Bank charges incurred from a returned DD that wasn't my fault

Mr_Goodkat

Piggywinkle wrote: »

The only figures given are those I transcribed in my previous post, but I see that the figures don't add up that way. Either way, they've altered my DD amount without giving me prior notice which is the core of my problem. I might be cr*p at maths, but their alteration of a DD has led to me incurring penalty charges with my bank, which I really don't think I deserve.

I am also on massive amounts of medication at the moment for anxiety and depression which is inextricably linked to my financial situation. This may go some way to explaining how scatterbrained I appear about anything to do with money. I hope you'll excuse me for that

If you are certain that the credit agreement does say 11 x £30.29 and not mention of a higher initial direct debit payment then I would say you have grounds for making a formal complaint to Swinton and not only should they (as they are doing)not charge you a missed DD charge from them they should refund the charges from the COOP.


Just please, read, re-read and read again the credit agreement as they do usually list the first DD payment as higher and if they have you won't have much cause for complaint.


You are fully excused and best of luck with this, your health and make sure BR is the right path for you to go down as there may be other options!

agrinnall

Mr_Goodkat wrote: »

Just please, read, re-read and read again the credit agreement as they do usually list the first DD payment as higher and if they have you won't have much cause for complaint.

I'd agree with the sentiment, but we've already established that this was the second payment, not the first (which was paid by debit card) so your warning is probably unnecessary.

jonesMUFCforever

Surely if OP goes bankrupt the Coop will close this cash account - unless trustee agrees otherwise.

Piggywinkle

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Surely if OP goes bankrupt the Coop will close this cash account - unless trustee agrees otherwise.

I have spoken to the Co-op about this and they have agreed that the account won't close - I opened it specifically as a 'BR friendly' account, so I'm can only hope that the OR will allow me to carry on using it and just freeze my Natwest one.

Piggywinkle

Thanks for all your replies and thanks for your advice Mr GoodKat

I have lodged a formal complaint this morning and they have said they will get back to me within 24 hours.

I have looked through my credit agreement and the associated terms and conditions and I'm sure that they should be held liable for any charges I have incurred. If not, I will tell them that I am going to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman. Hopefully that may persuade them that a £15 payment is worth me not getting the Ombudsman involved.

I'll pop back onto the thread when I've heard from them to let you all know how it goes.

Mr_Goodkat

agrinnall wrote: »

I'd agree with the sentiment, but we've already established that this was the second payment, not the first (which was paid by debit card) so your warning is probably unnecessary.

As I have explained as this is a deposit plus eleven instalments then the deposit, first instalment by DD (second payment) then ten remaining instalments can be at three different amounts.


This is because the customer is not financing the full amount over the term.


They are paying a deposit so this should be taken off the cash price with the remaining cash price plus interest on that remaining cash price spread across the remaining instalments in this case 11.


The deposit would usually be calculated as a percentage of the cash price you therefore have a remaining cash price plus interest on that remaining cash price to be split across eleven instalments and it is unlikely that that total can be split exactly so the first payment by DD (the second actual payment) would be slightly more followed by ten identical amounts.


Picking through this from the OP it appears that:
Card Deposit = £30.30
First Direct Debit = £30.37
Ten Direct debits = £30.29


Total Payable = £363.57




The e-mail the OP originally received stated instalments at £30.30 so this is what they put into the COOP account and Swinton have tried to take 7p more £30.37 as above.


On inspecting the credit agreement the OP is saying it states 1 x £30.30 then 11 x £30.29 giving a total of £363.57 but that total is incorrect those amounts give £363.49.


If the credit agreement is exactly as above e.g. 1 x £30.30 then 11 x £30.29 they have a very strong case and the Ombudsman would likely find in their favour although it won't get that far as Swintons complaints / legal people would identify the error in the paperwork.


If the OP is correct then this could be an issue affecting multiple Swinton customers as there could be an error in how the credit agreements are generated. Most people wouldn't pick up on it as they are likely to have the cleared funds to pay the first DD going out for a slightly higher amount.

Mr_Goodkat

Piggywinkle wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies and thanks for your advice Mr GoodKat

I have lodged a formal complaint this morning and they have said they will get back to me within 24 hours.

I have looked through my credit agreement and the associated terms and conditions and I'm sure that they should be held liable for any charges I have incurred. If not, I will tell them that I am going to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman. Hopefully that may persuade them that a £15 payment is worth me not getting the Ombudsman involved.

I'll pop back onto the thread when I've heard from them to let you all know how it goes.

Good luck and let us know what they come back with!

jonesMUFCforever

Piggywinkle wrote: »

I have spoken to the Co-op about this and they have agreed that the account won't close - I opened it specifically as a 'BR friendly' account, so I'm can only hope that the OR will allow me to carry on using it and just freeze my Natwest one.

I am sorry but you won't get a say if you go bankrupt - the trustee in bankruptcy will tell you if you can have a bank account or not.

SuperHan

Won't the OP also have issues in the fact that his car insurance is on credit if he goes BR? I don't have much experience of BR, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think you were allowed to pay certain creditors preferentially (e.g. you can't just chose to pay Swinton and ignore everyone else you owe money to)...

Piggywinkle

Well, Swinton have admitted they were at fault. Someone called me earlier saying that a letter was due to be sent out to me with the payment dates and amounts, but a system error meant that it had not been mailed out.

They require proof of my bank charges from Co-op though and when they've received that, they'll send me a cheque to cover the fee. They did confirm that the the first debit amount as detailed on my credit agreement was recorded as £30.29.

A bit of a faff, but all in all, I hope it can finally be sorted and that it wasn't me going mad! (Although there probably was a bit of that in there too )

As for the Co-op cashminder account being closed when I go BR, I did say that they would hopefully keep it open. I'm not counting on anything, but if the BR board on here is anything to go by, ORs are generally ok with leaving one BR friendly account running. Mine is also a pretty straightforward case, i.e. no assets, no business, no mortgage etc. so hopefully that will go in my favour.

Thanks again for all your advice, it really put my mind at rest and set my thoughts straight instead of me worrying and making myself ill!