalties Gold, now has an IPCA. He also reclaimed PPI payments and reduced his monthly payments and has about 12 payments left to make. He is funding his RBS account on a monthly basis via S/O from another bank.