Need advice: Three years of bank charges & interest on a closed account

Malc8519

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

Looks like the account status is 'debt management' rather than the debt having been sold to a collection agency.

Can't understand why there weren't letters sent to you earlier and why such letters weren't forwarded to you by your parents. No matter, it looks (to me) as if your only option is to throw yourself on the bank's mercy. Explain that you thought you'd cleared everything, closed the account down and moved house and ask them if you can just pay the interest that followed in the month after you brought the balance to zero.

I suspect there is a 'fat chance' of them agreeing to that, so you may be forced to negotiate upwards. At the end of the day, if you have no legal footing for not paying, you have little to lose by trying to negotiate it down.

Thanks for this..
I phoned the bank today (Debt Management Operations) to save the hassle of sending letters. Explained the situation and they said that no letters were sent previous as the account was dormant as no payments have been made into it for over 6 months!!
Anyway, total balance was now at £260 overdrawn and straight away the girl on the phone said she would look into it and see if she could bring it down as a "goodwill" gesture. I was put on hold for a few mins, she came back said she could refund £80 if I agreed to settle and close the account today. Felt a bit trapped but at the same time it was better than nothing and couldn't be bothered with haggling. I asked if the refund was from the bank charges which she explained it was and that this was the maximum she could refund, then explained that the charges were for being in the overdraft this was part of the agreement when it was taken out.

So end of story I paid the remainder of the balance £180 to close the account..