can the bank legally take £10,000 out of my fiance's account if half of the money ...

buttons1987

is mine?

my fiance and i have just gotten a joint mortgage which included money to renovate
the house we were buying, We had the money paid in to his account as we were waiting for the paperwork for our joint account to come through. During all this we were also combining all our debts and entering a debt repayment plan in order to pay all these off. Well when i came to take some money out of the account today i have discovered that the bank has removed £10,000 without telling us in order to pay off a credit card we had with an off-shoot company, Santander (we bank with the abbey). Now its plunged us into even more debt and also put us and our children into severe financial hardship.
We have spoken to the bank and told them that half of the money they have taken out is in fact mine and not my partners, which we can prove but they are saying unless we prove that all the money in his account is mine they wont give us a penny back. Can i legally sue them for theft? (or something like this) As they are sticking to the line that its apparently in their terms & conditions, that any money my partner has in his account can be taken without his knowledge to pay off his debts. But not all the money in there is his so how can they????

To cap it all off they are saying that they would not have done this had we informed them that we were seeing a debt management company, which we did on several occasions, several time a day. They are also saying that they have not received a letter from our debt management company telling them that they wish to negotiate on our behalf over the debt. Which is a lie as they received the letter the day before they took the money out of the account, and we know this as it was signed for!

Also now that the credit card is completely paid off, and then some, they told us if we try to use it then they will block it even though we now owe nothing on it. Can they really do this???

Where do we stand legally?
The mortgage was given on the basis that we completed the renovation with the money we received, thus increasing the value of the property significantly, but now we cant do this as the bank has taken it, can the mortgage company make the bank give it back?
Please help as this is very very close to destroying our children's Christmas
the only other information is that its not the first time they have done this, they took the mininum payment out of the same account a few months back but thats all, we weren't told about that until after they had taken it, the same with this one all be it on a much larger scale.

dmg24

For goodness sake, get a grip!

Once you put the money into his account, the money was his. The bank have recouped the debt from his account, as per the t&c's of their agreement.

I am bewildered as to why you were buying a house whilst entering a debt repayment plan. Do you not understand that a mortgage is a further debt?

I would also check your understanding regarding Santander being an off-shoot company of Abbey!

duggie1982

Once its put into his account then the money is regarded as his so the bank can take it. I did read something on here a few months ago saying if you can prove its for something like rent etc then it can be claimed back but not sure about your case. DMG! Come on this is the op first post as a member and might not be clued up as the rest of the board members on here. Buttons, im sure someone will come along with some advice for you.

buttons1987

was looking for advice not cheek, feeling !!!!!! enough as it is without arseyness from ppl like you. Re: first post.

Paul_Herring

If
o the bank account is his, and the
o credit card is his (regardless of whether you're a secondary card holder on it or not,) and
o both the credit card and bank account are with the same 'bank' and
o the credit card is in arrears, then

Yes, they can do this. The money may be 'yours' but if it's in his bank account, they can do it.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/40/40_setoff.htm

Also now that the credit card is completely paid off, and then some, they told us if we try to use it then they will block it even though we now owe nothing on it. Can they really do this???

They are within their rights to cancel the credit card. They have no rights to any remaining positive balance on the card, and should return it immediately. You will have to ask them for it though.

chalkie99

buttons1987 wrote: »

was looking for advice not cheek, feeling !!!!!! enough as it is without arseyness from ppl like you. Re: first post.

I think you mean you were looking for an answer which suited you better, i.e. someone who would tell you what you wanted to hear rather than a more uncomfortable truth.

A response like that in only your second post is unlikely to win you much support.

I cannot imagine how, if you were entering into a debt management plan you actually managed to obtain extra debt in the form of a mortgage. If Santander have realised the true position it is hardly surprising they have clawed back their money while they can and, of course they are not going to let you run up further debts on the card in your present position.

duggie1982

Most likely the debt management plan was for the boyfriend not the op. Agreed not the greatest idea in the world to go for a mortgage, but we all learn from our mistakes.

A few years back my sister got a £8000 loan for me put into my account but i would have been shafted if that got took out of my account, But the loan was with her so don't know how that would have stood and I would hope that I would have had the advice of people on this forum to help. Anyway. Should have not got a.... blah blah blah. Can we give some good info on how the op can go forward with this now, please? At the end of the day, I got loads of advice about my situation and got no were near the amount of s*it that's on here. This is a place of advice so should stay that way, yes I agree that there is some things needed to be said but some good advice is needed here people, which I'm sure will come along.

chalkie99

duggie1982 wrote: »

Most likely the debt management plan was for the boyfriend not the op.

Possibly but,

my fiance and i have just gotten a joint mortgage

so how the heck does someone going into a debt management plan get approved for even a joint mortgage in the current financial climate?

Also says:

combining all our debts

duggie1982

chalkie99 wrote: »

Possibly but, so how the heck does someone going into a debt management plan get approved for even a joint mortgage in the current financial climate?

Also says:

Well thats a good point about the mortgage, possibly not yet fully entered the debt management plan.

All I mean (without going into a rant agian) is hopefully someone can give some advice about if they can claim the money back. Not sure if its possible but someone might know.:beer:

duncan303

Can you clarify, you obtained a joint mortgage with a company not aligned with Abbey. whilst you were waiting for a joint account to be opened (where?) you chose to place the money into an existing account (type?) your fiance had with the abbey (not a joint account?).

There had been some difficulties with a santander credit card (cahoot? your fiance's?) which had been defaulted on. Furthermore there had been a negotiations to enter a debt management program, inference is that this included other debts.

Somehow you agreed to have the joint mortgage funds transfered into your fiances' sole account with the Abbey whereupon they appropriated sufficient funds to clear the balance on a defaulted credit card.


You have children together, may I ask how many children and how old they are and what is your housing status at this time?

jonesMUFCforever

Yes they can take it - but surely you must be a troll- Abbey or Santander would only take the arrears not full balance!