claiming charges from a closed account

natngreg

Hi i have had a letter from LLoyds stating that i owe just over £1000, down to a bank account i used to have with them it had a £500 overdraft and i stopped using the account when it was about £400 o/d and being stupid ignored it i have been in contact with them recently and asked for a list of transactions which they have sent me the account as i say was o/d by just over £1000 when they closed it after all the charges took it to over £1000.
is there anything i can do about the charges and the interest as surely it cant be right for a bank to carry on charging an account that is obviously not being used and the only close it once it had gone above £1000.
Any help and advice would be much appreciated.

samuel.s

This is a problem i am trying to deal with at the moment. I had a US Dollar account with HSBC that i have not used in nearly 10 years. When i stopped using it there was actually a balance in there,but now they are saying i owe them about $1100. All this is down to maintainence on the account.
Its funny how they can give me an O/D when it suits them and without me requesting one.

dunstonh

is there anything i can do about the charges and the interest as surely it cant be right for a bank to carry on charging an account that is obviously not being used and the only close it once it had gone above £1000.

It is perfectly right and correct for them to do this as you still owe them the money. You are only lucky that they froze it as a bad debt at £1000 and not kept it going for longer. You cannot expect to borrow money and not pay for it.

You may be able to come to an arrangement to clear it. e.g. offer them £700 but at the end of the day, if you are not in financial hardship, they are entitled to charge within the terms of the agreement. Have they lodged this default on your credit record yet?

natngreg

It does seem that even though everything that has happened regarding banks over the last few years they are still a law unto their own and what they say they expect us to bend over and take.

natngreg

it is on as a default and i have explained my situation to them as being self employed i have been unable to work for the last 8 months and it now looks like im going to have a operation on my spine.
I appreciate that as i ignored it i am to fault but it just seems strange that they charge and charge and charge it gets to just over a grand then they close the account and then start chasing.

Pitlanepiglet

What about the monthly letters they would have been sending you about the charges, did you just ignore those?

natngreg

No monthly letters when i had the account it was a hard part of my life and all sorts of things had happened but i did not receive letters from them it was only when i went onto experian that i found that there was a default against me and since then this is how i have found the info i know now as i have been communicating with them, although i only got a response when i sent the letter recorded delivery all the others they just ignored and i had no response at all.

natngreg

ok as it is right that they could carry on putting charges and interest on the account is there any way of getting those charges and the interest reduced now. I am currently only receiving dla and H/B & C/T benefit as i am self employed and my partner works to many hours for me to receive esa so i am stuck and cannot afford to clear the debt.

dunstonh

ok as it is right that they could carry on putting charges and interest on the account is there any way of getting those charges and the interest reduced now.

Only if they are open to a lower offer. With accounts closed to their bad debts team they will often accept a lower settlement figure.

di3004

Hi there

It may also be worth posting over at the debtfreewannabe thread, where others have been in the same situation as yourself here, good luck.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=76