Bank Charges

dalip

I am an old time member who visits now and again.
Briefly my OH has a DMP with CCC's(3 years now) He has 4 creditors 3 of which have been excellent in stopping interest. One,namely nat west bank, whom my hubby had a £700 overdraft at the time, continued to add interest every month, even though they were recieving money from CCC'S. Last Sept the added interest took the balance over the agreed limit of £1,000. Despite calls to the bank charges have been added so that the balance now stands at £1,500. CCC's say they have sent details,budget sheets ect to bank. Bank say they have not recieved anything. Bank say they refused our initial proposal from ccc's 3 years ago and that is why interest has continued to be added. CCC'S say no. We constantly get letters from bank threatening bayliffs,court ect. I send copies of all these letters to ccc's who say it can take 28 days .......grrrrrrrrr. Hubby is piggy in middle here and not sure what to do. We are thinking about complaining to onbudsman, maybe get a loan to pay them off (but then will that not be seen as unfair to other debtors)or what............could do with some serious help on this one please. Cheers

Tixy

Hi

Have you tried writing a letter to the bank yourself asking them to reconsider freezing charges & interest? Whilst CCCS will have done this some people have found sending a letter themselves can sometimes have the desired effect - national debtline website has template to do this if you want to give it a try.

Some people also add in a clause from the lending code to which they subscribe - will see if I can find the relevant section.

If that doesn't work I know some people have complained to the FOS, which as far as I've seen seems to have mixed results from persuading the creditor to stop charging, to the FOS saying they are entitled to carry on charging interest in accordance with the terms of the account.

In terms of the bank charges now being added as well as interest - I wonder if you could do a reclaim for those as you are under financial difficulty?

Standingtall

Hi Dalip

Good advice from Tixy above, and a letter from myself did the job with Santander who were simply ignoring Payplan - although this was about charges and interest not accepting the DMP itself.

If you were to take out a loan though it would break the terms of your DMP so do not be tempted down that route. Unless of course, it was from family and friends for instance.

I would definately try the letters from yourself route first and make sure you send them registered mail so you have proof of receipt. There are some excellent templates on the National Debtline site.

dalip

Thanks for both replies and yes we will try anything so will write to the bank. We have spoken to several bank workers and have had replies such as" if we know you are in a dmp we stop all interest and charges",to" we did not know you were in a dmp", even though it says on the mthly statements that a payment has been recieved from a credit union! Just so frustrating when my hubby also has a nat west access credit card which stopped all interest from day one! We do know that the bank is not obliged to stop interest but would have been so much easier to pay off £700 than the now £1,500. OH total amount of debt is £9,000. If he was not on agency where he works he would have looked at getting a loan to pay the whole sorry lot off but unfortunatly work looks grim at the moment. Thanks again.D

BevieB

Hi, we are also paying a DMP via CCCS. The Halifax charged us fees and interest until I telephoned to complain stating the Lending Code as they were making our situation worse. This led to them refunding all charges and freezing interest. Therefore if a creditor does not play ball always write or call to complain and if you are still not happy complain to FOS. If writing always helps to make it clear it is a letter of complaint. I always write this on top of letter so they cant miss it.

happy_bunny_2

As BevieB says, send them a letter signed for, with the words formal complaint in bold.

I would also quote the lending code and ask them how they are being fair to you.

No reply=FOS after 8 weeks. no refund of interest or stopping applying it=complaint to FOS.

Also cost them £500 for the FOS to look at the complaint, so might make you feel a bit better at least, but in my experiences with the FOS they have been pretty good and fair.