CapQuest chasing payment for overdraft charges

littlecritterz

Hi all,
My daughter got into a bit of a mess with her bank a year ago. She was into her overdraft and was making payments of £20 per month to the bank (as arranged with them). However they were adding almost £20 per month in charges so her balance was never going down. She contacted the bank and asked them if they could possibly freeze the interest charges in order for her to make payments that would clear the balance. The advisor told her he could not do this and the best course of action would be to stop paying and allow it to go to their collections department as they were the only ones that could freeze the interest. She stopped paying and waited to hear from collections. She then heard nothing else from them. Last month Capquest contacted her by telephone and advised they were chasing the debt and requested she make a payment plan. The balance has increased by around £200 (which I presume is interest charges) since the call to her bank. She has advised Capquest of what she had done to try and resolve the situation and told them she had been waiting to hear from her bank but they had not contacted her for almost a year. She requested Capquest to send her a statement showing the balance (including a breakdown of interest and charges). Capquest agreed but only sent her a letter confirming the balance owed as £713.90 and requested she contact them to arrange to pay.
Is there anything she can do in order to dispute the amount owed as she had tried to resolve the situation with the bank but they were less than helpful. We did move a few months after discussing the issue with her bank but all mail was redirected for a period of one month after the move, giving the bank approx 4 months to ontact her after the telephone conversation. We have no idea if they attempted to contact her after this time period (although CapQuest had no problems tracking her to our new address so dont understand why the bank couldnt have tracked her too).
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

happy_bunny_2

Capquest have an interest in tracking her down, banks probably won't bother trying.

I believe you have a right to know what the charges are for, so I would write to them again asking for a breakdown of the amount owed. Send signed for. if they fail to reply with the info, send them a formal complaint, again signed for.

You could just send them a complaint about the handling of the account by the bank. As owners of the debt, its now their problem to deal with the complaint. be sure to state what she was told about letting the account default.

littlecritterz

Thank you
Is she entitled to ask for a copy of the original agreement? I was wondering if she should send one of the template letters asking for a copy of the agreement and a breakdown of all charges..i wasn't sure if the template was valid for a bank overdraft debt?
I forgot to add that after she spoke to the advisor at the bank she didn't even receive any bank statements or receive a letter from them after the first missed payment.

happy_bunny_2

ODs are not the same regarding agreements as say a loan or credit card. They don't have a CCA as such.

I would just ask for a breakdown of the debt including any charges.

HTH

HB

littlecritterz

OK, thanks. I will get her to write a letter requesting a breakdown of all charges.