Serious Legal Advice needed please help!!

soulheavensu

Hi

My partner and i have a joint account with the Halifax. We haven't used this account for about 18 months and was planning to close it (about a year ago) but after been able to as we keep getting bank charges even thou we are not using the account.

It was last March when i accidently wrote a cheque from the wrong cheque book for £30 this has then taken £30 out of our Halifax account which left us £30 overdrawn as Halifax removed our arranged overdraft when we stopped using the account.

The next thing about 6 weeks later we have about £70 worth of charges to pay. So my partner paid this and was told that when everything had cleared he could close the account. My Partner didn't close the account as due to work commitments was unable to get to te branch. But we did however receive a statement saying we then owed aprox £85 worth of charges. When he called to query this we were tld that there was a pending charge from when he last cleared the balance and this has caused the charges. We begrudgingly paid this but before we had chance to close the account were faced with another approx £75 worth of charges. We argued this but again had no option but to pay. We today received a letter saying we now owe £155 worth of charges with another £150 pending and we are currently being charged £5 a day for being overdrawn on an account we don't even use. Every time we clear this we get more charges as there are pending charges even when we've asked for an amount to clear the account.

We can't afford to pay this and i've been given the number to call customer relations tomorrow but whenever i call they won't help me say it's our fault for not paying all the charges and won't let me speak to someone senior. We were advised tonight to contact a debt agency to clear this balance!

I need serious help this must be verging on illegal i'm trying to hold back the tears as i type this. Can someone please help me? I can't see how this is legal..

Any advice would be greatly received thanks so much

Su

opinions4u

soulheavensu wrote: »

Every time we clear this we get more charges as there are pending charges even when we've asked for an amount to clear the account.

And this is the crux of the matter. You have asked for a figure to clear the debt in full, and believe that you have been misadvised at these points in time.

(The counter-argument is that you will have had letters / statements advising you of these charges).

i've been given the number to call customer relations tomorrow but whenever i call they won't help me say it's our fault for not paying all the charges

If you've been given the number for them to call tomorrow how can they have already fobbed you off?

We were advised tonight to contact a debt agency to clear this balance!

Don't!

Make the call to Customer Relations instead.

1) Ring them tomorrow - try to stay calm during the call.
2) State that when you made your FIRST payment to clear the balance that you were told this was to clear the account in full. It is clear that the failure to communicate exactly what you needed to do at this point in time is what has triggered all the charges since.
3) Politely request the cancellation of ALL fees generated after this point and state that you genuinely believed that you had cleared the debt in full.
4) If there is a resistance, remind them (politely) that they have a responsbility under the FSA's "Treating Customers Fairly" concept to do exactly that. Ask to speak to a more senior staff member if needed.
5) Ask them to arrange closure of the account after the fees have been reimbursed - this should involve repayment of some of the funds that you have actually paid to the account.

They may take your details and get the appropriate department to recontact you. Just re-iterate what I've stated above.

If you aren't successful, ask for a letter of deadlock and details of how to take it to the Ombudsman. Tell them that you consider the account to be in dispute and request that no further charges are generated.

I think this will be resolved to your satisfaction tomorrow. Just remain calm and firm with them.

Good luck - hope I'm right!