Bank Closed my account - Can I do anything about it??

donzy0

As a student I had held a student account with the bank for 4 years, regularly funding the account with my student loan and bursary during the years. I graduated in May 2009 and that summer I went to America for 3 months to work in a kids camp. In September 2009 I returned to find that my student account had been closed by the bank and they had defaulted my account and that I had a debt of around £2700 the wanted paid immediately.

When I spoke to the bank they told my that the account was closed as I had not funded the account in 3 months and it is within their right to do so as per terms and conditions of the account. The terms and conditions state account must be funded regularly but does not mention any specific timeframe.


I explained the circumstances and also the reasons why I couldn't pay back the debt straight away i.e. no moeny and no full time job but they didn't care.


Do I have any rights at all???

jambosans

donzy0 wrote: »

Do I have any rights at all???

Not really. You left the country for three months, with no prior arrangement with the bank about correspondence. No doubt the bank would have sent letters in regards to this, so you can't blame them for your lack of foresight. Also, I would say "regular funding" would be at least once per month.

Overdrafts are repayable on demand, however, in a situation like yours, it is understandable you don't have £2700 lying around. I would contact the bank, and try to arrange a repayment plan with their collections/ head office/ arrears department. If they have defaulted you, this may indicate the debt has been sold on to an external debt collection agency.

There's not much you can do about the default, but the DCA may except a lower settlement figure, as the bank will have sold the debt on at a lower value (e.g. bank sells £2700 debt for £900 (writing off £800) to DCA, and the DCA chase you for the original amount - that's how they make their money).

onlypaddy

In short, nope. As part of an overdraft, banks can recall the debt when they like - its in the terms and conditions. It's also a given that you have to fund an account with an overdraft regularly, if you dont then the bank are very likely to exercise this 'Payable on Demand' term. If you had a loan and missed 3 months of payments the same thing would happen.

usually you get 30 days notice, but of course by doing one to america for 4 months without telling them would have meant that you missed their letters and calls.

The only course of action for you to take is to open a basic account at a different bank and arrange a repayment schedule with the overdraft bank. The fact that they have closed the account is probably a bit of a blessing as otherwise the £2700 overdraft would be attracting daily interest and charges. Hopefully now that it is closed this will be frozen, but you will have to check.