Problem

momentai

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and am unsure if this is the correct place to post my problem. I've trundled the forums and the website for a while now and have found the information on many things very useful.

I have a slight problem with bank charges and threatening letters and don't have a clue where to start in order to resolve it. In 2003, I reopened my bank account with Abbey for my mum to use. She used it to pay for direct debits on her car insurance and things. In 2005, I went for my first year in university and left her in charge of my account. Shortly, she forgot to put money into the account and it went overdrawn. She didn't tell me until I came back for Christmas, by that time I owed Abbey over £100 due to bank charges.

After that, we decided that the bank account was too troublesome, so I personally went into Abbey, asked the lady in the counter how much it would be to clear the debts and any charges (£130) and paid it off in full. I also made sure to cancel all the direct debits on the account, so no money would be taken out, thinking that this would be the end of it. I did not close the account (which is stupid on my part).

At the end of my 2nd year, I had discovered that Abbey had written a letter to me saying that they closed the account and moved it to their collection department and that I owed them about £340. I decided to contact them to tell them there was no way I was paying the charges, because of what I had done beforehand.

At this time, I tried to acquire statements starting from the beginning of the debt in order to figure out where the debt had come from. However in the years leading up to this, my family had moved several times, so I did not receive any statements.

I contacted them another time to mention that I would not pay the amount unless I knew what it was for, and the lady couldn't tell me what had caused the account to go into the overdraft. I just put down the phone and left it until now.

Last month, I received a letter through the door telling me that Abbey had sold the debt to capquest and they were now seeking the money. Them being baliffs, I didn't contact them or anything to acknowledge the debt. Just today I get a letter from a Capquests solicitor telling me to pay £440 or they'll take me to court (computer generated, naturally)!

So... My question is... What should I do???

Orford

First things first...... Capquest are not bailiffs merely a debt collecting agency. They have no powers at all.

You need to send Abbey a DPA SAR see here:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges#step1

to find out your charges. As well as the £440 they claim you owe now there are likely to be other charges which you had previously paid. Therefore if Capquest do issue a claim you can counterclaim for a higher amount

Send Capquest this letter:

ACCOUNT NUMBER: XXXXXXX
Dear Sirs

Re: Account in dispute

I am writing to clarify that I am currently in the process of requesting a refund of bank charges unlawfully made to my account.

I note from your latest correspondence that you are proposing to issue court proceedings with regard to the outstanding balance of my current account .

I need to make you fully aware that I am disputing the sum owed and, as such, you must refrain from any further action until this dispute is fully resolved.

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.

Any court claim will be rigorously defended

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,

It won't necessarily stop them but at least your position is in writing.

Who is the solicitor?

momentai

Cheers for the advice Orford!

The solicitors they've appointed are H L Legal Solicitors
I have a sneaky suspicion that it's just capquest though... but I don't know.

philypops12

hi i have a problem.... i opened a natwest account 2 years ago . built up a good rapor even had a £30 charge refunded . then one ugly day they paid a dd at 12midnite my pay didnt clear until 4am the dd was returned with £29ish charge .now i only ever had enough money in this account to cover bills and this charged went unoticed for about 45 days therefore after paying the charge i was issued with the same charge again. i called and explained the charge stood so i moved my account. this debt now stands at £350 plus charges help

natweststaffmember

philypops12 wrote: »

hi i have a problem.... i opened a natwest account 2 years ago . built up a good rapor even had a £30 charge refunded . then one ugly day they paid a dd at 12midnite my pay didnt clear until 4am the dd was returned with £29ish charge .now i only ever had enough money in this account to cover bills and this charged went unoticed for about 45 days therefore after paying the charge i was issued with the same charge again. i called and explained the charge stood so i moved my account. this debt now stands at £350 plus charges help

start the process of reclaiming your charges back.

gazelle8760

philypops12 wrote: »

hi i have a problem.... i opened a natwest account 2 years ago . built up a good rapor even had a £30 charge refunded . then one ugly day they paid a dd at 12midnite my pay didnt clear until 4am the dd was returned with £29ish charge .now i only ever had enough money in this account to cover bills and this charged went unoticed for about 45 days therefore after paying the charge i was issued with the same charge again. i called and explained the charge stood so i moved my account. this debt now stands at £350 plus charges help

DDs are not Standing Orders, and can technically be called for at any time, just because it goes out one month on the 26th, does not mean that will happen the month after.

If you did not realize you had a charge, then you could argue the bank did not write to you, however, through no fault of my own I had a charge applied to an account two weeks ago, due to DDs coming out of my account, and having had my Debit Card Mis-used and me stopping the card, caused my DDs to bounce, the bank charged me immediately, no 28 day notice, immediate charge, and I received NO letter, fortunately they refunded the charges when I got my new card, as that was not my error, but it just shows how quick they can be.

Natwest could argue that the charge was justified and that it is your responsibility to ensure you have sufficient funds to cover your DDs, they may use the same example given in my first paragraph, sadly this is how a lot of people end up in hardship, a simple thing triggers a whole catalyst of charges, once your on that treadmill, coming off is very hard indeed.

Blackpool_Saver

I don't understand why you let your mum use an account and then went away, could she not have had her own account and why did she not attend to the account? I am sorry if there was a good reason but if there was , again why did you do it?

natweststaffmember

gazelle8760 wrote:

DDs are not Standing Orders, and can technically be called for at any time, just because it goes out one month on the 26th, does not mean that will happen the month after.

If you did not realize you had a charge, then you could argue the bank did not write to you, however, through no fault of my own I had a charge applied to an account two weeks ago, due to DDs coming out of my account, and having had my Debit Card Mis-used and me stopping the card, caused my DDs to bounce, the bank charged me immediately, no 28 day notice, immediate charge, and I received NO letter, fortunately they refunded the charges when I got my new card, as that was not my error, but it just shows how quick they can be.
They refunded you based on the bit in bold. The banks do not have to write to you if an item is bounced.
Natwest could argue that the charge was justified and that it is your responsibility to ensure you have sufficient funds to cover your DDs, they may use the same example given in my first paragraph, sadly this is how a lot of people end up in hardship, a simple thing triggers a whole catalyst of charges, once your on that treadmill, coming off is very hard indeed.

They will argue that there was already one charge refunded as a GOGW so unless there was a bank error then they will not refund.

momentai

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

I don't understand why you let your mum use an account and then went away, could she not have had her own account and why did she not attend to the account? I am sorry if there was a good reason but if there was , again why did you do it?

Mum was going through a hard time and couldn't open a back account due to business problems... It was a silly idea, but she talked me into it >.<