RBS Overdraft Default - Attempted CCA & SAR

artistsonly

Hi there,

I have been reading these forums for a while, on and off whilst trying to clear a debt I owe to RBS.

A few years ago I took out a Graduate Royalties account with a year on year decreasing overdraft limit. I was a bit silly and didn't change my account address when I moved house. I had online banking and assumed I would get all the letters I usually got via my email.

While I was abroad for a while, I realised I couldn't access the account online any more. When I eventually called up, I was put through to Triton without warning who really were incredibly rude and pushy with me. I had gone over my accepted overdraft amount and so my account was suspended. I owe about £1650.

Upon returning to the UK, I decided to try and do a CCA to RBS - they kept sending back my letters, asking for a signature. I sent them back some scans of documents with my current address on, an old statement with a previous address and a scan of the front of a debit card. I never heard back - I didn't send this one by recorded delivery so I expect they just put it in the bin!

I decided to try the SAR route, but they have sent me a letter saying my signature doesn't match (I also sent them proof of ID as above, but only initialled the letter). They want me to sign this piece of paper and return it, or get a copy of my passport approved in a branch. They also said I should update my address and signature at a branch - which as far as I know - I wouldn't be able to do since in their eyes I don't have an account with them any more(?)

Can anyone advise me on what to do next? Should I go into a bank and update my address information? I don't really want the Triton letters coming to my current address, or to have any embarassing arguments with the staff in a branch.

Thanks for any help you can give me!

Tixy

An overdraft is not covered by the consumer credit act so sending a CCA request is never going to get you anywhere.

Has your signature changed since you had the account? Did you sign your SAR letter?

artistsonly

I didn't realise that about the CCA - I won't continue chasing that part up then - thank you!

My signature hasn't changed. I initialled the SAR request rather than signing it, which I guess is what they are referring to.

paxon

I am in the same situation as you my friend.
Whats this SAR thing you are talking about and how do you expect it to help you in any way?

artistsonly

Paxon, the SAR is a Subject Access Request - you send a £10 postal order off to get all of the data the bank holds on you. If it doesn't include a signed agreement from when you took out the credit (overdraft) then the debt is not enforceable i.e. you can get it taken off your credit rating. Have a look on the Consumer Action Group forums to find out how to do it.

The problem is if you sign the paper they give you and they don't already have your signature on that application sheet they might just copy it. This is my issue.

Tixy

Arguably if you have been in ongoing contact with them and they have regularly been sending letters and statements then you could argue that they shouldn't need to see your signature. However as you haven't been in contact for years then I'm not sure that argument will work.

What you could consider is sending the SAR letter again and signing it but putting a 'watermark' behind it, something like wavy lines running behind it that would make it nigh on impossible for them to scan and copy on to any old agreement. Personally I would go with another copy letter rather than just a blank piece of paper.

However - overdrafts cannot be deemed unenforceable in that same way that accounts covered by the consumer credit act can. And even when a debt is deemed unenforceable it won't be taken off your credit file. Court cases have determined that whilst a creditor could not take court action against you then can still report to the credit reference agencies and so you won't get a default removed from your file for an unenforceable debt.

artistsonly

Hi Tixy,

What I have decided to do now, is make a new sheet with a copy of my passport photo page with the signature blurred (you can see the shape but it isn't replicable).

I then printed the word SIGNATURE over and over in a grid below the image and signed over the words twice. You can see it is my signature signed on top, but they wouldn't be able to scan it and put it into an agreement sheet.

Ultimately I want to find out what agreement they have from me and what letters they sent which I didn't receive because of this change of address situation. So once I get them I will decide how to go about things - what I need to pay back etc.

Thanks for your input!

artistsonly

RBS have now sent me back a Subject Access Response.

All it contained was a list of dates where they tried to contact me about the default and the dates I contacted them. Plus a list of transactions on my overdraft from the point the account was opened.

I feel like there should be more paperwork there - like a signed agreement. Am I right?