DMP: Natwest soon to sell my debt on...shall I claim charges now or wait??

mcajshaw

Hello there,

I hope that you may be able to help me. I am currently on a Debt Management Plan with Payplan. Natwest have not accepted the offers made by me each month and they say in 28 days they will take legal action if I do not repay the debt. I am told by the payplan people they will simply sell my debt on and I should not be concerned.

My question is this: I am planning to try and claim all my bank charges back from the Natwest under the financial harship claims which are not on hold. However If I claim now they will just knock them off the current Natwest arrears? Would I in your opinion be best to wait until they have the sold the debt on and try and claim then? Would doing this means they would have to send me a cheque with the charges amount as they would not longer have the debt and would be unable to knock the charges of my current balance (as they no longer own the debt). Or would I be best to ask for them back now whilst they still have the accounts. Which tactic would serve me best?

Hope this makes sense and hope you can help,

Jonathan.

esmerellda

If you are in hardship then get your claim in now. Depending on your circumstances some will come of your debt yes, but you may be given some to cover priority debts. If it is passed to a DCA (and its more likely to be assigned for collection than sold) then the refund would be given to the DCA.

If your charges claims works out at more than your debt then the bank shouldnt take further enforcement action and it should stop your account being sent to a DCA (which would save a lot of hassle for you) as it should be put on hold. Also if they try to take you to court for the debt you can show you have complained and disputed the amount owing, and then defend in court, and counterclaim for the charges.


you can send them a letter such as.

Legal__Beagles wrote:

Dear Sir or Madam,

ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxxxx

DISPUTED DEBT / FINANCIAL HARDSHIP COMPLAINT

I am writing with regards to the alleged outstanding debt owing on my account. I consider the debt to be in dispute as the majority

/whole of this sum is made up of disputed charges and interest charged thereon. I request a refund of the various unauthorised overdraft charges which you have taken from my account over the last XX years.

Further to recent publicity covering the High Court Test Case between the Office of Fair Trading and the Banks, I am now aware that these charges may be considered unlawful.

The High Court has decided that recent charges applied to my account can be assessed for fairness under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.

I am also aware that the Bank have taken advantage of the FSA's waiver on complaints handling, however as my position is one of severe financial hardship, which you will note from looking at my account, I am entitled to have my complaint processed in a timely manner. I therefore request that your forward your income & expenditure form so that my circumstances may be considered.

I currently have ( OUTLINE PRIORITY DEBTS AND ISSUES THAT YOU FEEL PUT YOU IN HARDSHIP )

In your letter dated xx/xx/xxxx you have informed me the amount outstanding on the account is £xxxx.xx . The amount I calculate you have taken in unlawful charges and interest on those charges is £xxxx.xx. In addition I am claiming from you a sum of compensatory interest equal to 8% per annum which brings the total disputed amount to £xxxx.xx . [if you don't know the amount change this to I believe the total sum of charges you have taken from me since July 2001 outweighs the alledged debt. I have asked for details of all charges from your Data Protection Department. ]

I have no intention of reneging on any part of this account which may be legitimately incurred debt and as I understand the issues surrounding the dispute are currently pending determination in the House of Lords and with the Office of Fair Trading, as a gesture of goodwill I would like to arrange with you to keep this debt on hold until the outcome of that case. Therefore I propose that you place a hold on further charges and interest being added to the account and that you accept an interim repayment plan.

I propose I make payments to you of £xx per calendar month, the first payment is enclosed, until such time as the dispute is resolved. Once this dispute has been resolved, if in my favour, you will continue processing my complaint, and if in your favour we will review repayment arrangements for the alleged debt. To be clear I currently dispute whether this sum or any is actually owed to your company and I am simply offering a reasonable solution in the interim whilst the dispute is considered.

I would like to make you aware of The Office of Fair Trading Code of Guidance in which it states: putting pressure on debtors or third parties is considered to be oppressive This includes: Ignoring disputes about whether money is owed and refusing to freeze action if the debt is in dispute.

I therefore hope to receive your full co-operation in this matter and would like to request a written response to that effect.

Yours Sincerely



Your Name

natweststaffmember

See above and you will see what I mean with regards to the PM Mcajshaw

esmerellda

hmmmmmmmmmm

mcajshaw

Firstly thanks for your help guys...but one more question...which letter should I use to send to Natwest. This one you copy and pasted here or the ordinary "financial hardship" one from this website or both? It will be my first contact with them re: bank charges, but I can add up charges owerd from historical bank statements online.

Also can I have an address form someone to send it too please?

Jonathan.

natweststaffmember

mcajshaw wrote: »

Firstly thanks for your help guys...but one more question...which letter should I use to send to Natwest. This one you copy and pasted here or the ordinary "financial hardship" one from this website or both?

Jonathan.

Definitely the one posted on this thread.

mcajshaw

And whats the best address/department to send to?

esmerellda

Will let Nats deal with the addresses side

Yep use the letter I wrote - also send your Data Protection Act request letter to get all the information. i always think it is best when in financial hardship to just ask for everything back and spelling out your hardship whilst waiting for the DPA request info to come through.

Anything you get back whilst in hardship will be a interim offer and the remainder will stay on hold until the oft v banks test case is concluded.

If you arent sure with anything on the letter do your edits, I havent mentioned payplan so you need to amend a bit to add that in (ie you are with payplan trying to sort your finances out, have made offers which they have refused etc), and then post it up and will check through for you

natweststaffmember

Customer Response Services Unit

1st Floor

Drummond House

1 Redheughs Avenue

Edinburgh

EH12 9JN

The address as supplied.
You are quite lucky, you have morecambe and wise double act on this thread. If one other poster was on here you would have the three stooges

mcajshaw

Your help "Morecambe and Wise" is much appreciated.
Is the data protection act letter the one to ask for the charges information? If so I think I Can get the charges myself from my online banking. Its just that askign for them would further delay the process wouldn't it? I think I need to act quickly as accounts likely to be soon sold on. Jon.

mcajshaw

and cheers for the address - do I need to send it recorded delivery?