..arranged repayments of overdraft are now through their solicitors-is this common?

showmethemoneyuk

I had an account which was converted from a standard no interest student account (with an overdraft) to a standard current account, and as I still had the overdraft at that particular time (leaving a course halfway through due to health) they started to add interest charges. Since I could not repay the exact amounts they required per month to get rid of the overdraft together with interest, they eventually arranged for all interest to be stopped, and I would then pay xx per month. This was good news, but since the banks individual departments did not communicate very well with one another, I received a threatening letter claiming that I needed to pay the entire amount in one go or face court judgement.

I took this letter to the bank, and over the phone I was told that they had now corrected this error, yet a month later I received an almost identical one once again, only this time it was through the solicitors that the bank was linked to! I have complained once more, and now it is all seemingly sorted out, although I will have to pay their solicitors instead. In some respects since I can now pay in more formats that werent allowed before (internet/giro etc) it may well work out for the better. Although all interest had previously been stopped by the bank, I am just wondering if having to pay via the banks solicitor is that common (or usually only used as the last result), and if anyone knows if the solicitor may start to add their own charges or forms of interest? The bank stopped the interest charges initially due to health and not being able to work. If I worked again, would the solicitor be likely to start their own interest charges, or is it possible that the solicitors would no longer work with me, and my payments would once again be handled by the bank?

Thanks for any info

nottoolate

a lot of the time the solicitors aren't real solicitors

just the banks debt collection department using a trading name

or they are just solicitors who work for the collections department

like Blair Oliver & Scott,
Sechari, Clark & Mitchell
DG Solicitors

or other similar ones

if you pay them you are really still paying the banks collection department