Student overdraft.....many years later a letter from Wescot

sambd

Hi everyone,

This is my first post so I will try and keep it as short as I can.

When I went to university (4 years ago) I opened a Natwest Student account. Everything was fine and I was using the 0% interest overdraft, in my 2nd or 3rd year at University my account was closed because my student loan wasn't being paid straight into this account.

I forgot about this and only recently I have been having phone calls (about 2/3 years after my account was closed). I have ignored them because I am asked to provide my date of birth to confirm who I am which I thought was strange since they were calling me!

I have moved house a few times since opening the account which has made life difficult for the bank to track me. Today I have been sent a letter from Wescot asking me to confirm that I am the person they have on record. If I don't reply in 5 days they said in the letter they will assume the information is correct.

Now where do I stand? I think I owe anything from £900-£1200 and that is before any stupid fees etc what would my best cause of action be, phone them? Today was the worst day to receive the letter because today I paid out over £700 to repair my car, fun times!

Many thanks!

shedhead55

It's best not to have phone contact with these or any other DCA, their 'phone agents are on commission to sign you up to a payment plan there and then and will not really be interested in anything else. They are usually rude and threatening as well as being somewhat economical with the truth.
You should ignore the phone calls and wait for a written demand to arrive, you may then wish to dispute the debt and ask them to prove it. They may well provide proof but at least this tactic will buy you time and clarify the amount you owe. If you are in a position to, you may then wish to make them an offer of perhaps 50-75% of the face value as full and final settlement. All this should only be done in writing and only send letters with a typed signature. Come back for more advice as you need it.

retepetsir

You account was closed with an overdraft that hadn't been paid back? Sounds like it was never closed to me...

Date of birth is for the security questions to make sure they are speaking to the right person. You need to phone them back (or actually answer their calls) to close out this issue.

So yes, best course of action is to phone them and pay back the money that you owe. The quicker you do it, the less interest you'll have to pay back.

fatbelly

retepetsir wrote: »

You account was closed with an overdraft that hadn't been paid back? Sounds like it was never closed to me...

Date of birth is for the security questions to make sure they are speaking to the right person. You need to phone them back (or actually answer their calls) to close out this issue.

So yes, best course of action is to phone them and pay back the money that you owe. The quicker you do it, the less interest you'll have to pay back.

No, follow shedhead's advice.

sambd

Thanks for the replies, it might be possible that they just froze my account but I will wait and see. All I hope is that they don't screw me on interest, would most people need to pay back all of the debt before any interest or can it sometimes be lower?

Goldblend_2

If it was me I feel it would be best not to have phone contact but that is MO , How can They "assume" that you are that said person what if you where not how coudl you confirm . I am not telling you to avoid your debts but I feel they are testing the water...agree maybe wait for a letter to give yourself somebreathing space... Hoepful someone who is more wise will coem along to advise .. Dont be scared of them BTW !!! wishing you some TLC

RosaBernicia

Banks will not normally allow you to close an account that has an outstanding debt (or credit, actually - they would either transfer you the money beforehand or send you it with confirmation of closure).

Unfortunately if you weren't paying your student loan into the account they may also have changed the terms - most student accounts insist that you do this, so if they weren't receiving that, they may have turned it into an ordinary current account. I'm not sure whether that will affect the situation.

Do you have any details of whether or not the account was officially closed and what balance you had at the time? Statements, letter confirming closure, etc? It would probably be worth going through your files so you have as much info as possible on where you stand without having to tell anything to the collection agency.


Rosa xx

fatbelly

You can ask for a full statement of the history of the account if you need to and, if that is not forthcoming, do a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act.

But that is somewhere down the line from where you are now. For now...

shedhead55 wrote: »

You should ignore the phone calls and wait for a written demand to arrive, you may then wish to dispute the debt and ask them to prove it. They may well provide proof but at least this tactic will buy you time and clarify the amount you owe. If you are in a position to, you may then wish to make them an offer of perhaps 50-75% of the face value as full and final settlement. All this should only be done in writing and only send letters with a typed signature. Come back for more advice as you need it.

pauletruth

do as fatbelly says. never start phoning debt collectors you will regret it.

sambd

Many thanks for your help guys, you really have all put my mind to rest as it was starting to stress me out! I think I will just play the waiting game and see what happens. I'm sure I'll be back in a few days.

sambd

Hi all, back again!

Wescot have sent me a "Notice of debt collection" letter asking payment for the full outstanding balance of £961.66.

Not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It is on behalf of Natwest so it all looks correct. Should I contact Wescot and offer to pay a lump-sum instead of the full balance I owe on the debt or am I wasting my time? Does this normally work? I can just about afford to pay the total debt but I am saving a deposit for a mortgage.

I am a little concerned because I do not want this to effect my chances of be able to apply for a mortgage within the next few years. Also the letter clearly states "PLEASE CONTACT US AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AS FAILURE TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN FURTHER RECOVERY ACTION.", basically I don't want to have to pay for this later on in my life.

I am thinking maybe I should use the Full & Final Settlement offers template letter, if I do how much should I offer?

Many thanks all!