Opening a new bank account for benefits only?

NYM

Goldie4711 wrote: »

.........At the risk of repetition, I didn't mismanage my debts...I went from an £800 overdraft to £2,000 as a result of the unfair bank charges ONLY when I became suddenly unemployed (yes, the same bank charges that millions of other bank customers were refunded when the banks got scared of new laws coming in..which are now in place)
......

In January 2013 you wrote this....

Goldie4711 wrote: »

I have been on benefits the significant part of the last 10 years. During that time I have had to increase my overdraft facility as a result of intense financial pressures during periods of unemployment. It was £800...it now stands at £2,030, and I am using all of the facility.
My "fees" for this "authorised" amount is £60 per month. My benefits are £124 per fortnight.

It appears that you've been trying to recover bank charges for some time, can I ask what responses you've had?

wildwestfan

deleted my post as thought better of it

skintmacflint

As previously posted earlier, as long as you aren't bothered by a trashed. Credit file you'd be advised to write to the bank, advise them you are in financial difficulty due to unemployment and ask them to freeze the interest and charges on your overdraft. They will probably ask for an income and expenditure sheet which legally you don't have to provide but if you've no objections then complying may speed up them accepting .

It can take then a few weeks to do this soyou may incur some more charges until the account is put onto what they class as a repayment plan. You could ask them to remove these ones, but it's up to them.

You should also offer them a small token repayment say around £5 per month to repay the overdraft figure. They will accept this, but will default or mark your credit file and you will no longer be able to use the overdraft account or be likely to be accepted for any future credit application.

They may pass or sell your debt to a debt collector for you to continue making your £5 payment to at some point. The debt collector can't add any further interest or charges normally, as far as I'm aware.

You should also arrange to have your benefits paid into a separate account and once you've done that set up a standing order for the £5 payment each month to repay the overdraft. They may even accept a lower figure of £1 or £2 if you're on basic benefits.

Goldie4711

NYM wrote: »

It appears that you've been trying to recover bank charges for some time, can I ask what responses you've had?

I had no luck at all...I tried recovering them too late and I failed in that regard.

Goldie4711

bengal-stripe wrote: »

In this particular context (SSAA - Social Security Administration Act 1992), "assignment" and "charge" are interchangeable terms.

There are plenty of other uses when the word charge does not mean assignment. If you pay in a shop by Debit Card and two days later the amount gets deducted from your account, then your account gets "charged". When your utility company calls in a Direct Debit, your account gets "charged" again.

Neither of these charges are "assignments". Or do you think as a benefit recipient, those "charges" are also against the law and you deserve to be refunded?

Of course I don't think that bank charges are a wrongful "charge" against government benefits...I'm just trying to clarify the law...that's all!!!

Morglin

This was the case, at that time:

http://www.bradford.gov.uk/bmdc/advice_benefits_and_council_tax/benefits/faqs/can_a_bank_take_housing_benefit_to_pay_my_overdraft


but it may well have changed, and you would probably be better off getting some professional advice, from something like the CAB:

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadvice.htm

Meantime, as before, you can open a separate account, with another bank, to solve the immediate problem.

Lin

Goldie4711

Thank you all for your posts so far :beer:(apart from Bill Jones)
We should keep our political views out of this thread and ESPECIALLY we should avoid inappropriate assumptions about how I lived my life to end up in this situation. Both sentiments are IRRELEVANT to this thread. The first sentiment simply annoys me but the second one genuinely upsets me.
There are a few details I should have given at the start of this thread which I didn't give, for which I apologise....these are....
1. 11 months ago I approached the bank and said I was having financial difficulties and couldn't service the £60 per month fees (fees are £2 per day), whilst on JSA of £124 per fortnight.
2. They agreed to put me on a "control account", so I've not had fees charged to my £2k overdraft for 11 months
3. This ends in June - when my chances of servicing the £60 per month on my JSA benefits are virtually nil.
4. It ends in June because they told me that control accounts can only be operated for up to a year.

My summary of the situation and what I think I should do,once the control account ends, taking on board everything that has been said on this thread so far is.....

1. I don't want the bank to foreclose the £2k overdraft / sell the debt on if I can avoid it. I want to avoid it at all costs.
2. I might be able to avoid it by writing to the bank and politely saying that I can service the overdraft if they charge me £15 per month instead of £60 per month.
3. Logic dictates that £15 per month (as above) to the bank is better than them getting £1 to £5 per month if they want to foreclose and insist on a repayment plan based on my JSA benefits.(?!)
4. Here's the missing link.........Is there DEFINITIVE, CURRENT legislation I can point the bank to, which will inform them they are under a direct obligation to help customers with financial problems?
5. My understanding is that even if I get a separate, unconnected bank account for my benefits to be paid into (i.e without the right of set off), the bank can still charge fees to the original overdraft as and when they occur...OR defer them....either way, I will still owe them (under SSAA 2002).
Does that sound right? I welcome your comments before "case closed"
Thank you all.:)

Horseunderwater

Contact the National debtline or Stepchange - they can help you deal with any debt - you cannot get out of this on your own & people on here(no offence meant BTW) may not have the precise knowledge needed.
http://www.stepchange.org/
https://www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/Pages/default.aspx

Morglin

Goldie4711 wrote: »

Thank you all for your posts so far :beer:(apart from Bill Jones)
We should keep our political views out of this thread and ESPECIALLY we should avoid inappropriate assumptions about how I lived my life to end up in this situation. Both sentiments are IRRELEVANT to this thread. The first sentiment simply annoys me but the second one genuinely upsets me.
There are a few details I should have given at the start of this thread which I didn't give, for which I apologise....these are....
1. 11 months ago I approached the bank and said I was having financial difficulties and couldn't service the £60 per month fees (fees are £2 per day), whilst on JSA of £124 per fortnight.
2. They agreed to put me on a "control account", so I've not had fees charged to my £2k overdraft for 11 months
3. This ends in June - when my chances of servicing the £60 per month on my JSA benefits are virtually nil.
4. It ends in June because they told me that control accounts can only be operated for up to a year.

My summary of the situation and what I think I should do,once the control account ends, taking on board everything that has been said on this thread so far is.....

1. I don't want the bank to foreclose the £2k overdraft / sell the debt on if I can avoid it. I want to avoid it at all costs.
2. I might be able to avoid it by writing to the bank and politely saying that I can service the overdraft if they charge me £15 per month instead of £60 per month.
3. Logic dictates that £15 per month (as above) to the bank is better than them getting £1 to £5 per month if they want to foreclose and insist on a repayment plan based on my JSA benefits.(?!)
4. Here's the missing link.........Is there DEFINITIVE, CURRENT legislation I can point the bank to, which will inform them they are under a direct obligation to help customers with financial problems?
5. My understanding is that even if I get a separate, unconnected bank account for my benefits to be paid into (i.e without the right of set off), the bank can still charge fees to the original overdraft as and when they occur...OR defer them....either way, I will still owe them (under SSAA 2002).
Does that sound right? I welcome your comments before "case closed"
Thank you all.:)

I don't know of any regulation that says banks have to help anyone, suffering financial hardship (in fact they often appear to do the opposite!), but, as the previous poster suggested, if you get something like Steochange involved, they are used to dealing with the banks, and often get them dancing to a more realistic tune.

Must be worth a phone call at least.

Lin

RAS

Second this ^^^^^^^^^^

Please contact Stepchange or NDL urgently. They can help you halt this madness.

You need a new basic bank account for your incoming money.

You need the bank to do what they should have done ages ago; default tou on the overdraft so they have to stop charges. Just charging you racks them in more money.