Bank charges, debt sold on advice please.

simell

Hi,

I am being chased for just over 600 pounds in bank charges which go back to 2008 when I lost my job. I didn't have an overdraft facility at the time and was made overdrawn by direct debits that bounced. Although I had cancelled the DD's with my branch, I have now been told that I should have cancelled them with the companies concerned too. Not long after this happened I split with my wife and changed address an number of times. Consequently I now have a debt collection agency chasing me for the money and my original bank can't help me.

Is there anything I can do about this or am I obliged to pay the people that bought the debt?

Many thanks

Suseka

Hopefully someone who has been in this position will come along and give you some advice.

In the meantime, you say the bank can't help.. or is it more of a case they won't help. They should at least give you a breakdown of the charges so you can see what the actual overdraft was and what charges have been levied since then. I say that because maybe that will give you some scope to negotiate a final settlement with the debt collectors if needs be.

Just a thought, hope it helps.

FireWyrm

Your bank is being disengenuos. For a start, they must cancel a DD when they are told to do so and if they honour one after that point, it is an unauthorised transaction and you are entitled to have it refunded along with any bank charges that might have been incurred. Unless the payment was a 'continuous payment authority' typically, against a specific card, then a DD is well within their remit. I assume that 100% of the outstanding debt is actually bank charges and not genuine overspend? If that is the case, I would be writing to them, demanding that they sort it out, write off the charges, return your credit profile to what it would have been, call off the DCA and generally pull their finger out. I would further threaten a formal complaint to the FSA and OFT if they dont.

Tell the DCA to pi$$ off, it's in dispute....that's all you need to tell them.

sourcrates

Hi,
I would write a letter to the DCA concerned outlining the fact the debt is made up entirely of bank charges unfairly levied on your account at a time when your marriage was breaking up and you were in financial hardship, after losing your job.
Insist you will not be paying this account and tell them to refer back to there client, assuming the debt is assigned not bought outright ?, as they have a complaint to deal with, them put your complaint, in writing, to your bank also, they are obliged to deal with you sympathetically if you are in financial hardship, you should of complained at the time, in writing, and its likely the charges would have been waived, still cant do any harm to complain now, this will automatically put the account into "dispute" and give you time to pursue the complaint.

simell

Many thanks,

I have told the DCA that it's in dispute but get letters every week, and it shows up twice on my Experian credit report, once for Nationwide and once for the previous DCA who sold it to another DCA which is part of the same company.

The entire amount is bank charges and no overspend.

FireWyrm

simell wrote: »

Many thanks,

I have told the DCA that it's in dispute but get letters every week, and it shows up twice on my Experian credit report, once for Nationwide and once for the previous DCA who sold it to another DCA which is part of the same company.

The entire amount is bank charges and no overspend.

Dispute those markers with the credit reference agency.