Bankings charging taking Income support?

mummytofour

Hi,
This is for a friend and I am not sure am even in the right place
But my friend in on IS and has £70 due out in bank charges at the end of the month. I am sure I have read somewhere that banks are not allowed to take IS as payment for bank charges? I may be totally wrong or confused..
If anybody has any advice, that would be fab as she really cant afford the bank charges.
THANKS!:D

jonesMUFCforever

Your friend must have spent more than he/she had in her account.
Whatever is received as a credit is set against an overdrawn balance.
Would Tesco's let her have her shopping if he/she was a bit short with money? I don't think so.

smithja

I dont think they can take the IS, but then she did overspend. I do think the charges are wholly disproprionate mind you, first off it does not cost £35 to apply one no matter what the banks might say, and secondly I think many are bringing in a fairer system where the charges never exceed the actual overdraft created (especially when it was a geninue error and relatively not much over limit). I agree she should probably be paying something, just not the value stated, I dont know if you seen someone from APACS on the TV on Saturday admitting that the UK choose a cheaper version of Chip and PIN that was less secure but is backed up by the fact that 90% of transactions are also authorised, therefore this real-time on-line system adds an extra layer of security. This is not much use when they let you go over your available credit (in full knowlegde you are doing it so they can charge you for it), or even still authorise transactions after a card is reported stolen (again I have seen people reporting this has been done). I would ask the DWP what their position on this is first, then ask the bank their position as they may agree to let it go this time but request you keep better control on your finances, and lastly if you really cant afford it and neither can are being helpful find out the relevant piece of law and threaten them with it, and finally it might help if your friend could get debit card that "is not supposed" to allow you to spend over the available limit therefore if it happens in future it is easier to say "you advertise this does not allow me to go overdrawn it will say no at the point of sale". James

PBA

No, the bank cannot directly "take" her benefits. All this means though is that the bank can't insist that the benefits get paid in to their account. If she has the benefits set up to go in to this account, and the account is overdrawn through charges, then yes the benefits will go towards paying those charges.