Debt to Bank - all charges - wont accept my payment offer

twinkle1981_2

Bit of a long story but here goes.

I have an account with the Royal Bank of Scotland. Just before xmas last year I went 53pence overdrawn. This happened after opening hours so as soon as the bank opened the next morning I went into the bank and paid the 53 pence back in. However, they wouldnt budge on the bank charge of £30.00 which I thought was pretty unreasonable but hey ho.

So anyway I stopped using the account and asked them to close it, as I had had enough of their unreasonable bank charges. I would then have paid the £30.00 bank charge and not incurred any further charges. They refused to close it. So it snowballed. They are now charging me £6 per day, plus a monthly charge and the account is now 613.00 in debit. I was made redundant so i'm not in a position to pay off the amount in full. They sent a bloke out to my house this morning who then phoned the bank from his mobile and I was forced to speak to them. They told me how much they want per month, I gave them a counteroffer which is more affordable and they are refusing to accept it, so we are at stalemate. I dont know what else to do, they are still refusing to close the account and are prepared to let the charges keep building and building. Is there anything I can do to get them o freeze the charges until we can agree a repayment plan?

And is there any way I can get them to waive at least some of the charges. If they look at their records they will see this all snowballed from 53 pence that was paid back into my account the very next morning as soon as the bank opened.

Tixy

In future if anyone comes to your house I would simply ask them to leave - they have no rights at all.

Have you written to the bank at all or only tried dealing with it on the phone so far?
If you haven't yet done so I would write to them setting out how much you can afford to pay each month and perhaps enclosing a statement of affairs. I would remind them in the letter of the history of the balance and ask them to freeze all charges & interest. Send this letter recorded delivery so you can be certain they have received it. Hopefully you'll have more luck.

twinkle1981_2

Well I called the bank back and spoke to someone who was far more helpful and less rude about the whole thing. He is putting me onto the financial assistance scheme because I was recently made redundant. They are sending me out a pack where I have to fill in my income and expenditure etc and he said being put on this scheme will mean the bank are more likely to accept any offer I make for at least 12 months.

He also said that in all probablilty, all the daily £6 charges I have incurred (which make up the majority of the charges) will be waived in order to allow me to pay off the overdraft. However, they still wont freeze the charges until they have received my payment offer in writing.

Now why the first person I spoke to couldnt have done all this for me I don't know. He just treated me like something on the bottom of his shoe.

southernbelle

I swear some of the people that work at these call-centres have a superiority complex. I often phone a number of times before I get someone who actually cares. Good news that it's getting sorted!

bunny999

I think they are just ordinary people in a crap low paid job who have people being rude to them all the time. I always try to be nice to them and they are usually nice in return.

onlyroz

I would harass them in writing/phone/email etc until they give in and waive the charges. I went overdrawn by 65p on a Santander account, and racked up £180 in charges before I became aware of it. After a few weeks of constant hassling, they finally agreed to waive the charges.

PHYTHIAN

Write to the bank and tell them you are claiming a refund of all charges because of
1. Financial hardship (tell them why)
2. snowballing charges
3, disproportionate charges

ask them to clear all charges and close the account. Tell them they have 8 weeks to respond after which you will going to the Financial Ombudsman. More info available fron this link :-
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges

I've just done the same with Natwest for my son. To cut a long story short he was overdrawn by a couple of quid. He was laid off from work and on JSA and couldn't pay back the initial £20 charge increases to £67....eventually increasing to £643 !!! I wrote to them outlining his situation, the snowballing and disproportionate charges and telling them he would be taking his case the FO based on those criteria. The whole amount has been refunded.

The package they are sending you is designed to make it look as though they are being nice. Don't fall for it....they're pulling the wool over your eyes . Although they are not lying to you and are trying to show they are willing to help, they also know they don't have a leg to stand on if the FO get involved.

Good luck!

twinkle1981_2

It did cross my mind to take it to the Omsbudsman. The only thing putting me off is if I am unsuccessful, I am going to rack up god knows how many more charges in the meantime.

PHYTHIAN

Really don't see why you would be unsuccessful. If you have read the link I posted, you will see that this is sound advice , not just my opinion. You have to be strong !!

I can however see that you are worried that the charges will escalate. I can only point out to you what happened to my son's appeal as well as ask you to read the many other success stories posted throughout these forums. In your letter, ask the bank to once again freeze the charges until this is resolved and explain to them that this is causing you stress and urge a speedy response.

twinkle1981_2

I think I will. Im sick of banks getting away with charging people these ridiculous charges. The bank was hardly gonna go bankrupt for the sake of my account being -0.53p. Its actually ridiculous when you think about it.

Im now with another bank who are far more reasonable and allow you until 3.30pm the following day to credit your account without incurring a charge.

PHYTHIAN

twinkle1981 wrote: »

I think I will. Im sick of banks getting away with charging people these ridiculous charges. The bank was hardly gonna go bankrupt for the sake of my account being -0.53p. Its actually ridiculous when you think about it.

Im now with another bank who are far more reasonable and allow you until 3.30pm the following day to credit your account without incurring a charge.

Good on you twinkle....don't let the B@strds grind you down.

Post again when you get your charges back. BTW because you are in Financial Hardship ( at least I presume you are?!) you can reclaim all of your charges over the last 6 years....also mentioned on the link I posted.

If you get them all back, we're all coming to your house for the party!!! :beer::beer: