Bank taking your Benefit? Quote this -

escortrsturbo

ben-e-fitt wrote:

Social Security Administration Act 1992
Miscellaneous
Certain benefit to be inalienable **

187- Subject to the provisions of this Act, every assignment of, or charge on-
(a)benefit as defined in section 122 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;
(b)any income-related benefit; or
(c)child benefit,
and every agreement to assign or charge such benefit shall be void; and, on the bancrupcy of the beneficiary, such benefit shall not pass to any trustee or other person acting on behalf of his creditors.

** inaliable = not to be forfeited.

---

Basically they can't take you benefit money for overdrafts or debts, and if they have you can ask for it back !

HI IVE JUST HAD £295 OF WHICH £225 IS FROM INCAPACITY ON FRIDAY AND TODAY £70 FROM CHILD TAX CREDIT IVE BEEN DOWN THE BANK AND ON THE PHONE AND THEY SAY THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO TAKE CHARGES FROM MY MONEY IVE BEEN LEFT WITH £20 TO FEED MY 5 CHILDREN PAY RENT GET GAS AND ELECTRIC THEY JUST DONT CARE THEY OFFRED ME £150 REFUND TODAY THEN WHEN I GOT TO THE BANK THEY SAID THEY WONT REFUND AND THEY WILL LEND ME THE MONEY BUT IT WILL MAKE ME OVERDRAWN AGAIN AND I WOULD BE CHARGED AGAIN CAN ANYONE HELP ITS BEEN GOING ON FOR ABOUT 3 YEARS HELP PLEASE

Angel11_2

This is going to seem a harsh reply. I've read through this thread and can't believe my eyes.

How are banks going to reclaim their money from people on benefits when they go overdrawn and don't have the funds for direct debits. If your only income in benefits - they've got to get it somehow.

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.

peter999

Angel11 wrote:

This is going to seem a harsh reply. I've read through this thread and can't believe my eyes.

What about ridiculous excessive/illegal bank charges !!??
In the news every week & many people now reclaiming.
How many billions does each bank make in profits ??

Banks should not be taking Benefit money, as small amounts of Benefit money can easily be swallowed in bank charges.

It's the Law.

peter999

Angel11_2

Way to avoid bank charges - have enough money in there for the direct debits/ cheques you've written.

And if you have charges - then claim them back through the right way - all i'm saying is how are the banks going to retrieve the money you owe them - i.e when you go overdrawn - authorised or not.

Unfortunately for me when I was on benefits and fell foul of the bank charges it was a lot longer than 6 years ago. I've learnt my lesson and keep my account in order since.

peter999 wrote:

What about ridiculous excessive/illegal bank charges !!??
In the news every week & many people now reclaiming.
How many billions does each bank make in profits ??

Banks should not be taking Benefit money, as small amounts of Benefit money can easily be swallowed in bank charges.

It's the Law.

peter999

ictmad

i always laigh at people who moan about banks charging them,plain and simple have enough cash in 1st place,and make sure u have even a £100 overdraft so if direct debits etc are taken early or late u wont get charged,seems fairly simple to me

Edinburghlass_2

Before you laugh again, you should read this blog of Martin's....

• Then the charges snowball. Imagine you go over your overdraft once and are then charged fines for bounced cheques and direct debits. This leaves you £100 down, a sum you can’t afford to repay, leading to more fines the next month, and so it continues, snowballing. This tragic scenario can put people thousands in debt for one simple mistake (read one woman’s story in my blog).

SmileyHappyBeing

ictmad wrote:

i always laigh at people who moan about banks charging them,plain and simple have enough cash in 1st place,and make sure u have even a £100 overdraft so if direct debits etc are taken early or late u wont get charged,seems fairly simple to me

Wouldnt life be great if everything was that simple!

My sister cant get an overdraft.. and to be honest even if she could i dont think she'd want one as then she'd constantly be living off of it.. vicious circle....

peter999

SmileyHappyBeing wrote:

.. vicious circle....

That's the point.

That's why Benefit money is "inalienable" & should not be taken by banks.

It's to stop a downward spiral with small amounts of Benefit money being swallowed in bank charges & all the OTHER problems that can create with people who have no other income.

peter999

Chrysalis

Angel11 wrote:

This is going to seem a harsh reply. I've read through this thread and can't believe my eyes.

How are banks going to reclaim their money from people on benefits when they go overdrawn and don't have the funds for direct debits. If your only income in benefits - they've got to get it somehow.

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.

Reread his post, he was offered a lucrative loan not overdraft.

Banks seem all too keen to blurt about customers just needing to ask for overdrafts but I bet most of the people who would love one to solve temporary cashflow problems get turned down. I know I did when I asked for an overdraft to cover a £12 problem.

Chrysalis

ictmad wrote:

i always laigh at people who moan about banks charging them,plain and simple have enough cash in 1st place,and make sure u have even a £100 overdraft so if direct debits etc are taken early or late u wont get charged,seems fairly simple to me

and I laugh at the proposed solutions.

1 - have enough money in the first place (easier said then done when you living on the bread line every week and income is unstable)

2 - overdraft (most people with poor income are not in a position to get an overdraft)