my bank froze my accounts leaving me no income

sheri1972

recently i had finacial problems which left me with lots of bank chargers that i was unable to pay off. the situation has now left me very over drawn, last thursday after a visit to the halifax they have froze my other bank account which is in credit. they are refusing to allow me to withdrawn any monies which are my child benefits and child tax credits and csa payments money that is given to support my 7 children. i currently have no money to even feed my children or pay my essential bills. when i relaid this situation to halifax head office they still refuse to release my money even though i have had legal advise that it is illegal for the bank to retain money that is given by the government to provide for my children

Show_me_the_money_3

Sheri, you are right. There is a law that states that it is illegal to do what they are doing. Its called the social security administration act 1992, the section that is applicable to you is section 187 parts a, b and c. google it and print it off. I would phone them again and ask to speak to the manager. As what they have done is HIGHLY ILLEGAL. Or even better, take it into your branch and show it them, tell them you have sought legal advice and it clearly states that they can't do it. Heres a link, if it comes up with the whols act them tab down til you get to 187. Hope this helps, i claimed my charges back using this, they literally bent over backwards to sort it.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts1992/Ukpga_19920005_en_16.htm#mdiv187

Hailey

sheri1972

thanks hailey for yr advise it is very useful

stiffnuts69

ummm sounds like this story from thepalace1

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=488632

MABLE

sheri1972 wrote: »

recently i had finacial problems which left me with lots of bank chargers that i was unable to pay off. the situation has now left me very over drawn, last thursday after a visit to the halifax they have froze my other bank account which is in credit. they are refusing to allow me to withdrawn any monies which are my child benefits and child tax credits and csa payments money that is given to support my 7 children. i currently have no money to even feed my children or pay my essential bills. when i relaid this situation to halifax head office they still refuse to release my money even though i have had legal advise that it is illegal for the bank to retain money that is given by the government to provide for my children

Did you not post a few weeks ago under a different name and the general opinion then was you were a troll.

Me thinks you have been at the Sheri again Sheri!

ukdutypaid

Wow, you gained an additional 5 kids is a month. Well done love...
"my 2 kids aged 2 and 3" 26/06/07
"my 7 children" 26/07/07

Kimitatsu

Show_me_the_money wrote: »

Sheri, you are right. There is a law that states that it is illegal to do what they are doing. Its called the social security administration act 1992, the section that is applicable to you is section 187 parts a, b and c. google it and print it off. I would phone them again and ask to speak to the manager. As what they have done is HIGHLY ILLEGAL. Or even better, take it into your branch and show it them, tell them you have sought legal advice and it clearly states that they can't do it. Heres a link, if it comes up with the whols act them tab down til you get to 187. Hope this helps, i claimed my charges back using this, they literally bent over backwards to sort it.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts1992/Ukpga_19920005_en_16.htm#mdiv187

Hailey

I had a discussion about this at work today. And the feeling was that the section you refer to actually is talking about bankrupcy and attaching a charging order. If it works then good luck to you but most banks will just take the benefits as income into the account.

If it does work then why is this not more widely known because it would have saved thousands of vulnerable people massive amounts of charges?

C_Ronaldo

stiffnuts69 wrote: »

ummm sounds like this story from thepalace1

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=488632

does sound similar

Show_me_the_money_3

If you read the act and section carefully, it clearly states BENEFIT. I am sure of this as my husband is a solicitor, as are many members of the family and also CAB have also validated this point. Ok it mentions bankruptcy but it states that there is to be NO charge on benefits. For those who would like to view this, i have pasted it below as it is.

187.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, every assignment of or charge on—

• (a) benefit as defined in section 122 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• (b) any income-related benefit; or

• (c) child benefit,

and every agreement to assign or charge such benefit shall be void; and, on the bankruptcy of a beneficiary, such benefit shall not pass to any trustee or other person acting on behalf of his creditors.


Halifax's legal team were fully aware of the act, but do not obviously tell people. Yes, there are many people out there who do suffer immensley due to having benefits used up to pay charges. I have helped a fair few people on Bounty get their charges back using a letter my husband did for me, they were all recieving benefits of some variety. ALL of them got their money back pronto. I wouldnt offer advice if i thought it were wrong.

As sheri is on benefits, i just thought i would add a note to tell her about it. I have seen a thread on here about the social security administration act and how they used this to their advantage to get the charges back. So, my advice to anyone who receives purely state benefit is to use it to your advantage. When claimed i actually printed off the relevant section, highlighted it and put it in with my letter and list of charges. I got a phone call 2 days after stating that they understood the relevance of the information i had sent and will be offering me a full refund of the charges i had requested. Then i got the letter, signed it and they put the money into my account 2 days after as CASH.

Also, yes banks do see it as an income, but all transactions on statements clearly indicate where the funds have come from, ie, chb (child benefit) DWPIb ( department of work and pensions incapacity benefit) I know, as i get these 2!
Hailey

MABLE

ukdutypaid wrote: »

Wow, you gained an additional 5 kids is a month. Well done love...
"my 2 kids aged 2 and 3" 26/06/07
"my 7 children" 26/07/07

What I want to know is what happenered to her partner. He has now disappeared from the scene alll together. The plot thickens!!!

Kimitatsu

Show_me_the_money wrote: »

If you read the act and section carefully, it clearly states BENEFIT. I am sure of this as my husband is a solicitor, as are many members of the family and also CAB have also validated this point. Ok it mentions bankruptcy but it states that there is to be NO charge on benefits. For those who would like to view this, i have pasted it below as it is.

187.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, every assignment of or charge on—

• (a) benefit as defined in section 122 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• (b) any income-related benefit; or

• (c) child benefit,

and every agreement to assign or charge such benefit shall be void; and, on the bankruptcy of a beneficiary, such benefit shall not pass to any trustee or other person acting on behalf of his creditors.


Halifax's legal team were fully aware of the act, but do not obviously tell people. Yes, there are many people out there who do suffer immensley due to having benefits used up to pay charges. I have helped a fair few people on Bounty get their charges back using a letter my husband did for me, they were all recieving benefits of some variety. ALL of them got their money back pronto. I wouldnt offer advice if i thought it were wrong.

Hailey

Thanks for that Hailey - it wasnt a criticism! I too believed that as all the statemnents clerly showed the source of the income they wouldnt have a leg to stand on.

I will pass it on and let you know how I get on.