Being chased for bank charges from tsb

Storm0112

Hiya, just looking for some advice, I openened an account with tsb in 2000 and it was running fine, I had an overdraft for £200. I 2006 I had some problems, lost my job and split with my partner, and I couldnt pay the overdraft so I contacted tsb and they said they would reduce the overdraft by £30 a month as I was claiming benefits at the time and for some reason they added £90 on every month for charges. I contacted them endless times as My benefits going in was swallowed up by the charges, I'm the end I had the money paid in to My dads account, the charges continued up to £1370 , I rang tsb and made it clear I was not paying for all these charges that they had added on to the account. Today I received a letter from arrow global demanding payment and they say its for an overdraft for the full amount when infact the overdraft was £200, I'll happily pay the £200 back but not the extra for the charges, what should I do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


I forgot to add they told me on the phone there was a payment of £6 made to the account in 2010 but it wasn't by me, I have asked for proof of this overdraft for the full amount and where the £6 was paid from.

meer53

You need to contact Arrow Global to see if you can agree a repayment plan with them to repay the full amount. You could make them a full and final offer to settle it, they may accept a lower amount.

Although the overdraft was £200, you still incurred charges which you seem to have ignored, did you make an arrangement with TSB to repay anything at all ?

w00519772

Storm0112 wrote: »

I rang tsb and made it clear I was not paying for all these charges that they had added on to the account.

On what grounds? If the charges are specified in the terms and conditions and you break those terms and conditions then surely you have to pay them?

If you don't want to pay those charges then I believe you will have to prove to them that you did not break the terms and conditions.

magpiecottage

FCA Rule Conc 7.15.4 R says, "Notwithstanding that a debt may be recoverable, a firm must not attempt to recover a statute barred debt in England, Wales or Northern Ireland if the lender or owner has not been in contact with the customer during the limitation period."

If the OP says he has not been in touch during the limitation period, (s)he is entitled to complain of a breach of this rule. The DCA would then need to prove that the OP HAD been in touch.

Whilst a payment MIGHT be accepted as evidence, until this is agreed, CONC 7.15.8 R says "A firm must not continue to demand payment from a customer after the customer has stated that he will not be paying the debt because it is statute barred."

So, whilst there may be a somewhat dubious justification for the OP not paying, the rules seem to provide grounds for complaint unless the DCA can prove an acknowledgement of the debt in the last six years.

If they cannot, then the DCA seems to be in breach of rule CONC 7.15.6 R, which says, "A firm must endeavour to ensure that it does not mislead a customer as to the customer's rights and obligations."

In addition, CONC 7.15.10 R says, "A lender must not initiate legal proceedings in relation to a regulated credit agreement where the lender is aware that the customer has submitted a valid complaint or what appears to the firm may be a valid complaint relating to the agreement in question that is being considered by the Financial Ombudsman Service."

So the OP could complain that the matter is statute barred so the DCA should not have contacted them and, if the DCA disagrees, refer it to FOS.

NectarCollector

Had a quick look at TSBs overdraft fees:

Monthly overdraft usage fee = £6 (payable if you go over your interest and fee free overdraft), this is payable every month until the overdraft is cleared

Daily fee: £5 a day for 1st 5 days, or £10 a day after that. Charged if you use your unplanned overdraft. You get charged for a maximum of 8 days a in a billing period, which then gets added to the next month if not repaid.

The initial overdraft might be £200, but it appears that because it wasn't paid back in time you have been charged these fees and they have accumulated ever since