My Income is too high!

kenstu

I have been trying to reclaim £300 in bank charges from Nationwide as I am on a fixed low income of £59.88 per week. Yet when I returned their I&E form, they wrote back over a month later telling me I have a too much money coming in. I wrote asking how could I possibly have too much money coming in. After another 3 months of arguing by letter, by which time I took it to the FOS, they wrote showing the income they have calculated for me. What they have done is: Before losing my job I had been saving for my wedding next month. Unfortunately due to these charges and the low income that I have, I had to start using these savings. I therefore had to transfer my savings back into my current account. Nationwide have included this as additional income. Also, when I was originally charged, the value of the items (Direct Debits) in question were debited from my account; due to insufficient funds in my account, this money was recredited to my account as the Direct Debit was not being paid. They have also included these credits to "top-up" my income for their purposes in turning down my requests for reimbursement due to low income. The case is still with FOS. :mad:

esmerellda

The Savings account top ups I can understand and would agree with them on. The returned Direct Debits part is just ridiculous and certainly shouldnt be included by them as part of your income.

On your IE sheet I assume you havent shown the savings account money as a regualr income as it is temporary, if you average out what you have used from the savings and add it to your stndard income how do your figures look (income vs expenditure). Do you have any priority debt arrears etc ? (unfortunately if you do the savings would count against you as that money could be used towards those raher than luxuries (I know!) )

kenstu64

Hi Esmerleda
The savings only accounted for £280 of those quoted on my statement, and even if I included these as "income", my gross income would still be only around £75-£80 per week including the £59.88 I currently receive. From this I also have £25 p/week for rent and arrears, plus £11 per week for Council Tax. Hence why I had to use my savings of £280. Yes I had listed the savings as it did ask on the I&E form. I also indicated that I currently have rent arrears of almost £800. The charges I incurred started in January when I changed bank accounts, and my previous bank sent the credit balance to Nationwide, and they mis-placed it. It ended up in their suspense account. It took me 5 weeks to convince them to even look in their suspense account, and low and behold there it was. I was charged £110 plus interest, and din't even get as much as an apology for their error. This is a point I have raised with the FOS.

natweststaffmember

kenstu64 wrote: »

Hi Esmerleda
The savings only accounted for £280 of those quoted on my statement, and even if I included these as "income", my gross income would still be only around £75-£80 per week including the £59.88 I currently receive. From this I also have £25 p/week for rent and arrears, plus £11 per week for Council Tax. Hence why I had to use my savings of £280. Yes I had listed the savings as it did ask on the I&E form. I also indicated that I currently have rent arrears of almost £800. The charges I incurred started in January when I changed bank accounts, and my previous bank sent the credit balance to Nationwide, and they mis-placed it. It ended up in their suspense account. It took me 5 weeks to convince them to even look in their suspense account, and low and behold there it was. I was charged £110 plus interest, and din't even get as much as an apology for their error. This is a point I have raised with the FOS.

And the truth will set you free. You are arguing your case wrongly. You need to tell them that you changed bank accounts in January and that they charged you £110.00 plus interest which they did not refund even though it was in a suspense account with Nationwide. Had the money gone in, would you have incurred most of the charges once the money was located(if the £110 plus interest was there)?

If the answer NO then that is your case and NOT financial hardship.