Desparetly Need Help with a Credit Card Limit Agreement

clairew6

Hello,

Earlier this year, I was over my credit limit on my credit card account (Natwest), I rang them and they agreed to a 4-month repayment scheme which remains on my credit file for 7 years.

They told me to pay £100 per month by the 28th of each month, and that would take my balance below the credit limit.

I made 4 payments of £100, 23/Apr, 21/May, 25/Jun, 24/Jul.

I didnt receive anything to state the payment plan had been completed, nor did I recieve a new statement until a "overlimit fee" was applied to my account because I was still £54.85 over my agreed limit.

When I rang them to discuss this, they told me over the phone, quite clearly, that the agreement obviously wasnt set up correctly and that the person who set it up should have allowed for the monthly interest to be added to the final balance. They also agreed I had never gone under my credit limit either so it was obvious the agreement wasnt set up correctly...

They said they would also get the £12 overlimit fee taken off as well.

BUT they said I would have to make a formal complaint if I wanted them to deal with it, and I would also have to make a higher payment that month to allow for the interest or I would incur more charges.

I made the complaint - collections complaints team - and was told that I would hear back over the telephone within 2 working days, or by post within 5 working days. This never happened.

I phoned again over a week later, they confirmed they hadnt taken off the charge and that it hadnt been raised on the original complaint either. And said "oh you can make another complaint about that if you've been promised something we havent done". Which I did.

Was told it was being dealt with by their expert complaints dept who were unable to comment over the phone, but I was also given their direct telephone number....

I tried to phone them, sat on hold for over an hour, and then gave up.

Phoned back today, 2 weeks after, 1st person I spoke to on the phone - from the same collections complaints dept - told me they had no record of my 1st complaint but that the £12 had been refunded. They also denied that I'd completed the agreement and said I'd only made 3 payments, and wouldnt budge on that.

After getting the payment dates off my online banking, I phoned them back and asked to speak to the manager of the complaints team, I was passed through to a guy who said my complaint had been upheld and that they were fully prepared to refund my £12 (which they had already done) and amend my credit file accordingly. When I asked what was happening with the rest of my account his response was "well you are under your limit so I dont see any issue"...

I am under my limit because by choice this month I payed £100 instead of the minimum payment of £65.

I asked why I am not being credited for the fact I never went under my limit on the agreement, like they said I would, and why I am still going to have to make extra payments each month to allow for it.

I asked that they wipe the debt of £54.85, plus the extra ammount to allow for the added interest that month, to be in line with what the original agreement was. I have now been told that I need to get the complaint looked at again, which they cant give any timescales for, and could be another couple of weeks.


What are my rights to compensation (ie the ammount the agreement didnt clear off + interest) and what I am best doing from here?

StuC75

The minimum payment is exactly that, the minimum that they can contractually ask you to pay.

The interest charges probably cancel out what you are paying each month - and depending on how your balance is made up of Purchases & Cash advances? the monthly rates may surpass what your minimum repayment rate is.

Not sure what compensation you hope to get for overspending on your credit card?

concentrate your efforts on using this as a 'smell the coffee moment' in terms of your poor use of credit cards.. Otherwise your going to pay a small fortune in interest over the course of this..

clairew6

The minimum payment normally was £65 per month, its not that I'm asking for help for...

I set up the equivalent of a personal IVA, which remains on my credit file for 7 years, which I have adherred to and the bank havent....

(I should have also mentioned I was over my limit as they incorrectly charged/mis-sold me ppi which they refused point blanke to remove for 3 years - and I refused to pay - but that is another issue in its own right.)

I havent used the card for well over 5 years, so rather than judging, helpful advice would be better!!!

CLAPTON

clairew6 wrote: »

The minimum payment normally was £65 per month, its not that I'm asking for help for...

I set up the equivalent of a personal IVA, which remains on my credit file for 7 years, which I have adherred to and the bank havent....

(I should have also mentioned I was over my limit as they incorrectly charged/mis-sold me ppi which they refused point blanke to remove for 3 years - and I refused to pay - but that is another issue in its own right.)

I havent used the card for well over 5 years, so rather than judging, helpful advice would be better!!!

the full facts would help too

StuC75

So after 5 years you are still over limit? what is the £65 per month as a % of the balance? what does £100 work out.. how much a month is the interest thats being charged?

When you say you didnt pay the PPI that was under dispute - its likely that other charges were incurred meaning that the payments required are 'out of tune' with the account balance. Is this something you are still pursuing?

Are you sure that for the 4 payment months that those funds were received and credited by the 28th? some of the dates seemed quite close for the clearing times that takes for payments to go through.

Did you get any of this confirmed in writing? Personal IVA's tend to last longer than 4 years, and if I was agreeing to something that affected the credit file for that long I would make sure it covered the longer term running of the account. Especially as the consequences of that may be greater than an overlimit flag whilst minimum payments were being maintained.

clairew6

StuC75 wrote: »

So after 5 years you are still over limit? what is the £65 per month as a % of the balance? what does £100 work out.. how much a month is the interest thats being charged?

When you say you didnt pay the PPI that was under dispute - its likely that other charges were incurred meaning that the payments required are 'out of tune' with the account balance. Is this something you are still pursuing?

Are you sure that for the 4 payment months that those funds were received and credited by the 28th? some of the dates seemed quite close for the clearing times that takes for payments to go through.

Did you get any of this confirmed in writing? Personal IVA's tend to last longer than 4 years, and if I was agreeing to something that affected the credit file for that long I would make sure it covered the longer term running of the account. Especially as the consequences of that may be greater than an overlimit flag whilst minimum payments were being maintained.

The PPI was biggy, I got it finally removed last March, I am still in the process of trying to claim it back - bank told me I couldnt until my account was under the credit limit. One of the reasons why I set up the agreement with them in the first place.

As of April of this year, I was £195 over my credit limit, I was paying higher than the minimum each month once the PPI was finally removed. But like you said the interest ment I was only paying off pennys rather than pounds and yes when I didnt have extra funds to make bigger payments the balance was going up rather than down.

So I arranged a 4 month agreement with my bank, I have it in writing that the 4 x £100 monthly payments would take my account back under its limit as long as I made the payments and didnt slip.

Yes, all were received into the account in plenty of time through online payment/transfer on my internet banking with the same bank - I can also prove that with my bank statements and credit card statements.

They were the ones who insisted 4 months payments would clear it. It was sold to me as a kind of mini ivr which would remain on my credit file for 7 years, but as I was incurring charges every month, it would work more in my favour in the future as my file would show I was trying to pay off my debts, and not that I was failing to pay each month.

However, my credit limit is £2900, at the end of the agreement the account balance was £2954.89.

If that makes sense.

clairew6

P.S I wasnt over my limit for all of the 5 years. My circumstances changed rapidly overnight and I let things slide a bit. I was over my limit for about 18 months give or take, some months I would pay more and it would go under, but if I couldnt it went up. Same old story I guess.

StuC75

bit clearer with the additional info..

I would send letter to complain at this, including a copy of what you received re the agreement, and there assurance re the balance.. May be harder to win if those charges are just interest related (as std part of the account), but if they were over limit charges say then that would be easier to argue against / or may be charges they had advised of prior to the agreement?

Keep it in writing as telephone calls have proven pointless & difficult to follow up on \ prove.

Have you checked you credit file to see how the payment agreement has been lodged? Personal IVA's are usually longer term & may have interest frozen and are more 'severe' than what you have infact benefitted from (essentially Short agreement to get back under credit limit). Usually this only serves to put a hold on there internal collections procedures..

clairew6

Many Thanks, I appreciate the advice.