Alliance & Leicester - I am so angry (long, sorry)

MP14

Im looking for a bit of advice.

Last year (Sept & Oct) I paid my mortgage by debit card a couple of days after the date the DD was due. I had pre-arranged this with them as OH's pay went in the day after. I have two accounts (my main account (01) and some additional borrowing on mortgage (02)). Anyway, when I made the Sept payment they allocated the lot to 02. I called them twice about this and was assured that it had been rectified.

So in May we were struggling a bit and 02 statement said 'available credit £1200'. I called them up and asked to draw down £900. So that was all fine, received the money, spent the money.

OH called me at work today to say that there was a letter saying that we were in arrears of £700 odd. I called them and after being passed from dept to dept they have admitted that they should not have given us £900. The money paid by card in Sept had not been reallocated to correct account so we really didnt have £1200 available credit. Obviously they are now wanting their money back OVER 4 MONTHS (£190pm). I said I'd call them back tomorrow. I just can't afford that. Where do I stand with this? If I offer them less can they refuse?

I am going to make a complaint because I am so cross. They have made two mistakes resulting in me having arrears!

Wutang_2

MP14 wrote: »

when I made the Sept payment they allocated the lot to 02.

Who did?

You paid your mortgage over the phone it was redirected to your mobile company??

I don't understand!! (clearly)

SimbaSimon

Wutang wrote: »

Who did?

You paid your mortgage over the phone it was redirected to your mobile company??

I don't understand!! (clearly)

They have 2 parts to their mortgage, which they've called 01 and 02. :rotfl:

Annisele

I think the OP just means that she has two accounts with A&L, labelled 01 and 02

OP: I am a bit confused as to why you thought you had £1200 available credit, when apparently you don't. Were you overpaying, and thought that you'd overpaid by at least £1200?

Are the 01 and 02 accounts both mortgage loans (and therefore you were accidentally in arrears on 01 and in credit on 02)?

As a general principle you can't pay A&L money that you don't have - but if possible you're going to want to avoid this going down as mortgage arrears and reported as such to credit reference agencies. That will be a lot easier if there's a good reason for you believing that you had £1200 credit (rather than assuming that A&L must have made some sort of mistake).

MP14

Wutang wrote: »

Who did?

You paid your mortgage over the phone it was redirected to your mobile company??

I don't understand!! (clearly)

I am with T-Mobile. lol

Well thanks for making me laugh!:rotfl:

beecher2

Why did you think you had £1200 credit - surely not just because the account told you so? I think you're in error as much as A&L are to be honest, unless you had good reason to believe that you had overpaid by £1200 in the past. If your account's in arrears then this is going to have an impact on your credit file and I think you need to come to an agreement with them about how quickly you pay it back. Can't see how you have any right to say you'll pay them back less, but maybe you'll be able to have it spread over a longer period.

MP14

Yes I know that I will need to pay back the full amount of 'arrears'. What I mean is they want it over 4 months at the most being £190 pm. Could I offer them say £50pm is all I meant.

Annisele

You could offer them £50pm, but it's up to them as to whether or not they accept it - and even if they do accept it they might report unauthorised arrears to the credit reference agencies.

They're more likely to accept your proposal if they can see that you really can't afford more than £50pm - but if your finances are that tight, it might be worth popping over to the debt free wannabee board and putting up a SOA (see the stickies over there for what that is and how to do it).

beecher2

MP14 wrote: »

Yes I know that I will need to pay back the full amount of 'arrears'. What I mean is they want it over 4 months at the most being £190 pm. Could I offer them say £50pm is all I meant.

Sorry - I thought you were going to ask them if you could pay back less overall. £50/month would take 15 months which is perhaps a bit of an unreasonable expectation. Could you manage £100 as that might be a bit more palatable to them? Ultimately though you will have to get them to agree to taking more time to pay the arrears - and check how much interest will be being piled on in the meantime. Also check what impact this will have on credit files.