Has your bank closed your account?

Elsie2_2

mrowen wrote: »

Hi, there is some really great advice in this thread!

I am currently with Barclays and have two accounts, one current with a £500 overdraft and one Student with a £1500 overdraft. I am about to begin claiming charges on the current account and have two questions.

1) If as a result of this Barclays decide to close my acount is it likely to be justthis account, or the student one as well?

2)Are there any banks that may give me a new account and match my overdraft with Barclays, allowing me to quit my banking with them? Obviously this means being overdrawn with another bank but hopefully my reclaimed charges would allow me to take a big chunk out of this.

Any advice appreciated, thanks!

I would say it depends on how your finances are as a whole and what your credit ratings like. If you have a good credit rating, then you may well get another acct somewhere that is prepared to give you a decent overdraft. If you are going to do this, do it before you start reclaiming just in case.
However, if you have a bad credit rating, you may be in a position where you would not be offered another overdraft in which case, i would suggest opening another acct anyway (a parachute acct) and ensure that if your bank does close your acct, you don't have income going into it that they can just take from you.

nurse_nettie

mollycat29 wrote: »

Im just in the process of sending my second letter, but in the first Nationwide letter i recieved it said about me possibly having to find alternative banking arrangements. so i have opened a parachute account with the halifax!! and am currently in the process of transferring all my dd's and so's and payments to the halifax.

Just a word of warning.

Try and make sure you stay in credit with halifax, they love to charge and are very unforgiving, I've just claimed back over £2,000. They once charged me for being less than £1 over my overdraft limit!

Paul_Herring

nurse_nettie wrote: »

Just a word of warning.

Try and make sure you stay in credit with [bank]

Erm - shouldn't this be what you're doing with ANY current account?

The whole point, I thought, of claiming back charges is "I've realised what I've done wrong in the past, but I won't do it any more" when dipping into "unauthorised" overdrafts?

Continuing to use a UA is glutton for punishment and a certain case for the need for a parachute account.

And to be honest, anyone still incurring charges (exceptional cases excluded) shouldn't be holding an account.

techspec

mrsyorkie wrote: »

Hi

I want to claim my charges back from Natwest and alhough i haven't my statements yet, by my reckoning they owe approx 900 pound. However, I have a 2200 pound overdraft and a bad credit rating (CCJ). I am scared that if i claim they will a) shut my account and make me pay all my overdraft back straight away (haven't got the money to do this) and b) i won't be able to open another account because of my credit rating.

Has anyone claimed against natwest and can they tell me their experience and also, if they do close my account, do i have to pay the overdraft back straight away or will i be able to pay so much off it per month?

Please can someone help me? The bank charges put me in dire financial straits for ages, with direct debits bouncing because of the charges, and then charges on the charges and it was a nightmare. On one occasion i had 10 pound in my account to get me home from work, only to find when i went to withdraw they had taken it and i was over drawn again and charged for that. I had to borrow some money off a colleague to get home!

Natwest offered me the full £2700 i requested, within 14 days of first asking.

Not only did they not close my account, but they did not insist that i pay my £1500 overdraft.

As a result, i have £2700 now in my hands, and still owe them £1500, although i will pay that off, if i am successfull against Lloyds TSB.

Personally, i think this was an error though.

marshul

just like to point out that these charges are UNLAWFULL which means they arent legal so of course you will want them back. so because you want your money they vertually stole from you, you think they have the right to close your account?? because you saw what they were doing and confronted them they get spiteful about it. edna you must work for one of these banks or something because no one would defend this action from the bank. if i went in demending money id be arrested just because they took straight out of our accounts doesnt mean its any different.:mad:

Paul_Herring

marshul wrote: »

just like to point out that these charges are UNLAWFULL

No they're not. They're only thought to be unlawful.

A court has yet to rule on the lawfulness or otherwise of the charges, since up until now, the banks have always refunded the charges before a judgement has been made.

This may change soon however: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/moneybox/6530315.stm

saver_mum

I have recently claimed back bank charges from my partners A&L account we had to go to court but won..
They have now written to him stating they are giving him 30 days notice to shut his account down..we have already opened another account with Halifax for him with the added £100 !
But i have been doing a little research and it seems to be likely that banks cannot just shut your accounts down..on tue i will get my partner to make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman and see what happens somebody else successfully did this against A&L ..I will keep you all posted!

ripski

techspec wrote: »

Natwest offered me the full £2700 i requested, within 14 days of first asking.

Not only did they not close my account, but they did not insist that i pay my £1500 overdraft.

As a result, i have £2700 now in my hands, and still owe them £1500, although i will pay that off, if i am successfull against Lloyds TSB.

Personally, i think this was an error though.

I am amazed I am having a negative experience .Nat West sent met he statements ok after approx 30 days I sent them a request template letter I put it by hand in the local brach as I did not have a dept address ( all call centre) 14 days re a refund =Zilch repsonse I sent a 2nd template without prejudice for a lower settlement figure - 14 days or Court action = again=Zilch response I should be starting court action on tuesday and am worried and embarassed as deep down I should have manged better b ut shouldI now start court Ps my daughter is taking Barclays on and has noteven got her statements after 40 days Again not even a response acknowledging that they are dealing with it

ripski

saver_mum wrote: »

I have recently claimed back bank charges from my partners A&L account we had to go to court but won..
They have now written to him stating they are giving him 30 days notice to shut his account down..we have already opened another account with Halifax for him with the added £100 !
But i have been doing a little research and it seems to be likely that banks cannot just shut your accounts down..on tue i will get my partner to make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman and see what happens somebody else successfully did this against A&L ..I will keep you all posted!

Bit worried re this as I thought that most were not going to Court

ragingmad_2

My mum has just phoned to say that her account has been 'frozen' and all she did was request statements! She has made no claim for repayment of charges as yet, but has asked only for the info!! She is is with HBOS. It is easter monday and nobody is speaking to her! Can they do this? Surely this is bang out of order!!!
She has an overdraft with them and feels absolutley miserable and terrified today. These people are bullies. Can anyone help? I have said to contact the financial ombudsman tomorrow as well as d/w branch tomorrow.
Anybody else had same and can they help?
TA