Opening a new bank account for benefits only?

dippy3103

RAS wrote: »

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.

Agree completely...

bengal-stripe

RAS wrote: »

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.

Goldie4711 wrote: »

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.

I believe, it is the OP who doesn't want the debt to be foreclosed (why ever not?).

Goldie4711 wrote: »

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?

But the bank have helped you for a whole year by suspending the fees. One would have thought, that would have enabled you to get the debt down (by the whole, or, at least, by parts of the amount saved)

Goldie4711 wrote: »

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?

Yes, whatever you do (short of paying it back) you will still owe the bank, maybe for the rest of your life. As others have said, go to one of the debt organisations and take their advice. (No, they won't have a magic wan to make the debt disappear.)

skintmacflint

Goldie4711 wrote: »

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.

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?

Thank you all.:)

Simple answer to your question. There is no definitive current legislation you can use to force the bank to accept £15 per month and not default your account.

Step change will tell you this as well. You can try approaching the bank and trying to persuade them. But it's up to the bank to decide if they're willing to do this, and there is no legislation to force them to do it. I can't see them accepting it but you can only ask.

Under the new guidelines the banks are supposed to help customers in financial difficulties, which they have already done, by stopping normal interest and charges.

You can continue to pay them £5 or £15 with no interest or charges added indefinitely , under a new reduced payment agreement , but you can't legally stop them from defaulting your account or marking your credit file. Because you haven't been able to stick to the contract terms.

I'd imagine your credit file is already marked in some way to show you are under a repayment arrangement as it is.

FBaby

It never stop amazing me how people can live in complete denial of their responsibility when things go wrong.

PPS 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

But that IS mismanagement. Become unemployed, especially in these current times is far from unpredictable. You made a decision to have a £800 overdraft, chosing to ignore what would happen to it if you lost your job for any reason. You clearly didn't have insurance against the loss of your job, so how is it not your fault that you are in the situation you are in?

An overdraft is not something you HAVE to use. You chose to do so, you deal with the consequences. Yes, the bank charges are unfair, but you didn't need to be in this situation.

Morglin

The gift of hindsight is a wonderful thing.....:whistle:

Millions of people are in debt because of unemployment, sickness, whatever.

He needs proper help to get the overdraft under control, as hundreds of thousands of people do, year on year.

I don't even know of PPI that covers an overdraft!

Lin

wildwestfan

Morglin wrote: »

The gift of hindsight is a wonderful thing.....:whistle:

Millions of people are in debt because of unemployment, sickness, whatever.

He needs proper help to get the overdraft under control, as hundreds of thousands of people do, year on year.

I don't even know of PPI that covers an overdraft!

Lin

He has been told his various options many times over.

This issue has been growing for 10 years. Best thing the OP can do is get a job, any job.

FBaby

The gift of hindsight is a wonderful thing.....

Absolutely, that's why once you realise you've made a wrong decision, instead of blaming everyone else for it, you accept that you should have done things differently, do everything to sort it out, and then don't make that same error again.

Goldie4711

Morglin wrote: »

The gift of hindsight is a wonderful thing.....:whistle:

Millions of people are in debt because of unemployment, sickness, whatever.

He needs proper help to get the overdraft under control, as hundreds of thousands of people do, year on year.

I don't even know of PPI that covers an overdraft!

Lin

Exactly. following a warning from the web masters for bad language in a previous post, I shall not respond to the pompous, fatuous, ill thought out remarks from FBaby and Wildwest fan....but merely request they read Morglin's post.
I now have the definitive answer to my question and the thread can now close...................
BUT to Fbaby and wildwestfan....you're obviously both rather young and naive and think everything in life is covered by the law and you'll always have money.
Hmmmmm....I sincerely hope that if you get down on your luck and are in dire straits financially in future, you remember this thread....your naivety about life and your arrogance is repulsive..try and learn from this.

Goldie4711

skintmacflint wrote: »

Simple answer to your question. There is no definitive current legislation you can use to force the bank to accept £15 per month and not default your account.

Step change will tell you this as well. You can try approaching the bank and trying to persuade them. But it's up to the bank to decide if they're willing to do this, and there is no legislation to force them to do it. I can't see them accepting it but you can only ask.

Under the new guidelines the banks are supposed to help customers in financial difficulties, which they have already done, by stopping normal interest and charges.

You can continue to pay them £5 or £15 with no interest or charges added indefinitely , under a new reduced payment agreement , but you can't legally stop them from defaulting your account or marking your credit file. Because you haven't been able to stick to the contract terms.

I'd imagine your credit file is already marked in some way to show you are under a repayment arrangement as it is.

^^^^^^^^^
The definitive answer. THANK YOU :beer:
Case closed. Thanks to all for contributing to this post...
:T

dippy3103

I think it's fabulous advice... Maybe you need to take the hit on your credit file; as long as you go on paying it the account stays out of default.