Co-op Bank has stitched me up - help please!!!

Jojo1daffy

Hi all - I need some advice! (Sorry it's so long!!)

I started a new job last October. I had a £1500 overdraft with the Co-op Bank. Because my salary was now/is higher I wanted to take some positive action on my finances so I cut up my credit cards and set up a reducing overdraft with the Co-op Bank.

The overdraft was set to reduce by £60 per month and has to be reset every 3 months. I rang to do this on the 31st December. The girl on the phone was dippy as hell and kept putting me on hold. I had no confidence in what she was doing (and as it turned out - rightly so). A week later on checking my overdraft it was at nil (she'd set it up to last for a week - dozy mare) and I had to ring and have the reducing facility re-set up.

I increased my hours at work on the 1st January so was expecting a decent wage at the end of the month, I was also frugal with my spending after Christmas. I didn't pay much (or as it turned out) enough attention to my bank account - I don't like to look to closely after Christmas - I see what the outcome is on payday on the 28th.

During the second week in February I received so much post i thought I had a fanclub somewhere. All the letters were from everyone I have direct debits with advising me that the direct debit had been cancelled.
(we are talking mortgage, loans, credit cards, gas, electric, water, council tax, insurances- house and personal and so on)
I rang the bank and the lady looked into it and said they had all been cancelled in a blanket cancellation on the 31st December. I cried, she reinstated them. She told me that they would give me a letter to say it was their fault incase anyone tried to charge me and she gave me £15 compensation for the phone calls I would have to make.

The problem that I then faced was that over February and March all my creditors etc were taking/attempting double and triple direct debit payments. Over March, April and May I was placed in a position of considerable hardship trying to catch up with my bills. I had debit card payments refused in the supermarket when I was trying to buy food for myself and my children ( we are talking a £35 shop here).

Some direct debits bounced and I have been charged £30 per DD. Probably works out at £60 per month for the past 4 months. A direct debit of £3 was bounced, even though I transferred money into my account on the day that covered it, and I was charged £30. I wrote to the bank in May and again 2 weeks ago and I have heard nothing, not even had an ackowledgement.

I have rung and been told it's tough, I have had a charge refunded in the past 12 months and they will not refund anymore.
They took £87 worth of charges out of my account last Saturday and left me with no money at all to last over a week with 2 children.

They are putting me in a cycle of debt and I have had to increase my hours again at work which has put a strain on myself and my children regarding childcare. The whole point of this exercise was to get out of debt!

Can anyone help me or give me any advice PLEASE????

Thank you so much (in anticipation of lots of help:) )

Jo

Premier_2

I'm confused.

If the bank cancelled all the DDIs in error, then yes if a originator attempts to collect, the collection will be refused and the originator informed why (no valid DDI held/DDI was cancelled etc)
But the originator doesn't find out until they attempt to collect.

There should be no charge to you (by the bank) for an unsettled DD collection where the bank refuses to honour it because it holds no valid DDI.

The originator should not be re-attempting collections if it was returned as no valid DDI held. They only re-attempt where there is reasonable belief that a collection will be honoured on such re-attempt.

Re-presentation can only take place for up to one month after the original collection date.

Edit: What could happen is the following:

The DDI's were all cancelled on 31/12/2009.(in error- accepted by the bank for which an apology, corrective action and a goodwill gesture payment made)

Your regular collection is say on 28th of month.

Originator attempts to collect 28/01/2010 and that is returned as no valid DDI held.

Originator contacts you as payer to find out what is happening, perhaps about 15/02/2010 by the time they realise and catch up with you.
You've already been informed of the error by the bank, that they have reinstated DDI's. You pass info onto originator.

Originator then rightly believes a re-presention will be honoured, so re-attempts collection - say 21/02/2010. Remember you've not paid on 28/01/2010 so all things being equal - the money should still be sitting in your account waiting for collection. That re-presentation is successfully collected

Then on 28/02/2010, you get the current months collection attempt.


The originator has done nothing wrong. Nor has the bank. Why should you get compensation if you didn't keep enough funds available to meet the commitments to took on?

Jojo1daffy

Well your scenario is hypothetical. And did in some cases happen, however in other cases they did attempt triple payments in one full swoop and in a perfect world they would've gone through. But I'm not perfect and nor is my bank. I'm not asking for compensation, I'm asking for advice. I've written to the bank - twice and had no reply whatsoever.
If you don't think I'm entitled to charges that have actually placed me in hardship and resulted in further direct debits being returned, thus incurring more charges - then that's fine. But I was asking for advice, on how to deal with the situation and what my position is. No need to be rude. I'm not stupid and was managing my finances perfectly well up until this fiasco.

Premier_2

Jojo1daffy wrote: »

... I'm not asking for compensation, I'm asking for advice. I've written to the bank - twice and had no reply whatsoever.
If you don't think I'm entitled to charges that have actually placed me in hardship and resulted in further direct debits being returned, thus incurring more charges - then that's fine. But I was asking for advice, on how to deal with the situation and what my position is. No need to be rude. I'm not stupid and was managing my finances perfectly well up until this fiasco.

What do you want advice on? How to avoid charges? Whether the bank should compensate you? Whether you are actually in financial hardship?

Answers
1. Don't spend the money on something else when a DD attempt fails. Leave it there to fund the re-presentation
2. You said you are not asking for compensation
3. Have a read of the sticky regarding on-line finacial hardssip resources. I think you'll find you don't qualify under financial hardship.

As for being rude? Where? :huh:
Report any spam, illegal, offensive, racist, libellous post to [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL]

Just because the response doesn't confirm your own feelings, doesn't mean it is rude. You were seeking advice, and that is what I spent trouble & time responding to you over.

You won't get much help and advice if you take that attitude with those who try to help you.

leclerc

Jojo1daffy wrote: »

Hi all - I need some advice! (Sorry it's so long!!)

I started a new job last October. I had a £1500 overdraft with the Co-op Bank. Because my salary was now/is higher I wanted to take some positive action on my finances so I cut up my credit cards and set up a reducing overdraft with the Co-op Bank.

The overdraft was set to reduce by £60 per month and has to be reset every 3 months. I rang to do this on the 31st December. The girl on the phone was dippy as hell and kept putting me on hold. I had no confidence in what she was doing (and as it turned out - rightly so). A week later on checking my overdraft it was at nil (she'd set it up to last for a week - dozy mare) and I had to ring and have the reducing facility re-set up.
Was the facility re set up? Did any charges incur directly as a result of this not happening?
I increased my hours at work on the 1st January so was expecting a decent wage at the end of the month, I was also frugal with my spending after Christmas. I didn't pay much (or as it turned out) enough attention to my bank account - I don't like to look to closely after Christmas - I see what the outcome is on payday on the 28th.

During the second week in February I received so much post i thought I had a fanclub somewhere. All the letters were from everyone I have direct debits with advising me that the direct debit had been cancelled.
(we are talking mortgage, loans, credit cards, gas, electric, water, council tax, insurances- house and personal and so on)
I rang the bank and the lady looked into it and said they had all been cancelled in a blanket cancellation on the 31st December. I cried, she reinstated them. She told me that they would give me a letter to say it was their fault incase anyone tried to charge me and she gave me £15 compensation for the phone calls I would have to make.
Can I ask what happened to the money that was not paid out on the Direct Debits?
The problem that I then faced was that over February and March all my creditors etc were taking/attempting double and triple direct debit payments. Over March, April and May I was placed in a position of considerable hardship trying to catch up with my bills. I had debit card payments refused in the supermarket when I was trying to buy food for myself and my children ( we are talking a £35 shop here).
Again is this the result of the issue in January or is it the issue of later on? What happened to the money that did not go out as a result of the issue?
Some direct debits bounced and I have been charged £30 per DD. Probably works out at £60 per month for the past 4 months. A direct debit of £3 was bounced, even though I transferred money into my account on the day that covered it, and I was charged £30. I wrote to the bank in May and again 2 weeks ago and I have heard nothing, not even had an ackowledgement.

I have rung and been told it's tough, I have had a charge refunded in the past 12 months and they will not refund anymore.
They took £87 worth of charges out of my account last Saturday and left me with no money at all to last over a week with 2 children.

They are putting me in a cycle of debt and I have had to increase my hours again at work which has put a strain on myself and my children regarding childcare. The whole point of this exercise was to get out of debt!

Can anyone help me or give me any advice PLEASE????

Thank you so much (in anticipation of lots of help:) )

Jo

Jo, until we are sure of the full picture it is difficult to say what can be done.
They have refunded £15.00 compensation and written to creditors and reinstated the overdraft(was it still to be reduced by £60.00 a month?)
Did they reinstate the overdraft at the level that was the same prior to being paid?

EDIT: having read again Premier's 2nd post. Did the Originators charge you for missed payments? Were those charges ever refunded?

Jojo1daffy

Premier - you have given a reply with a judgmental attitude which is not helpful.

Leclerc - thanks for replying. To answer your questions in the order that you pose them:
The facility was re-set up and charges did occur because of it's failure to be set correctly initially.
The money that did not go out on the direct debits was eaten into because i did not realise that the direct debits had not gone out - I just thought I'd done well and maybe not spent as much as I thought at Xmas etc. Yes, I took my eye off the ball there!
Yes, the issues related back to the incidence in January because direct debits were all over the place - I had made arrangements on most to pay the normal payments plus extra to cover the arrears, but then because my finances were squeezed, my overdraft was and is still on the reducing facility and then DD charges on top of that it became a recurring thing. I am only just getting straight from the whole performance now. My overdraft is now at £750 so I've halved that, but it's been the charges and the timing of them that has stretched my finances too far.
No originators charged me for the original cancelled DDs, but I have incurred admin charges since. Oh and the bank never actually wrote to anyone, they just said they would put it in writing if need be.
It's the lack of response from them that's really annoying, I've written twice. If they replied and said 'look - this is the position, we accept that we messed up and created this situation, but you should have paid more attention to your finances so we will refund however many charges' then I think that would be fair enough, but to hear nothing from them well it's very...annoying.
So do I write again? Customer Services just keep saying it's in hand and when I broach the charges it's a case of tough.

bengal-stripe

Jojo1daffy wrote: »

The girl on the phone was dippy as hell and kept putting me on hold. I had no confidence in what she was doing.....- dozy mare)

Jojo1daffy wrote: »

Premier - you have given a reply with a judgmental attitude which is not helpful.

Well, I'll take it then, your opening post did not express a judgemental attitude.

Jojo1daffy

bengal-stripe wrote: »

Jojo1daffy wrote: »

The girl on the phone was dippy as hell and kept putting me on hold. I had no confidence in what she was doing.....- dozy mare)



Well, I'll take it then, your opening post did not express a judgemental attitude.

Not judgmental - the truth!

Believe me, if you'd spent 45mins on the phone with a giggly, 18 year old that kept putting you on hold to do something that should've taken 3 mins and then messed up your financial life you'd be calling her more than dippy I'm sure!:D

Jojo1daffy

£300 compensation went into my account today.
:j