Nationwide keeping my money HELP!!

bears5

Bit of long story apologies. With my ex 6 years decided to make my nationwide account joint so i could pay all the bills out of it. last year i paid a years worth of council tax straight up.
however i kicked ex out in october due to him becoming violent and abusive and trying to steal money. I swiftly shut down nationwide account and was entitled to refund on council tax which i asked them to keep hold of ready for this years payment.
this years bill came and what with the 25% off, the overpayment last year and council tax benefit it meant i was still entitled to £75 back after the bill paid in full which i asked to be refunded.
When i chased it up i realised they had paid it in to old nationwide account in march (i shut nationwide nov) as thats what i originally paid with. The council said theres nothing they can do until nationwide rejects the payment and asked for proof acc had been closed and for my new details (which i gave)
I went down to nationwide to ask them to reject payment asap and they denied all knowledge of the payment and said if they did receive a payment to a closed acc they would reject it automatically asap. i chased the council who said they would look into it. finally last wk nationwide sent me a letter to say they had received the payment and wrote me a cheque for the amount??? unfortunately the cheque is joint names i cannot cash it! i have asked, begged, pleaded for them to cancel the cheque and send payment bk to council to sort out but they are refusing saying thats impossible for them to do? they are saying the only thing i can do is get ex to write letter saying its my money and they will rewrite cheque!! my ex has been harassing me since november until i got a restraining order against him...he is no longer allowed to contact me and i have no idea where he is and certainly am not in position to ask for a favour!!! nationwide have been told all this and still refusing to help! what can i do? i cant even take it to ombudsman as they would need ex's permission to talk about our account? HELP!!!

agrinnall

It's a bit unfortunate but I don't think Nationwide have done anything wrong here, they aren't to know who the money in the account really belongs to so all they can do is issue a cheque in the names of the account holders.

It's too late now but had you taken the ex's name off the account before it was closed then you wouldn't have had this problem. As it is, I think you may have to wait until you get a legal financial separation from your ex, at which point I would expect the money to be an asset and probably will be split between you. For £75 (or £37.50 if you have to share it) is it really worth getting too worked up about?

bears5

Unfortunately i wasnt allowed to take my ex's name off my bank account without his permission, i did ask him to do this for me as well as removing his name off our tenancy agreement but he refused so i had no choice but to close account completely. We were never married so im not sure if would be entitled to or how to go about getting financial seperation from him as we have no shared assets or money or anything (i paid for everything.)
I dont want nationwide to give me the money or to get involved, i just want them to send it back to where it came from (the council) which i have been told on numerous occasions is there usual procedure...i dont understand why they didnt this time?...what would have happened if i'd moved house or anything?
The whole £75 is mine which the council are aware of. Unfortunately im now a single mother of a 1 year old and only work part time so the money is very much needed!!

dalesrider

bears5 wrote: »

i cant even take it to ombudsman as they would need ex's permission to talk about our account? HELP!!!

I do not get this.

As its a joint account either party can raise a complaint without the other parties permission.

They were quite happy for you to close the account (which I think they have not done as the other party has not given permission) which is why the funds were not rejected.
In reality the account should have gone to joint account disputes. Till both parties were happy to sign it off.


Have you tried to pay the cheque into your sole account.

innovate

Have you tried to pay the cheque into you current bank account? What happened?

bears5

i agree with you dalesrider i do not understand why they cannot take his name off my account without his permission yet im allowed to close it? they assured me this was the case though. i applied to the ombudsman before and was told that when they wrote to nationwide regarding my complaint nationwide said they wouldnt comment without authorisation from both account holders....which they knew wasnt possible which is why i just gave up and shut account down. Yes i went to halifax and tried to cash cheque in my own sole account and the cashier said it wasnt possible it has to be a joint account. i asked if it was possible for 'partner' to sign back of cheques or come down and authorise (just for reference) but they said no. ive read other links on here that say its the cheque act of 1993 or something and theyve had the cheque bounce as a result