Abbey National and now Debt Collector

buuuug

Hi,

My old Abbey National account went OD in June and July this year 2007, each occassion was a few days as AOL took their money before wages went in. This occured unknown to me and when i had a statement advising me of the first charge i called them and was at that point advised of the second charge, both charges were for £50.

I queried the enormity of the 2 charges as each OD instance was approx £9.80 and i would accept a reasonable charge, what i felt wrong though was a £100 charge for effectively £20 of 'debt' that lasted mere days! I was advised that the operator would reduce the sum by £30 if i accepted any other charges unconditionally. Sensing concerns with this proposed arrangement i declined because i thought i would simply claim the charges back as many people are currently doing and close the account as it was not my main one.

I have since written to them requesting the charges and threatening to procced officially with action. I received a generic "you have a complaint, we are looking" letter and this continued until i had sent the official 14 day notice of charges letter to them, around this time i believe my concerns with them triggered the automatic involvement of their debt recovery department together with their continued 'investigations (just a delay tactic i feel).

My replies each time seem to have either been ignored or a generic letter appears, possibly as a coincidence as it bares little semblance to what i told them. The debt recovery dept gave me notice that they would bad score me, lodge a complaint on me and proceed to recovery, i also continued to receive bank statements for an account i had instructed them to close some months before. Total now outstanding £127, every penny comprises of charges and accumulations.

Last weekend i return home to find a debt collector letter advising me that the matter has been passed to them for recovery, current bill now £129.

I now do not know what to do. Abbey National are awaiting the legal case result so that it may be decided if these charges are valid or not along with many other peoples. I am awaiting a response from the Financial Ombudsman to ascertain where i stand and i am stuck.

Why should i pay money that is not owed? Do i legally have to pay these charges when the court do not yet know if they are real and represent real debt?

Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated as its worrying me returning home in case something happens during the day when i am at work, its ridiculous, £129 debt for two £9.80 payments. No one is owed money and i was happy to pay a charge, but this is blatantly wrong surely?

Regards

Nat

buuuug

Hi,

ANY thoughts or advice please? Even a consensus of how to proceed really. Do I pay them? Do i call the Debt Collector? Do i call Abbey as they seem to not respond to written communication? Do i compromise myself by acknowledging the Debt Collector?

I really need some guidance or ideas if anyone is able please.

Nat

richardsonclive

Hi,

I am going through the same thing with the Abbey!

They have sent two debit collectors moorcroft and now wescot. For both companies the abbey have failed to tell them the account is in dispute. :mad:

I have just sent a letter to wescot saying can not comment etc.. due to account being in dispute with abbey pending legeal action (This worked for Moorcroft).

To me it looks like the abbey is trying to seek revenge on customers who try to reclaim charges back.

i'd stick to my guns and not let them bully you into paying!

Best of luck;)

buuuug

Hi Richard,

I did also request advice from an agency and i got this reply;

"As you have informed us, you are in the process of disputing the bank charge. There is a Debt collection guidance (DCG) written by the Office of Fair Trading that all collection agencies must follow. In 2.8k its states, unfair practice would be ‘not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt’ in your case, the debt is being disputed, this can be used in your letter of complaint to the bank and the Financial Ombudsman Service. For further details see https://www.oft.gov.uk.

Debt collection agencies have no special powers; they are not bailiffs and have no power to enter your property without your permission. Their job is to simply collect the debt, we would recommend that you treat them the same as you would the banks and keep all correspondence in writing. We would also recommend that you make them aware that they are in breach of the DCG 2.8k and should cease collection activity whilst this debt is in dispute."

Hope that helps anyone else too.

With the above info and your own experience i shall write a letter to the bank and Debt Collector by Recorded del, copy it to the Financial Ombudsman
and see where that goes. Interesting that from your own experience the Debt Collector themselves are poorly informed what is going on too.


Many thanks for your time,

Nat.

space_rider

I had that problem with NTL. They sent the final bill to my old address which never got forward to me via the royal mail redelivery service. Previously I had paid by DD and had not cancelled the DD. When I got a letter from moorcroft I was fuming as it was way over what I would have normally paid for a month. They refused to listen to me and insisted I owed them the money. After several phone calls to NTL they still did not sort out the incorrect bills and moorcroft were hassling me and increasing the charges. I did finally get NTL to sort it out with moorcroft and they did cancel all charges. I never did get a letter from them confirming this but assume all is ok as I didn`t have any problem getting a mortgage afterwards.