URGENT HELP NEEDED; FOS good advice???

auntie_jo

An apology in advance for in-depth information but it is all relevant. Also this is a cross over posting from the CAG that has not generated a responce and I am in urgent need of advice.

I am almost embarrassed and feel a failure in not resolving this complex situation on behalf of my daughter. I have been with the BAG / CAG group since January 2006 and was one of the three who went into the OFT to present a dummy cheque.

(There is historic information for those who wish to check out my posts on http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/natwest-bank/99-help-advice-needed.html)
But just when I thought all was safely being dealt with it has all come back to haunt me and I have now hit an all time low and need advice.

Has anyone had a letter from NatWest asking them to complete their details so they can be ‘paid out’ (my term not theirs)? What they are asking for in my opinion is for us to commit to accepting their offer as in this letter they are asking us “to confirm the amount we are seeking” <o>:p></o>:p>
My daughter has already had 2 offers so far for £4630.30p; the first one was on June 14^th 2007 and a second arrived the beginning of August. We never went as far as going to court, but I did send the two preliminary letters together with a spreadsheet detailing the sum of £5265. I was told the lesser amount was because we had exceeded the 6 year rule.
However because we are challenging the bank over a mis-selling of a loan where they were the only beneficiaries, (the ‘loan’ was used to pay themselves for the amount the account was overdrawn because of penalty charges).<o>:p></o>:p>
Prior to these offers at the end of May I also had an offer ‘to reduce the outstanding balance on the loan or forgo further recovery’ The NatWest then went on to say that ‘However this is subject to you/your daughter not furthering any complaint in relation to charges on the account’ <o>:p></o>:p>
Believing this to be called ‘blackmail’ I made contact as I have done in the past with the FOS whose advice was to submit a complaint relating to the Mis-Selling of the loan and to pursue the intended plan of recovering the penalty charges through the Small Claim Courts. <o>:p></o>:p>
It was then the first offer to pay us £4630.30p arrived from Customer Relations at Borehamwood; they also added that it was a ‘full and final settlement of your complaint’ <o>:p></o>:p>
Also hot on the heels of this was a demand notice arrived dated 20^th June 2007 for the balance of the loan standing at £1790.04p. The Credit Management Services who sent the letter were contacted on June 25^th 2007. During what was yet again a protracted phone call a recommendation in the form of a verbal offer was made.<o>:p></o>:p>
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The recommendation was that the £4630.30 stipulated should be paid into the account and the outstanding loan of £1790.04p would then be removed from the account. (The loan was originally for £1550 over a 5 year period.) That offer was declined; an ‘alternative’ offer was that the amount to be paid was £782.84 that represents the balance minus the interest of £1007.20 and the amount of £767.16 that has already been paid. This was a verbal offer and was not agreed to but asked for it to be put in writing strangely this offer never arrived???!!! <o>:p></o>:p>
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At this point in the same call I was repeatedly coerced into agreeing to make some kind of payment as it would not be possible to make any assurance that no further action would be taken without such an arrangement. <o>:p></o>:p>
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I put it to the advisor that whilst this complaint was being compiled and sent to the FOS I was not happy to enter into any financial arrangement. However I was told that the debt could be passed on to a recovery company who would visit my daughter, and in order to avoid this action I offered a token amount of £10.00 per month that would be paid into the account to prevent any further legal action taking place. <o>:p></o>:p>
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I posted something a day ago because we have since had one Solicitors headed notepaper from CMS pretending to be ‘Green and Co’ and now two ‘action’ letters from Wescot Debt recovery.
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I again contacted the FOS who to my surprise have ‘suggested’ that we take the money to make the harassment “go away” As it happens I did contact both the bank and Wescot, the bank said on Monday (20^th August) who said that the debt was recalled on the 7^th August. However Wescot told me that they were only asked to return the debt on the 20^th August… strange that!!!
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Contacting and passing all the information over to FOS was I felt going to get this all sorted and most of all justice; but now I am confused. If we accept surly the bank has nothing to answer for as we will have taken the money as “a full and final settlement” FOS say they will look into the complaint because of financial hardship; which is apparently the only way you can now penetrate FOS and get them to act.

Also what about the mis-selling of the loan and the fact that they will get the balance of £1790.04p; as the person at FOS said ‘if’ they decide the loan was mis-sold it will be dealt with.<o>:p></o>:p>
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So what do we do? This has caused my daughter such trauma; she is acknowledged by her doctor as being a depressive and is also a self harmer whereby cutting herself is her way of dealing with the situation.<o>:p></o>:p>
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It has never been just about the money; important though it is; the Bank also has to be accountable for their failure in their duty of care…

Please can anyone help?


Jo Jordan
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Edinburghlass_2

Take the money and let the FO sort out the miss-selling, if there is a case to answer there, or you will be waiting for another year.

Yes the banks will pay off any debt held by them with any monies reclaimed.