Urgent help re bank charges

gem4

Hi, sorry if this is the wrong place to post.

My son had an account with Abbey last year. When he lost his job and hadn't got a wage going in they penalised him for returned Direct Debits, charges on returning them which then made him overdrawn, and then they charged him again for unauthorised overdraft.....you get the general picture.

He eventually had to get a new bank account for his Jobseekers allowance to go into because it was being swallowed up as soon as it went into the Abbey account. They threatened to close the account and continued to charge him for being overdrawn.

Yesterday he had a letter from a debt recovery firm saying they were disappointed he hadn't responded to their letters and calls (which we haven't had) and said they would like him to pay the balance of £178 at £10 a month and enclosed a giro slip to pay the first one by 20th Aug.

As the balance of £178 OD was entirely due to Abbey's constantly adding charges and penalties he is refusing to pay it. I've asked him to write to Abbey to get the bank charges back from them and use it to pay the £178 debt. Abbey's charges that he knows about amount to £163.

Now what do we do about the debt collection agency, in the meantime, as they are expecting a payment in the next 3 days?
Can he write to them and tell them that he will not pay because the amount is wholly due to Abbey's illegal bank charges?

Is there any particular format that this letter should take?

Which letter should he send to Abbey since it's clear they've already passed the debt on?

Any help gratefully received as time is running out.
Many thanks.

Gordon_the_Moron

I would pay the agency and reclaim the charges from Abbey, not sure if that is the right approach but I would think so, never been in the position of dealing with such an agency.