Bank taking your Benefit? Quote this -

katie1

I have just been told i was 63p short for a dd to go out , they didn't pay the dd and they charged me £25 for being just 63p short .I checked in the morning dd hadnt gone out so i asumed it wouldn't go till next day so took £10 out they must have tried to take it again the same day ?

SEE

gt94sss2 wrote: »

You are right - the OP is wrong.

I'm not a lawyer, but as someone who used to be responsible for some Statutory Instruments (government legislation) in the past and had to look into something similar for another government department, I can say with some confidence that you are correct.

The act does not say that bank charges (i.e. overdraft/bounced payments) can't be applied to people claiming benefits.

Instead it stops lenders using your benefits as 'security' for a loan or insisting the benefits are paid to them directly instead of the benefit claimant.

Regards
Sunil

Does this mean that the DWP and Severn Trent Water are breaking the law when they deduct debt for water bills at source? I know many people who couldn't afford to pay their water bill, they then recieved letters without asking their permission stating that £10 per week was being deducted from their income support at source.

Glynis

Well then, DWP & Severn Trent are breaking the law, the only deduction that the DWP can take directly from your benefit is an overpayment, they would have to notify you in advance and you would have the right to say how much you are willing to pay back every week / month.

I'm on IB and the bank are taking £28 on Monday for going £7 overdrawn for less than 24 hours due to a transaction which I thought had gone through two months earlier, hadn't and the money was taken when I did not have enough in the bank.

That represents 1/3rd of my weekly income and the bank have sent me a 'Customer Financial Statement Form' which I'm obliged to fill in or they will just forget about me.

In the letter it says ' We note you have indicated that you consider yourself to be in financial hardship' and later on a veiled threat that they might have to change my bank account to one that has 'no lending facilities'

I wouldn't be in hardship if they weren't stealing the pittance I have to live on.

Reading the 1992 SSAA it states 'any income related benefit' that has to include IB as it is income. I am sending a copy of the act with the income / expenditure form...

dmg24

IB is not income related. Another phrase for income related is 'means tested'. IB is not means tested. You could be a millionaire and still claim IB.

SEE

Glynis wrote: »

Well then, DWP & Severn Trent are breaking the law, the only deduction that the DWP can take directly from your benefit is an overpayment, they would have to notify you in advance and you would have the right to say how much you are willing to pay back every week / month.

I'm on IB and the bank are taking £28 on Monday for going £7 overdrawn for less than 24 hours due to a transaction which I thought had gone through two months earlier, hadn't and the money was taken when I did not have enough in the bank.

That represents 1/3rd of my weekly income and the bank have sent me a 'Customer Financial Statement Form' which I'm obliged to fill in or they will just forget about me.

In the letter it says ' We note you have indicated that you consider yourself to be in financial hardship' and later on a veiled threat that they might have to change my bank account to one that has 'no lending facilities'

I wouldn't be in hardship if they weren't stealing the pittance I have to live on.

Reading the 1992 SSAA it states 'any income related benefit' that has to include IB as it is income. I am sending a copy of the act with the income / expenditure form...

The DWP dictate how much can be taken out. Those on Income Support have no choice in the matter, but I also recently discovered that Severn Trent cannot cut off a persons water supply. Nice to know the DWP has broken the law, I shall investigate further.

Trialia

Angel11 wrote: »

My god - either arrange an overdraft to cover those direct debits before your benefits go in or cancel the direct debit if you don't have the funds in there.

You know if you're on benefits - you know what day it goes in, what dates your direct debits go out. Its not that hard to work out.

You know what? I've not seen anything that naive in a long time. I'm guessing you do not realise that it's quite common for the DWP to mess up and don't pay benefit money into accounts on the day it's due. They've done it to me several times, and now I have a £40 charge due to come out of my DLA at the end of this month because they were a day late paying my IS into my account and so forced a direct debit for my water bill to bounce, despite its being scheduled neatly to land the day after the money was due in.

How nice it must be to be privileged enough not to go through this kind of thing.

krisskross

Trialia wrote: »

You know what? I've not seen anything that naive in a long time. I'm guessing you do not realise that it's quite common for the DWP to mess up and don't pay benefit money into accounts on the day it's due. They've done it to me several times, and now I have a £40 charge due to come out of my DLA at the end of this month because they were a day late paying my IS into my account and so forced a direct debit for my water bill to bounce, despite its being scheduled neatly to land the day after the money was due in.

How nice it must be to be privileged enough not to go through this kind of thing.

I never understand why anyone sets up direct debits and risks not having the money there when they live such a hand to mouth existence and thus incurs bank charges. Draw the money out in cash and pay over the counter. I know everyone says it costs more to pay cash but a couple of bank charges will cost more than a pound or two on a bill.

Most of my neighbours are pensioners and pay all their bills at the the post office, they never seem to have any problems. They have post office accounts for their money to go into, they get it out on a Monday then pay the bills. Just like they always have done.I am sure a day or so late wouldn't cause them to be charged.

Ames

That's fine if you're able to get out to pay, if you're housebound though dd's are the only way to do it.

krisskross

Simon_P wrote: »

Not everyone who sets up direct debits risks not having the money in the account to pay it. Assuming that everyone is able & capable of withdrawing money from the bank and paying bills with cash in person is incredibly ignorant.


The difference is that i am not risking not having money there because i always make sure there is enough in the account to pay for my direct debits. I agree that not everyone makes sure there is sufficient funds to account for direct debits & they should try a little more carefully to make sure they are able to pay any direct debits set up, however i have to say i find your ideology more than just a tad short sighted. You make it sound like everyone who sets up a direct debit is risking not having funds available & should be physically able to go to the bank to withdraw cash themselves.

Of course i am not suggesting that no one sets up direct debits. I use them to pay every bill. However I know the money is always there and I have an overdraft that would step in if it wasn't.

What I actually said was that IF there is the possibility of money not being available then you shouldn't have direct debits if there is the possibility that any saving made by paying by DD is swallowed up plus more by bank charges. Makes perfect sense to me.

I honestly do not believe there is anyone completely housebound without a soul in the world, friend, family or a social worker that could pay a bill.

krisskross

Simon_P wrote: »

If you honestly believe there is not is not anyone completely housebound without a soul in the world, friend, family or a social worker that could pay a bill, then you must be pretty naive. People die alone all the time undiscovered because they had nobody to look out for them.

So how do they get shopping etc? Doubt they all have computers to do online stuff.

Yes people die alone and undiscovered but not because they are housebound, it is usually because they are complete loners.