late payments and debt

yvonneuk

my daughter has a bank account with santander (formerly abbey national) her payment date is 23rd of the month but she only gets paid on the 28th of every month.

They are refusing to change her payment date for the 28th or the 29th of every month, they say they can't. They've charged her late payment fees this month of £40.

She also has a visa with santander that she has ran up £3,0000 so got charged late payment and also another one with mbna and has got charged nearly £250 in late payment charges shes at her wits end as she got herself into debt due to circumstances in her personal life. she just doesnt know which way to turn. She is thinking about going onto an iva but in the mean time she wants her payment dates sorted etc sorted. Is there anyway she can claim these late payments back.

She also has something going on with british gas she rang them 4th january 2013 and said she owed them £450 (as she split up with her boyfriend and was moving out) she got a final bill through the post and she set up a payment plan with them to pay it off over 4 months at £95 a month her last payment was in may. She made all 4 payments by dd on time and she then cancelled the dd after paying the last payment.

She then got a letter through the post saying it was a final bill and she owed them £650 they are telling her when she rings up that she owes them that money they told her in july the previous year that £600 was owing but it was from the previous tenant they gave her the wrong meter reading. This bill now that they say she owes is from a previous tenant and not my daughters but yet this was all sorted and they realised this but for some reason this has all been forgotten and they have set debt collectors onto her.

she keeps getting phone calls and sometimes ones from people in india what can she do to sort this out as she has rang and rang and spoke and even emailed.

Tixy

Hi

Probably better to post this on the debt free wannabe section of the forum.

However - is she in touch with one of the debt advice charities - if not suggest she does get in touch with them - IMPORTANT - Where to seek professional impartial advice about your debts.

Regarding the british gas debt collectors. Tell her not to deal with them by phone, don't ring them anymore and if they ring her either don't answer or just ask them to put anything they want to say in a letter.
Then when she gets a letter she needs to write back to them to dispute the debt in writing.

chattychappy

Agree with the advice above.

On the specific issue of payment dates, some CCs will change dates if asked. But this is not something you can demand if they refuse.

As to the late payment charges, the T+Cs will, no doubt, provide for these. Just because something in the T+Cs doesn't mean it is enforceable. In general, penalty fees shouldn't exceed the cost of the breach to the injured party. Your daughter could try disputing them on the basis they are disproportionate - particularly if they were automatically generated. She could ask the CCs to justify them by reference to the costs incurred by them. Did they send letters? Did they try phoning? Such a challenge would, at best, be a long shot.

yvonneuk

Hi she has emailed them and her dad has emailed british gas and they are not listening they migrated there systems so lost everything that was sorted out last year.

Her dad is going to help her get onto an iva but its in the mean time she needs to get her dates changed as she is getting charged every time for late payments and when she has rang a few times they just say they can't change the dates on her credit cards $250 on charges as they took 2 payments out in one month is excessive for her