Nationwide - Frozen Account...Advice Needed

jennyg1980

Hi all

Was wondering if anybody can offer any advice.

I have had a current account with Nationwide for about 10 years which all of my salary and tax credits are paid into and all of my bills come out of. About 6/7 years ago I opened a credit card account with Nationwide, I think the limit was about £500. I used to pay it off monthly over the phone. For one reason or another, I kind of forgot about the account...I was consumed in other debt at the time and think I must have put it to the back of my mind. I have never received any correspondence from Nationwide regarding the credit card account, but regularly receive bank statements from the other account.

Today my salary got paid into my current account. When I went to the cashpoint to withdraw some money, although it showed that I had some money, it said I had "insufficient funds". I rang Nationwide who told me that my account had been frozen and then told me it was because no payments had been made to my credit card account for the past 3 and a half years. They said that I would have to pay the amount I owe in full (still have no idea how much this is). I asked about setting up a direct debit and was flatly refused. Unfortunately my phone cut off at this point and when I rang back the collections department were closed so I could not find out anymore.

So my question is...where do I stand with this?

bingy_burge

My advice is get help managing your money.

You haven't made a payment on your cc in 3 years?

The bank can use the money from your current acc to pay its called the right offset

Paul_Herring

The bank can use the money from your current acc to pay its called the right offset

It might have helped if the bank had contacted them in the 3 1/2 years prior to doing this however.

RayWolfe

Paul_Herring wrote: »

It might have helped if the bank had contacted them in the 3 1/2 years prior to doing this however.

Do you really think that is true? I suppose it could be but people in trouble do have a propensity to forget or ignore or pretend. That's just an observation, not necessarily true in this case.

td_007

This is classic example of how having a credit and debit account with the same organization is an extremely bad idea. There should be big warnings about not have having a credit card or mortgage or loan from the same bank where the salary goes in. One can never be sure when the bank will decide to offset the debt and the salary disappear.

Paul_Herring

RayWolfe wrote: »

Do you really think that is true?

Honestly?

No.

If Nationwide have an address for the current account, I find it difficult to believe that they couldn't tie the credit card to that address and at least send the occasional s-mail or two about it.

But I gave the answer based on what was posted in the OP, and not what I could assume was probably omitted

td_007 wrote: »

This is classic example of how having a credit and debit account with the same organization is an extremely bad idea.

It's also a classic example of what happens if you forget to pay your debts for whatever reason, and to at least try and address the problems.

mabski

first thing to do is march down to the bank and demand they refund your salary
tell them you need it to pay your priority bills ie rent, food, gas and electricity
they have no right to keep money earmarked for these bills.
the next thing you need to do is open another account with a different bank
if they wont give you a full account open a basic one
then its up to you on how you deal with the outstanding balance
hope this helps

td_007

mabski wrote: »

first thing to do is march down to the bank and demand they refund your salary
tell them you need it to pay your priority bills ie rent, food, gas and electricity
they have no right to keep money earmarked for these bills.

The OP has no basis for that argument - the OP has been using the bank's money for long and the bank has the right to offset. Maybe pleading and grovelling might help, but trying make a stand will get the OP nowhere.

Paul_Herring

they have no right to keep money earmarked for these bills

Yes they do, if they're owed it, and it's not been paid.

It's called right of offset as mentioned up-thread.

I agree with most of the rest of your post however.

The OP might also consider, before getting all 'bolshy,' asking why Nationwide haven't contacted them in almost 3 1/2 years about this debt as I wondered earlier.

mabski

Paul_Herring wrote: »

Yes they do, if they're owed it, and it's not been paid.

It's called right of offset as mentioned up-thread.

no they dont its called the right of appropriation or something like that
they can take any spare cash but not the amounts shown to pay priority debts
so if the op has regular debits for rent and other bills they must refund those monies also the op has to eat so that should be refunded as well

Paul_Herring

mabski wrote: »

no they dont its called the right of appropriation or something like that

If you're aiming to correct someone, it helps to be correct in your correction rather than being ambiguous. What *is* the term this week for which "right of offset" used to describe, and still describes what most people know of the practice?

mabski wrote: »

they can take any spare cash but not the amounts shown to pay priority debts

They can take whatever's there. If people claiming benefits can't stop the banks clawing back benefits paid into an account to pay off overdraft charges (official Government response on the issue on the petitions website indicated the banks are quite in order to do this, I'm assuming this addresses the point you're trying to make) I'm sure they can do the same to wages.

The_Government wrote:

Bank charges [ed: of which a vastly overdue unpaid debt, as described, must necessarily incur] are in the nature of an expense, and are incurred by the holder of the account; tax credits and benefits are payable in order to help customers meet their expenses, and as such it is legitimate for banks to deduct charges from the balance of an account held in that bank, whether the money paid into the account comes from tax credits, benefits or other sources, such as earnings.

mabski wrote: »

so if the op has regular debits for rent and other bills they must refund those monies also the op has to eat so that should be refunded as well

I seriously doubt they must do anything of the sort. If asked nicely, they might relent however.