Please Help, At My Wits End!

LeLLe

Hiya

On Wednesday i was hit with 3 bank charges totally £105. I'm currently living off £80 a week for myself and 2 young children. Anyway, this has left me £35 overdrawn and no money until Tuesday when i get my next lot of money. As i'm overdrawn, i'm going to be hit with another £28 bank charge, which will probably come out next week, again leaving me with no money until the following Tuesday.

Does anyone have any advice about what to do? I went into the branch and the girl said there wasn't much they could do but gave me a number to phone but she did say they probably wont refund it back because i've had a single charge refunded in the past. I'm going to phone tomorrow anyway and see what they say but failing that, does anyone have a Plan B?

natweststaffmember

LeLLe wrote: »

Hiya

On Wednesday i was hit with 3 bank charges totally £105. I'm currently living off £80 a week for myself and 2 young children. Anyway, this has left me £35 overdrawn and no money until Tuesday when i get my next lot of money. As i'm overdrawn, i'm going to be hit with another £28 bank charge, which will probably come out next week, again leaving me with no money until the following Tuesday.

Does anyone have any advice about what to do? I went into the branch and the girl said there wasn't much they could do but gave me a number to phone but she did say they probably wont refund it back because i've had a single charge refunded in the past. I'm going to phone tomorrow anyway and see what they say but failing that, does anyone have a Plan B?

I have asked someone to have a look at the thread who will be able to give you some good advice.

esmerellda

Hiya x

I am assuming the £80 is your food money etc rather than being all you receive each week ? If not can you list what benefits, tax credits etc you receive and we can check you are getting all you are entitled to.

I am a single mum of three and my income is from benefits and tax credits. I have only recently opened a basic bank account, simply so I can use a debit card to do my grocery shop online (the delivery charge is cheaper than bus to and taxi back from the supermarket), but all my money is paid into a post office card account which I withdraw in cash and distribute to where I want it to go, some to the bank, my rent I pay in to my landlords account in cash, water, tv licence on paypoint, electric prepay and so on. No risk of charges.

Anyhow, just something to think about.

So how to get out this situation.

If the bank refuse to listen to how much hardship these charges will cause you then you need to try and use your first right of appropriation to ensure you have enough money to get through the next income period.

If a bank informs you it will be taking money from your account to pay itself, for any reason, charges, offset of another account/loan, or just to be swallowed up by an unauthorised overdraft and you can't afford for them to take the money, then you MAY be able to use the Right of Appropriation to stop them taking the money temporarily.

You should take this letter to the bank at least 7 days before the payment is due in / they are due to take the money.

You need to tell the bank what date and the amount of the payment due in to the account, and the dates and amounts of payments that are essential to be paid.

The most common use of this right is to rescue your Housing Benefit/Local Housing Allowance from bank charges and enable it to still reach your landlord.


Quote:

[your name ]
[your address]


[date]


[bank name ]
[bank address]




Dear Sir/Madam,

RIGHT OF APPROPRIATION
ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxx

I am writing to inform you that I am due to have a Benefit / Salary / tax credit payment of £xxx paid into my account on xx/xx/xx, and I wish to use my first right of appropriation for this money, for the following purposes;

Rent - Company/Landlord name/reference - due to be collected by Direct Debit on xx/xx/xxxx - £xx

Please ensure this payment is made.

I also need to appropriate the sum of £xxx for essential housekeeping and will withdraw this sum over the counter/by ATM on xx/xx/xxxx.

Please ensure this sum is available to me at that time and that any other payments out of my account or charges applied to my account do not interfere with this withdrawal.

If you have any doubt over my rights please contact your legal team.


Yours faithfully,


[signature]


Which Bank is it ? I have letters from a couple banks outlining their use of FROA which might be useful to have as backup. Its also best to take the letter in to the bank and ask to speak to someone privately.


See what they say tomorrow.

Then we can also go and reclaim the past charges back under the UTCCR (oft v banks test case) under hardship guidelines. But first priority is getting through next couple weeks.

Sharon
xx