Sorry Banks again!!!

TigersEye

I believe my Mum was missold a Girobank Flex Account, renamed Alliance and Leicester, which became Santander. She has had this account for many years. As part of this, she has been paying £10 interest on this account every month, but has never managed to pay it off. My father left us with no money and she was going through a bad time. She was going through a divorce from my father and was told she had to open this so she didn't get overdrawn. She had no money in the bank and hardly any income.:mad:

Is there any way I can get any money back, please help

dunstonh

s. As part of this, she has been paying £10 interest on this account every month, but has never managed to pay it off.

Interest is chargeable on debt. So, this would indicate she is running her account overdrawn. Do you mean interest or charge?

Is there any way I can get any money back, please help

if its interest then no.

if its a charge then it depends on what the charge is for.

TigersEye

It's not the interest I want, my mum was missold the account, she had no money and the account was sold to her as a loan I suppose, then they got her in a load of trouble, she regretted getting the account the moment she got it but has never been able to pay off the £600 the account came with.

When she eventually told me what she'd done I told she shouldn't have done it, but by then it was too late to do anything about it.

Janene

Nearlyold

TigersEye wrote: »

I believe my Mum was missold a Girobank Flex Account, renamed Alliance and Leicester, which became Santander. She has had this account for many years. As part of this, she has been paying £10 interest on this account every month, but has never managed to pay it off. My father left us with no money and she was going through a bad time. She was going through a divorce from my father and was told she had to open this so she didn't get overdrawn. She had no money in the bank and hardly any income.:mad:

Is there any way I can get any money back, please help

Who did the "selling", was it before or after Girobank was privatised in 1989/1990?

TigersEye

My mum thinks it was Alliance and Leicester, although she's not 100% sure as she was going through a really bad time and she herself will say this, she's not very good with financial matters.:(

TigersEye

I do hope there is anyone out there who can help me as I do not have a clue about this account, I have tried to find out about it online but no help yet

Nearlyold

If you don't have a clue about the account it's difficult to see how you have come to the conclusion it was missold, remember that Girobank was a largely a postal bank that also operated via Post Offices. That said why not contact Santander to request details of how the account works.

TigersEye

I do hope there is anyone out there who can help me as I do not have a clue about this account, I have tried to find out about it online but no help yet...

What I mean about this is that it just takes money of my mum every month, gives nothing in return and has costed her so much money, but she can't get out of it.

Nearlyold wrote: »

If you don't have a clue about the account it's difficult to see how you have come to the conclusion it was missold, remember that Girobank was a largely a postal bank that also operated via Post Offices. That said why not contact Santander to request details of how the account works.

I know it was missold because my mum was in a very vulnerable position at the time, she had not much money but the bank told her she had to have this account otherwise her bank account would be closed and no other bank would accept her. Then when she accepted, they were meant to transfer the balance to her current account, instead they transferred £200, 3 times from her current account, which made her massively overdrawn, charged her for it and then blamed her. Then they threatened her with court action and ever since then she has not been able to get rid of this account. That's how I know she was missold. And I know it was before online banking but my mum luckily uses cash machine every day, even now, to check her balance, otherwise she wouldn't have known about what they did.:mad::mad::mad:

dunstonh

I do hope there is anyone out there who can help me as I do not have a clue about this account, I have tried to find out about it online but no help yet...

Girobank was a basic bank account. Originally aimed at those that could not get normal bank accounts. Although it went a bit more commercial in its later years before being sold off.

I dont know the Girobank account numbers but I would be surprised if they used flexaccount as that is a trademark belonging to Nationwide.

What I mean about this is that it just takes money of my mum every month, gives nothing in return and has costed her so much money, but she can't get out of it.

if she is borrowing money on it then they would have done.

I know it was missold because my mum was in a very vulnerable position at the time, she had not much money but the bank told her she had to have this account otherwise her bank account would be closed and no other bank would accept her. Then when she accepted, they were meant to transfer the balance to her current account, instead they transferred £200, 3 times from her current account, which made her massively overdrawn, charged her for it and then blamed her. Then they threatened her with court action and ever since then she has not been able to get rid of this account. That's how I know she was missold.

And when this was raised with the bank, what did they say?

Nearlyold

The Girobank Flexiplan account was a “revolving credit” bank account designed to run alongside the customer’s normal current account. It had a borrowing limit and interest was charged when the account was in debit, interest was paid when the account was in credit, from the info available there were no fixed fees if the account was run correctly. It seems there was a form of PPI and Product Protection available at extra cost.

The customer had to pay a minimum fixed amount per month from their current account into the Flexiplan account but could transfer more if they wanted to. The customer could transfer any amount from the Flexiplan account (up to the borrowing limit) back into the current account at any time in order to meet any bills.

It may have been offered to your mother as a means of her helping stay within her overdraft limit on her current account and to help her budget for her bills.

Obviously things did not work out for your mother with the account but it does not necessarily follow it was the account that caused your mother her financial problems – if you have more money going out than you’ve got coming in there will always be problems.
You need to make an appointment and go with your mother to Santander to find out exactly where she is with this account and what the £10 pm is for.

ViolaLass

When they transferred the £600 that she apparently didn't want, did she give it back or spend it?