What can we do if we are on benefits (merged)

mrmajika

dust75 wrote: »

hi there mrmajika can i please speak to you if i ring ltsb call centre as you seem to know what your talking about and i think you could help me out more than any amount of letters i write

Hi

Sadly it's not an area I work in any longer as I've shifted departments. Plus, i'm not sure my employer would be entirley happy with me giving my personal contact details out on public forums.

Anytime I have came across this point it has been with customer who have had charges due. Because they are on benefit, LTSB were not able to take the charge as it was eating into their benefit money. The customer had to make the bank aware of this and the charge would be refunded / stopped.

As far as I know, the charge would still stand, but would be delayed and not taken from the benefit money.

I'm not sure how all this works with retrospective claiming back of bank charges.

dust75

thanks for all your help can i ask is it better to call them or should i write them a letter many thanks mate .

bengal-stripe

dust75 wrote: »

if i write a letter to lloyds tsb can i charge them £35 as they have done with me in the past

No, you can only charge £ 17.50.

For £ 35.00 one can expect punctuation marks, as well as upper and lower case letters, all in the right places.

dust75

lol they can have all that punctuation they want.thanks mate i was just wondering !.

particularly

Today I spoke to the Halifax who are currently taking all my living money away in bank charges. I clearly explained to them that these come directly from benefits, as they come up on my bank statements as Income Support, CTC etc. I explained to the bank that thius was illegal under Social Security Administration Act 1992, which states that banks must not take money from benefits as this is needed for people to live off. The bank ( I have her name and transcript) claimed that once the money was in the account it was no longer benefits so they were within their rights to take it. I then stated that without this money I would be without electricity as I would not be able to top up my keymeter, and I would be without money for food for myself and child. They refused to accept that I would be in financial hardship, saying they would put me through to the people who deal with financial hardship, who then refused to take my call as i was in overdraft (directly due to the bank charges and benefits case). It then turned out they were a financial advice line.
So the bank have refused to accept that I am in financial harship, when i clearly am, and refused to accept that benefits are benefits once they are in the halifax's hands. And they have refused to reverse my charges, and stop charging me, which now means i will have no living money at all for anything over christmas, and beyond. My benefits are now eaten. The bank are doing this because I have had charges reclaimed in the past.

maninthestreet

"hey refused to accept that I would be in financial hardship, saying they would put me through to the people who deal with financial hardship, who then refused to take my call as i was in overdraft"

A financial hardship helpline that refuses to help people who have a bank overdraft???? Sounds as much use as a chocolate teapot.

moneysaver12

i would stop having your benfits paid in to that bank account and speak to the benfits agency, they can't leave you without any money when you have a children

smitchy73

I would get on to a lawyer and get signed up for legal aid and take the b*stards to court, but first as the rpevious poster said, get on to the benefits agency and either get them to issue a payment in an another form etc, some folk still get giros for the Post Office.

taytanya

today i have requested a list of the last 6 years of charges from halifax bank .
They have agreed to send these out and should be with me no later than monday.

When i quoted them section 187 of the social security administration act 1992 , they decided to tell me i have to wait for the result of the test case just like everyone else even though i am on income support and section 187 stated "and every agreement to assign or charge such benefit shall be void" meaning they can not lawfully charge those people on benefits , But halifax claim that they are well within their rights to claim charges even though this is a legislation passed through government ,i will update you all as to how i get on as i intend to fight this all the way , even if this means i have to take them to court .

cynergy

My father in law has overdrawn charges incurred on his bank account. As he is a pensioner his only income is his pension. I am aware that under the Social Security administration Act banks cannot take money from anyone on benefits if it is their only income.
Is there a similar act for someone whose only income is a pension.