is this legal ?

jojowick83

hey there,
i`m posting this on behalf of my mum,
after trying very hard to pay back her credit cards, she recently was sent a letter from halifax credit card saying that as she was still behind with payments, and that due to this they had "taken" the money from another of her halifax accounts, this account being the one that her bills are paid from, so she wasnt left with enough money to cover the payments for these bills and was forced to borrow money from family to cover them.
can halifax leglly do this and if not what action should she take next?

any advice would be gratefully recieved, as this is really getting her down.

thanks

joanna

robpw2

yes they can according to terms and conditions

lisyloo

can halifax leglly do this

I believe they have something in their terms and conditions about this so I think they can do it.

Borrowing money from family seems to me like the right action as well as taking steps to live within her means.
Hopefully family are not going to charge her high interest rates and hopefully they will be sympathetic about her paying it back over time.

She needs to sort out a budget that she can live within and pay back the debts over time.
If this is still difficult then she might need to make some difficult decisions
e.g. does she own a home or car? Could she downsize or sell? Could she find cheaper accomodation or alternative transport? Does she have any bits and pieces she can sell? We recently sold some stuff on ebay and made several hundred pounds.
Could she rent a room out?

It very difficult to say as we know little about her circumstances but paying the bills on time and getting people off her back is a good move.
Now she needs to attempt to live within budget and gradually pay back the debt.

GeorgeUK

I'd also suggest that she gets a new account with a bank she has no debts with and has her income paid into that account. This way the only one with access to that money will be her.

jojowick83

thanks very much for the advice,

she is trying very hard (unsuccessfully) to get back on top of things with her money matters and i`m helping her out as much as i can.
she has been in contact with cab, who suggested that she make token offers to the companies that she owes money to.
it is mainly g e money and halifax who are the most difficult companies to deal with.

halifax visa credit card gave her a card with a limit of £1400, and as my dad was unemployed at the time they came to rely on this card to make morgage payments and pay the other bills.
before she knew it, she had maxed out the card and gone over the limit by £300, when she queried why they didnt stop her spending over her limit, halifax said they hadnt wanted to embarrass her by stoping her spending.

surely the circumstances she is in now are far more embarrassing and stressful for her than being stopped at the limit the card company set in the first place.

i feel very sad as i can see how much she wants to be free of this, and i dont know how i can best help her out of this situation.

joanna

G-G_4

Oh dear, what a shame joanna... I hope your mum sorts it out xx

Can she get on this site and have a look at the money saving tips?

x

jojowick83

i showed her the site earlier on, as she had spent the morning phoning these companies to try and sort things out.
even being on the outside of this, i can feel how difficult things are for her, and how quickly things spiralled for her in difficult circumstances.

thanks,
joanna

x

Dylanwing

Nationwide did it to me many years ago, and I found out that if the Bank account is in joint names, and the credit card in a sole name they cannot do that. So if that is the case, it might be worth checking out the legality of the transaction.

fermi

There is some information on when the Financial Ombudsman considers it fair/unfair for a creditor to apply their right of 'set off' here:

Link: banking: firms' right of 'set off'