Being hassled by 'Equidebt'

nataliejeanx

About 3 or 4 years ago I got an overdraft with Natwest (worse bank in the world) I was working at the time.. and over a year or so I gradually increased the overdraft to £280..

I lost my job in 2007ish so couldnt pay back the overdraft and was currently on JSA.. i was 50p short one day for a direct debit coming out (even though I had previously asked Natwest to cancel it) So they somehow charged me nearly £80 in bank charges in oneday!!!!!!! I refuse to pay any bank charges I have received as I think they are a f*cking joke! (pardon my language)

Now I owe my bank a total of £700 odd? so over £400 of that is bank charges, no way am I paying that! I have tried to ask Natwest to claim my bank charges back but they refused.. what a surprise! They have passed this debt on to a bloody annoying company called equidebt they have phoned me everyday on all different mobile numbers about 4 or 5 times a day ranging from 9am to 7pm! Leave me voicemail asking me to call them back.. I will not answer to them. I have told them when they first rung 'I refuse to pay, cause most of that is bank charges, I am not made of money!' The man rudely said 'how do you eat then?' I said my friend helps me live right now, he then said 'well your friend can pay an upfront fee today of £50 for you cant she' Er?? Hell no! On the letters I get in the post say its to 'RBS' Bit confusing as it was natwest?

Anyway how do I deal with these people, are they going to take me to court??? I do not want to pay bank charges, its ridiculous how the banks can do this to people.. i dont mind paying my £280 overdraft which is fair enough but £400 in BC's??????? Hell no - I will not give the bank that satisfaction, no matter how much they bully me!

Fang_3

The bank lent you money and you defaulted. Just pay it back and their charges. The longer you don't, the more you'll owe.

nataliejeanx

Well the bank charges spiralled from the £70 odd in one day after being a measly 50p short.. even though I had previously asked them to cancel this direct debit. So isnt that their fault? I had told them this, but they were not bothered, then from then I got charged more n more because I couldnt/refused to pay this the 2 X £38 charges!!

PNPSUKNET

as the court case failed, not much chance and the fees will stand

dancingfairy

Well there is a template on here somewhere that you can send to them recorded delivery saying you wish to only be contacted in writing.
The best thing to do is to draw up a budget showing how much you can afford to repay and then make arrangements to pay then this each and every month. As you are on JSA this may need to be a token payment of only 1 pound per month as this is all you can probably afford. Send you offer recorded delivery and keep a copy. Make sure you keep to your word as if they did take you to court you could show willing to pay.
Get a new account with a different bank as banks can and will take money from current aco!!!!s to pay overdraft so make sure you have no bank account with RBS or Natwest. They are not allowed to take benefit money but it would be awful for them to take the money and ask questions later - leaving you litterally with nothing.
Whether they will take you to court depends on many things and there is no answer to this. It depends on whether they think this will help them get the money out of you, how much you owe, how long it's been owed, etc etc All you can do is stick to the token payments - they can't have what you haven't got is basically what it boils down to.
It may be worth writing an official complaint to Natwest mentioning times/dates/names of people you spoke with trying to cancel the direct debit and state that you feel their charges are unfair.
Best of Luck
df

DarkConvict

The court case for bank charges with the OFT failed.

Unless you are in hardship, or wish to take this incident directly to the OFT you may struggle.

Even if you were to win a case that 2x£38 was unfair, you will probably not get anymore back than 2x38, as you took the action of not paying which caused further charges. I had this with my mobile, i had to pay extra charges on a missold contact to avoid the contract been terminated. If it was terminated sure i get £200+ back for the charges, but then get landed with a £550 cancellation bill.

Its sound stupid but i honestly think you need to pay up, unless of course you can prove without a doubt the bank let a payment occur when it shouldn't, but after 3 years you aren't so sadly time and records are on their side. The longer you leave thsi the worse it will get. You credit file is already goign to have a default and if this carries on probably a CCJ as well!