Bank took 2 months loan arrears without permission

bbsparkles

My bank today took 2 months loan arrears (I was 2 months behind but had the money to pay one payment this month, to keep from falling any more behind) without permission from me and now I can't pay my rent or get to work next week.

I realise that I was in the wrong for not keeping up with my repayments, but things have got hard and my circumstances have changed since I first took the loan out. I have been doing the best I can to keep up.

Are they allowed to do this to me? I don't know what to do. I called them and they said they are going to precede to take this months loan repayment on Friday, that's 3 loan repayments in one month!

I have 2 children to think of, so can't afford to lose my accomadation or job through not being able to get there. The bank just doesn't seem to care.

Is there anything I can do? Are they even allowed to do this? How can they just help themselves to my money without my permission?

MORPH3US

Are they allowed to do this? Not 100% but yes I think they are...

How can they help themselves to your money..... unfortunately they don't care - you agreed you would pay £X a month EVERY MONTH and you haven't so you can hardly complain.... You complain you have two kids and need to be able to get to work.... i'm sure you considered this when you took the loan so you can't really blame the bank now for wanting their money back.

Sorry if that sounds harsh but its not the banks concern about your other bills.

In future it might be a good idea to move your accounts away from the bank in question so they can't do this again.

bbsparkles

It's not harsh. It's just the truth, and I understand that the bank is a business/not a charity etc.

It's just a big kick in the teeth when I'm trying so hard to deal with my debts and balance everything out, and when the action they have taken has left me in serious financial hardship.

I was just hoping that somebody knowledgeable on these boards would know of some action I could take, or somebody I could contact for advice. I feel like I'm in a Dickens novel, it'll be the Debtor's Prison for me next....

dec22

bbsparkles wrote: »

My bank today took 2 months loan arrears (I was 2 months behind but had the money to pay one payment this month, to keep from falling any more behind) without permission from me and now I can't pay my rent or get to work next week.

I realise that I was in the wrong for not keeping up with my repayments, but things have got hard and my circumstances have changed since I first took the loan out. I have been doing the best I can to keep up.

Are they allowed to do this to me? I don't know what to do. I called them and they said they are going to precede to take this months loan repayment on Friday, that's 3 loan repayments in one month!

I have 2 children to think of, so can't afford to lose my accomadation or job through not being able to get there. The bank just doesn't seem to care.

Is there anything I can do? Are they even allowed to do this? How can they just help themselves to my money without my permission?

Have you tried ringing their collections department to see if they can help in any way maybe by allowing you to pay the arrears off? Not sure what bank it is but RBS/Natwest do try and help if you make contact with them and don't avoid the arrears issue. If they won't help, change banks asap as advised in earlier post and have your salary sent to another bank account.

Perhaps contact CAB or CCCS if you need some help and advice with sorting your finances, deal with it sooner rather than later.

Good luck.

Good luck

bbsparkles

Thanks dec22, it is Natwest but they are refusing to help and just saying they aregoing to take more money on Friday. That has left me with little else to do but withdraw what little money they left behind, in order to pay at least some of my rent, before they take it.

I was thinking of redirecting my wages to another account for the future. Which means I can avoid this ever happening again, but I had just been paid this month and that was almost my entire months wages they swallowed up.

I might call them again tomorrow. Maybe the person I spoke to tonight wasn't in a very helpful mood.

onlypaddy

i would withdraw all your money before they take the payment, its the only was you can avoid it. Then open another account ASAP, probably a basic account - cant remember all of the names of these accounts with different banks but im sure someone else will. If you open it in a branch you may even get your account details there and then (i think barclays may do this) and be able to pay in whatever money you've taken out.

have your wages put in the new account - if its too late for this months, get it out of the natwest account

contact the CCCS, they will be able to help you with your repayments.

banks are allowed to do this, its called the 'right to set off' meaning they can take payment for debts from any current accounts you hold with them. moving banks is the only way to prevent them doing it at will

Matt16v

onlypaddy wrote: »

i would withdraw all your money before they take the payment, its the only was you can avoid it. Then open another account ASAP, probably a basic account - cant remember all of the names of these accounts with different banks but im sure someone else will. If you open it in a branch you may even get your account details there and then (i think barclays may do this) and be able to pay in whatever money you've taken out.

Ahhhhhhh!!! Please don't do this!! Read any of the hundreds of posts on here from people who are/have been in financial difficulty and how bank charges have/can so easily cause things spiral out of control! If the loan if with the same bank as the bank account you will probably find they'll take the direct debit for the loan out no matter how much money is in there, this is the one of peoples main issues re bank charges. If banks didnt take out DDs and card transactions for amounts higher than the availble funds causing people to go overdrawn then there wouldn't be a problem, but they do!

You'll get charged for going overdrawn, next month you'll have to pay these charges so will have less money to start with, you may well go overdrawn again, maybe a few DD's will get missed, you'll get charged for each one, next month you'll have to pay these charges, have less money and so it goes on and on until you've got hundreds of pounds worth of charges, and the bank will care even less about that!

I'm sorry to not offer any constructive solutions but i really think you should explore other avenues than the above.

natweststaffmember

Have you looked to go down the financial hardship route? There is no longer an FSA Waiver but the bank still have to look at your case and can in exceptional circumstances refund charges perhaps to ease the current situation as it is effecting your ability to pay priority creditors.

euronorris

bbsparkles wrote: »

Thanks dec22, it is Natwest but they are refusing to help and just saying they aregoing to take more money on Friday. That has left me with little else to do but withdraw what little money they left behind, in order to pay at least some of my rent, before they take it.

I was thinking of redirecting my wages to another account for the future. Which means I can avoid this ever happening again, but I had just been paid this month and that was almost my entire months wages they swallowed up.

I might call them again tomorrow. Maybe the person I spoke to tonight wasn't in a very helpful mood.

Have you tried arranging a meeting, in branch, to discuss this?

You could then take in your SOA to confirm your financial situation and offer a repayment amount to get you back on track.

They may reject it, but at least you will have tried.

natweststaffmember

euronorris wrote: »

Have you tried arranging a meeting, in branch, to discuss this?

You could then take in your SOA to confirm your financial situation and offer a repayment amount to get you back on track.

They may reject it, but at least you will have tried.

Branches may well not be able to do this since accounts that have had a lot of charges may be in collections which takes away from the branch any form of negotiation. I do agree that the OP should try and do this but the likelihood of success is not high.