Need Help re my overdraft!!!

ThePrestige

Hey,

sorry if this is in the wrong forum, Im a newbie.

But i really need some help, I am currently on benefits (Employment & Support Allowance) I had a bit of a breakdown last year, which led to my work terminating my contract...anyway long story.

The issue is, I have a £1000 overdraft on my bank account with the Clydesdale Bank, which i took out whilst in full time employment. The only income I have now is the benefit I get which is £128.60 per fortnight. I have had this overdraft for longer than I can remember. I received a letter from the bank today saying i was overdrawn, which i thought was odd as i have not use my bank card in over 2 weeks and have been careful with the money I have.

So I called them and got the manager on the phone, who then tells me that they are taking £50 (the amount i am now overdrawn by) per month off of my account to pay back the overdraft I have in place, she also said that "Employment & Support Allowance is not a guaranteed benefit" so they would be taking the £50 off me per month.
I was gobsmacked, but very annoyed, I asked her where this is written down in any of the agreements I have signed that this was the case, to which she said "I should have been told this". Just to irk me off even more, I have been down to my branch or on the phone to them "every" month almost for the past year, due to them not maintaining my account properly...you would think in that time someone would have stopped me and said we need to discuss your OD...but no. So I have no job, am on benefits, the bank are now taking £50 per month off me and I have depression just to top it all off......

I need to know where i stand in all this, as its really getting me down .....can anyone help?

samjef11_2

ThePrestige wrote: »

Hey,

sorry if this is in the wrong forum, Im a newbie.

But i really need some help, I am currently on benefits (Employment & Support Allowance) I had a bit of a breakdown last year, which led to my work terminating my contract...anyway long story.

The issue is, I have a £1000 overdraft on my bank account with the Clydesdale Bank, which i took out whilst in full time employment. The only income I have now is the benefit I get which is £128.60 per fortnight. I have had this overdraft for longer than I can remember. I received a letter from the bank today saying i was overdrawn, which i thought was odd as i have not use my bank card in over 2 weeks and have been careful with the money I have.

So I called them and got the manager on the phone, who then tells me that they are taking £50 (the amount i am now overdrawn by) per month off of my account to pay back the overdraft I have in place, she also said that "Employment & Support Allowance is not a guaranteed benefit" so they would be taking the £50 off me per month.
I was gobsmacked, but very annoyed, I asked her where this is written down in any of the agreements I have signed that this was the case, to which she said "I should have been told this". Just to irk me off even more, I have been down to my branch or on the phone to them "every" month almost for the past year, due to them not maintaining my account properly...you would think in that time someone would have stopped me and said we need to discuss your OD...but no. So I have no job, am on benefits, the bank are now taking £50 per month off me and I have depression just to top it all off......

I need to know where i stand in all this, as its really getting me down .....can anyone help?

First i feel sorry for you could complain that the bank in question is casuing you hardship and that you woulkd be able to claim the charges back have you tried a formal complaint to the bank if you have and got nowhere complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Can I complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) about my unarranged overdraft charges?
Yes. Where a customer’s complaint is not accepted by a bank, the customer has the right to take their complaint to the FOS.

ThePrestige

Thanks samjef11,

I tried to explain to the manager on the phone and she was having none of it, just apologised to me and gave me the subtle "too bad" line.

I think the FO would probably be the next step, however I asked for the overdraft terms in writing and she said she would get them sent out.....just totally gutted as Im just starting to get back on my feet and this is like a kick to the stomach.

moongarden

have you tried the Debt Free Wannabe board?
lots of useful help on there, so I hope you get sorted.

samjef11_2

ThePrestige wrote: »

Thanks samjef11,

I tried to explain to the manager on the phone and she was having none of it, just apologised to me and gave me the subtle "too bad" line.

I think the FO would probably be the next step, however I asked for the overdraft terms in writing and she said she would get them sent out.....just totally gutted as Im just starting to get back on my feet and this is like a kick to the stomach.

I know but if you complain the right away somthing will hopefully get done soon just keep phone then if you don't get a reply for some time they will do anything to keep you silence.

KPR11

Have you thought about setting up a basic bank account (without any OD) with another bank, I don't believe Clydesdale is part of a group but make sure that the new bank is not related to Clydedale, and getting your benefits paid to the new account?

That way you can achieve 2 things, 1 Clydesdale can not ofset the benefits against the debt which they seem to be proposing to do atm and then 2 you can treat the OD like a debt, paying what you can afford.

Hope it helps, good luck!

rizel23

change bank ASAP, Post Office basic account will do and phone up jobseekers\benefit to tell them that your in process of chaneging banks and get paid via giro cheque till new account open

G51shopaholic

I guess your on the assessment phase of ESA - so your income should go up after the 13 weeks - if not then you have my sympathy.
For the record I got my money back dated to the full amount for the 13 weeks assessment phase.
Same as you - paid off by employer exactly 1 year to the day I went sick.

I always thought bank's couldn't touch any benefit income but i guess they do what they like.

This is what I did - I get ESA (Support Group) £193 per fortnight. £1000 overdraft with bank of scotland.

I switched my benefit payments to my Credit Union Account - their benefit advisor was great - got a loan from my Credit Union which I pay back at
£10 per week. I cleared the overdraft. It was worse with the Bank of Scotland as they now charge £1 per day for the overdraft so where charging me £30 a month when it used to be interest of between £5-£10.

Keep your chin up - change where you pay your benefit to.

Good luck

scotschik_2

i am in similar situ...i am single parent on income support and not able to work due to ill health...i have always been in pretty good standing with my bank,hence why they gave me the o.d facility but i decided i was fed up with the monthly interest charges & wanted to reduce my outgoings so "i" therefore arranged with the bank (Clydesdale) to have my overdraft reduced each week (every monday,when my benefit goes into my account) by £10...however over the past few months i had been noticing extra money going from my account & always on a thursday...to my disbelief today, i noticed that they have changed the agreed reduction day to a thursday without my knowledge or without prior consent from me! I checked the o.d amount y'day & again today to see if my theory was correct!
As a consequence where i thought the reduction had already been made on a monday & so i could budget for the week, it hadnt...and as such i have been over my agreed overdraft limit several times over the past couple of months...which equates to £25 charges each month & sometimes on the day itself as well (i have a £10 buffer limit,so if i go over my overdraft and over that buffer i get a £25 charge that day too,if i stay within the buffer limit i dont get the £25 charge for that day,but i do get the charge within 2 wks, so within buffer its a £25 charge in total...over the buffer limit its a £50 charge in total!!ridiculous!!
funny though as i did call the customer call centre a couple of weeks ago & was fobbed off with "well sometimes a transaction can take days to come off it all depends when the retailer applies for it!!"...funny that as i check online every day and all purchases for that day show up that day & come off my available balance!!sometimes the transaction(s) move to the next day on the list, when i check online the following day, but the transaction is still there regardless and the balance is still the same.
i called them this afternoon as again i am now £7 over my agreed o.d limit (but not the buffer),as again they reduced it by £10 today & a small d.d of £6.40 had come off...i got fobbed off with,well as of close of business y'day you were o.d already by 78p...despite it saying yesterday morning i had plenty of funds available & i spent very little!well at close of business y'day they would have taken the £10 reduction in preperation for today!if they hadnt have taken the reduction today, the d.d wouldnt have taken me over my o.d limit,as the funds would have been available!!
safe to say i am now awaiting a call back from my branch, which will no doubt be next week!I know for a fact now that this has been goin on for months,as a few months back i called my branch to discuss my overdraft on a wednesday & got a callback on the thursday afternoon, to which i was told the amount of overdraft available,which was £10 less than what it was the day before...i didnt think anything of it at the time,except maybe i got it wrong the day before...now i know for sure i didnt
id like to know can banks actually do this..ie change agreements i set up without my prior consent &/or knowledge?and can they actually take deductions from income support & child benefit/maintenance payment (the latter moreso as legally its not my money),its hard enough bringing up kids alone,let alone when Clydesdale are slamming me left right and centre for a mistake they have made & in essence an agreement they have reneiged on...do you think id be able to recoup those charges?(which probably amount to £100 in the past few months)...if anyone could help that'd be great