Non agreed payment for Credit card from joint account

MummyPeanut

Good Evening all

I am new to MSE so any help/advice would be fantastic to my problem/issue

I got a credit card 2 years ago with Barclays at 19.9% APR with a credit limit of £2500.

To cut a very long story short, my credit card is now £2770, as the interest payment has mounted due to my lack of minimum payments and late fees this has also caused my credit rating to plummet from great to Very Poor... very very poor.

I have recently been made redundant as of mid December and am 28 weeks pregnant ( baby was by no means planned what so ever)

My company has offered me a mini redundancy package within it they are paying me SMP in one lump sum and my redundancy which all in all is around 2k

My thing is i plan on paying the £700 off or at least paying enough off my credit card to bring me into my limit and then setting up a payment plan to them for £50-60 a month for the rest of the balance which will be slightly more than the minimum payment.

I'm having the money put into my joint account that i have with my OH, whilst my final wage is going to go into my currant account as normal.

My question is can Barclay card take the full total of £2770 from my joint account to pay for my credit card as i have heard they do this sometimes, Or would it be some sort of breech as the account is also in my OH's name.

I can't afford for them to take the whole amount as i have to live of that money for the next 7-12 months until i come off "maternity leave" and find a job.

I have thought of setting up a basic account with a different bank in the next week or so but they will have to credit check me won't they, and my credit it shot : (

can anyone please advise.

Thanks

Mummy Peanut

mjm3346

MummyPeanut wrote: »

I have thought of setting up a basic account with a different bank in the next week or so but they will have to credit check me won't they, and my credit it shot : (

can anyone please advise.

Thanks

Mummy Peanut

No credit check for a basic account, try co-op as you owe barclays.

MummyPeanut

mjm3346 wrote: »

No credit check for a basic account, try co-op as you owe barclays.

Hiya, thanks.

I was thinking HSBC as my OH has his account with them

YorkshireBoy

MummyPeanut wrote: »

My question is can Barclay card take the full total of £2770 from my joint account to pay for my credit card as i have heard they do this sometimes, Or would it be some sort of breech as the account is also in my OH's name.

Yes they can take it from a joint account with Barclays. But not the whole lot...only that which has become payable, ie the overlimit amount, fees, and minimum payments etc.

onlypaddy

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Yes they can take it from a joint account with Barclays. But not the whole lot...only that which has become payable, ie the overlimit amount, fees, and minimum payments etc.

As far as I remember, this advice is wrong.

The right to set off can not be used to take payments from joint accounts to settle debts in a sole person's name.

Yorkshire is right in saying however, that they can only take what is in arrears (according to the legislation anyway....they often take all they can get their hands on)

YorkshireBoy

onlypaddy wrote: »

The right to set off can not be used to take payments from joint accounts to settle debts in a sole person's name.

Well nobody told Barclays...

http://www.barclays.co.uk/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheadername1=Content-Type&blobheadername2=Content-Disposition&blobheadervalue1=application%2Fpdf&blobheadervalue2=attachment%3B+filename%3DGeneral%2C+Customer+Agreement%2C+TCs.pdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1259919863364&ssbinary=true (condition 8.2)

Or Halifax...

http://www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccounts/pdf/Halifax-Reward-Terms-and-Conditions.pdf (condition 21.4)

Or LloydsTSB...

http://www.lloydstsb.com/media/lloydstsb2004/pdfs/personal_banking_terms_and_conditions2.pdf (condition 17.2)

Or...

opinions4u

Many T&Cs allow right of set off from joint accounts to sole named loan. It is possible that some banks retain the condition, but don't choose to apply it.

The FOS has, on occasion, ruled that it isn't appropriate. But the example ruling in this link has specific circumstances to the case. It isn't a ruling "outlawing" the practice.

So it may be legal, but the FOS could well rule against banks when the apply it. But not necessarily in every case.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]We also thought that the term was "unfair" within the meaning of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. This was because it created a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations, to the detriment of customers. Specifically, it had the effect of making Mr G a guarantor of Mrs B’s debts – but without giving him the information that a guarantor should usually be given.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]We told the firm to transfer the money back to the joint account – leaving it to find other ways of recovering the money that Mrs B still owed.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[/SIZE][/FONT]

YorkshireBoy

opinions4u wrote: »

It isn't a ruling "outlawing" the practice.

It can't be, because in signing and accepting the account T&C's, joint account holders are agreeing to act as 'guarantors' for some/all of each others current and future debts.

The banks will argue that if their customers are not comfortable doing this then they should open sole accounts instead.

onlypaddy

Things must have changed since I last commented on it. It's certainly an immoral practice if they do use it.

opinions4u

onlypaddy wrote: »

Things must have changed since I last commented on it. It's certainly an immoral practice if they do use it.

As would a customer moving money from a single account in to a joint account to try and avoid right of set off (rather than paying the debt due).

MummyPeanut

Thank you for the advice

Opinions4u i am not moving the money from my account to my joint account it will more than likely be paid into my joint account.

If i am not trying to avoid paying the full balance i have every intention of paying off my bill/debt which is why i will be paying £50-60 every month.

I am paying off the the interest charges i have incurred bringing me just down past my limit so that i am back to a sensible payment on my car rather than 100 plus every month.

I am not trying to decieve anyone in anyway, i am just trying not to have money that i really need to survive on for the next few months taken away from me without mu knowledge.

Now that i have been told that this is infact technically a legal practice i can deal with it..

thank you!