is this legal

mojoegoonie

hi i have recently lost my job as my factory has shut down and i am 2-3 months behind on my credit card bill i checked my back today to see if my job seekers was there and noticed that one of my credit cards had helped them selves to £11.66 the credit card was a barclays card as is the bank i am using is this allowed or not ????

williham

Of course it's legal.. it's their money.

tripled

Technically yes, it's called right of set off. There is some protection over benefit money, hopefully someone will be along to confirm if it applies in this case.

In any case, move your current account to another provider that you don't have a debt with so they don't try it again, and try to come to an arrangement with your debt providers to freeze interest and charges - you will be expected to make token payments. You may need to speak to the CAB for advice.

mojoegoonie

not very helpfull comment realy .........so they can just dip into your bank after you lose your job and take what they want i thought you would get so much time to sort it out and come to an agreement .......and i dont agree its not there money its mine but yes i do owe them money but this money belongs to all my family as it was givin to feed us all not just myself

mojoegoonie

tripled thank you i have just phoned credit card and they said no we cant do it and they are saying that they never but its there on the screen so ill have to go see the bank tomorrow

no_more_cards_for_me

mojoegoonie wrote: »

not very helpfull comment realy .........so they can just dip into your bank after you lose your job and take what they want i thought you would get so much time to sort it out and come to an agreement .......and i dont agree its not there money its mine but yes i do owe them money but this money belongs to all my family as it was givin to feed us all not just myself

Yes they can, rights of set off.

Are you in debt ? If you are then you owe money that has to be repaid and therefore is not your money.

Your best option is to talk to them, but they may not want to "come to an agreement ". Talk to them and then the CAB - they might be able to help.

CannyJock

Details here on FOS site http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/40/40_setoff.htm

They can do it - you got an out-of-hours CS person if they said they can't

mojoegoonie

well according to them they cant the person i spoke to said no we cant do that its your money ??? and no its possible they dont want to come to an agreement but you cant get blood from a stone no one want to lose there job but these things happen

mojoegoonie

thanks for the link cannyjock

dmg24

tripled wrote: »

Technically yes, it's called right of set off. There is some protection over benefit money, hopefully someone will be along to confirm if it applies in this case.

In any case, move your current account to another provider that you don't have a debt with so they don't try it again, and try to come to an arrangement with your debt providers to freeze interest and charges - you will be expected to make token payments. You may need to speak to the CAB for advice.

You can request the right of appropriation over money from benefit income, but this is not guaranteed and must be done in advance.

mojoegoonie wrote: »

not very helpfull comment realy .........so they can just dip into your bank after you lose your job and take what they want i thought you would get so much time to sort it out and come to an agreement .......and i dont agree its not there money its mine but yes i do owe them money but this money belongs to all my family as it was givin to feed us all not just myself

Had you told the bank that you have lost your job? Had you tried to rearrange the payment prior to it being taken?

mojoegoonie

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]We would not generally expect a firm to use ‘set off’ before giving the customer a reasonable opportunity to pay the debt. However, what is ‘reasonable’ might depend on the customer and the history of the account.

hmm seems harsh i had only one letter the other day and have had the card for years never missed a payment on any thing in over 10 years easy only have a very very small debt semms like they fot it in for me ohh well lesson learned
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