Any advice?

beccael

I have got myself into a bit of a mess. Halifax reduced my overdraft limit from 2,500 to 600 from one day to the next without notifying me. Since then my mortgage tried to collect and was obviously refused. My 0% interest barclaycard also tried to collect and was also refused. I usually hover around 0-500 pounds into my overdraft however being as I was already a few hundred overdrawn these were refused. I have since been online and increased my overdraft to 1,300 which gives me a bit of grace but now barclaycard have said that I have not met the terms of the agreement and now my rate will go onto the purchase rate of 16.9%. I can't believe Halifax have done this - they have seriously messed me up!

I am going to call the bank later to see what is going on but I doubt I will find my right! And on top of that they will sting me with bank charges. I am so fed up and feel my financial situation is getting worse and worse.

Can anyone advise me?

Rebecca

Debt_Robot

What you need to do is have a look at Halifax's terms and conditions and see if they have to give you notice (in writing) that they can slash your overdraft agreement or if they can cut it at any given time if they fancy it. If the agreement says they can chop it at anytime, then you essentially agreed and Halifax can say they are protected by T&Cs.

I think you should call Halifax and ask them if they had to give you notice in writing that they were cancelling the overdraft. If they say that they did and they made a clerical error, you should write a complaint and claim compensation for the charges you incurred.

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers xx

Flyboy152

Debt_Robot wrote: »

What you need to do is have a look at Halifax's terms and conditions and see if they have to give you notice (in writing) that they can slash your overdraft agreement or if they can cut it at any given time if they fancy it. If the agreement says they can chop it at anytime, then you essentially agreed and Halifax can say they are protected by T&Cs.

I think you should call Halifax and ask them if they had to give you notice in writing that they were cancelling the overdraft. If they say that they did and they made a clerical error, you should write a complaint and claim compensation for the charges you incurred.

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers xx

I think they have a legal obligation to do so, irrespective of what it says in their terms and conditions.

Debt_Robot

Flyboy152 wrote: »

I think they have a legal obligation to do so, irrespective of what it says in their terms and conditions.

It seems to be a grey area, my gut feeling says they have to confirm in writing to say that the overdraft will be cut effective XYZ of XYZ month.

This sounds like a case that the OP could complain and get far with but it depends on the T&Cs.

Flyboy152

Debt_Robot wrote: »

It seems to be a grey area, my gut feeling says they have to confirm in writing to say that the overdraft will be cut effective XYZ of XYZ month.

This sounds like a case that the OP could complain and get far with but it depends on the T&Cs.

I am sure the banking code of practice has a different view.

bobbydrake50

Ring Barclaycard and apologise profusely - just say it is totally your own fault and it won't happen again and ask them to re-instate your special rate and refund the £12 charge. Hopefully they will play ball. Definately no harm in asking though.

Flyboy152

bobbydrake50 wrote: »

Ring Barclaycard and apologise profusely - just say it is totally your own fault and it won't happen again and ask them to re-instate your special rate and refund the £12 charge. Hopefully they will play ball. Definately no harm in asking though.

Althgough I agree the OP should talk to Barclaycard, I don't think they should be claiming blame for something that clearly wasn't their fault. If the OP can get confirmation that his bank screwed up, that will better evidence for Barclaycard, as it was circumstances outside of his control.

lisyloo

It's not just the £12 fee, its the loss of the 0% deal, plus potentially damage to their credit rating.
They should complain formally in writing (send it recorded delievery for 74p) following the formal complaint procedure.
They should factually state what happened and state clearly what they want done about it e.g.
1. Refund of X as compensation for loss of 0% deal (show calculations)
2. Refund of overdraft charges
3. Refund of mortgage charges
4. Removal of anything negative on credit report (get credit report and be specific)
5. A full apology taking full blame to aid rectifying credit report.

Longer term there is a problem with budgetting so it might help to get over to the dealing with debt board to sort out the issue of relying on the OD each month for the basic living costs.

david39

I think you will find the T&Cs of most banks provide for changes to overdraft being effected without prior notice.

This is to protect the bank from the following situation.

Client has large overdraft and builds it each month to the max, clearing it all or in part with each successive salary check.
Client additionally runs up large credit card bill - bank realise thst he is now over-committed. The result, they pull the overdraft on the day that his salary is paid into the bank account, thereby taking all or most of the salary to clear their risk.

If they had to give the client notice that they were doing this, client would stop his salary going into the account and bank would be whistling for the overdraft money.

There are numerous of threads on this site of people to whom this has happened - for there to be so many, clearly the banks retain that right to withdraw an overdraft without notice for their own protection.

Flyboy152

david39 wrote: »

I think you will find the T&Cs of most banks provide for changes to overdraft being effected without prior notice.

This is to protect the bank from the following situation.

Client has large overdraft and builds it each month to the max, clearing it all or in part with each successive salary check.
Client additionally runs up large credit card bill - bank realise thst he is now over-committed. The result, they pull the overdraft on the day that his salary is paid into the bank account, thereby taking all or most of the salary to clear their risk.

If they had to give the client notice that they were doing this, client would stop his salary going into the account and bank would be whistling for the overdraft money.

There are numerous of threads on this site of people to whom this has happened - for there to be so many, clearly the banks retain that right to withdraw an overdraft without notice for their own protection.

I think you'll find that most banks don't.

david39

think you'll find that most banks don't.

From the Lloyds TSB website
http://www.lloydstsb.com/current_accounts/personal_overdrafts.asp

All overdrafts are always repayable on demand. This means that we can ask you to repay all or part of your overdraft (and any interest or charges) at any time, even if we have agreed a period for the overdraft with you. We can also reduce your overdraft limit at any time. We will normally give 30 days notice before making any changes.

Note the words at any time and normally - this means they reserve the right not give 30 days notice - especially if you are permanently using the overdraft to the max and they feel their money is at an unacceptable level of risk.

Edit: I have checked their actual T&Cs pertinent to my own account and it says :

10:3 Overdrafts are always repayable "on demand". This means we can ask you to repay all or part of your overdarft (and any interest and charges) at any time, even if we have agreed a period for the overdraft with you. We can also reduce your overdraft limit at any time.......... If we can reasonably do so without prejudicing our interests, including our regulatory position, we will give you at least 30 days notice before making the change.

So - if they think their interests are at risk, they can demand (and take) immediate repayment.

I have not looked at other banks' T&Cs but am sure that they will be the same.