account charges

coolkir

I urgently need some advice on a bank account I have with Lloyds TSB

I was mis-sold a bank account in 2003 from Lloyds TSB with a £7 per month charge. I have never used any of the supposed benefits of the account because I wasn't made aware of them.
I last used the account in 2004 and in 2005 I actually moved from Scotland to England. I had split with my partner whom I had this joint account with. And thought no more of it. I had my mail re-directed but received nothing from Lloyds TSB. However I received a letter from them last year saying I owed them £49. When I rang to question this (as I no longer have cards or pass books for this account) I was told the £49 was made up solely of charges I owed them for going overdrawn from them actually taking the £7 per month fee for the account out of an unauthorised overdraft. I wrote to them and asked them to waive the fees in light of the situation and close the account. I heard nothing back and presumed the account was now closed.
I have heard nothing from Lloyds TSB since then (2007) except today I received a letter stating that I in fact owe them £558. which is the original £49, plus a £20 per day fee for the ‘unauthorised’ overdraft. It appears they have continued to take the £7 per month out of an unused bank account though they have admitted they can see from their records that the account has not been used since 2004. So 4 years down the line they have decided I owe them £558, without any warning this was happening, they are blaming me for moving, but I had my mail re-directed and still received no notification. I met with the Branch manager today who agreed this is unfair but because the account is now with collections he can not do anything about it as they are unwilling to overturn the decision.
He also told me that if I don’t make payment by the 1st April they would be adding a further £165 per month for each February and March making a further £400 to add to the £558. in addition to this I am unable to close this account until the debt is cleared which means more debt will be accruing, and the manager also told me this is affecting my credit rating.

I would be so grateful if anyone could help me with this urgently because I don't have the money to pay them £558 let alone a further £400 if I don’t get this sorted before next week. Surely it cant be upheld that I owe them almost £1000 by next week for merely holding an account with them??

Any help on this matter would be gratefully appreciated

MPH80

Let's remove some of the emotive bits of this and look at it rationally.

You took out a bank account in 2003 - which had a £7 a month charge. You used it for a year, not noticing that they were taking the £7 a month from your account.

You moved address. Rather than inform the bank you relied on a third party to forward your post (the post office). Either a) this failed to work properly or b) the bank didn't contact you. Do you have proof of either?

Because you heard nothing - you assumed it was all sorted until they caught up with you.

So - let's ask some relevant questions:

1) Were you told there was a charge for the account? Were you given terms and conditions for the account which indicated the charge and/or benefits? Did you read them?

I suspect that even if the answer to the first bit of the questions was no - you were given a welcome pack detailing your account - you chose not to read in too much detail. So unless you didn't - I'd say they made a good attempt to let you know about the £7 a month charge. Not least anyway - they were applying it for a year when you were using the account. So I don't think 'mis-sold' applies here. Missold would apply if you *couldn't* use the benefits.

2) Since this is a joint account - did you have your partner's name removed from the account? Is it possible this partner has been opening and keeping statements because his/her name is on it?

3) Did you make an attempt to tell the bank you had moved? Redirecting post is unreliable at best - but I suspect you know that now.

So we have a bank which 'sold' you an account, which you moved away from, and which you didn't wonder why you weren't getting statements for.

Now - what you can do about the charges ... you DO owe the £7 a month. You can dispute the £20 unauthorised overdraft charges, however, there is a test case in the courts at the moment and there is unlikely to be a resolution on that any time soon.

I would suggest you get yourself down to your local Citizens Advice Bureau and have a word there.

M.