The 'Reconstructed' CCA Saga & 'Phantom' loans continue

[righty]

The banks - part two

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/feb/09/banks

[Amethyst]

Re: The 'Reconstructed' CCA Saga & 'Phantom' loans continue

A government minister is demanding answers to the "unanswered questions" relating to the case of Paul Walton featured in Guardian Money last Saturday. Walton was the victim of what Royal Bank of Scotland says was "a series of unfortunate errors".
But his MP John Healey, the local government minister, says that what appears to have gone on "seems unjust and potentially unlawful".
Walton, of Rotherham, South Yorks, was told by RBS that the amount he owed on his personal loan was much greater than he thought. He asked for a copy of his original loan agreement, but when he received it, he knew it wasn't the genuine article.
He eventually found his original carbon copy, which confirmed his suspicions. Walton was also sent documentation that seemed to indicate his personal loan and overdraft had been turned into "capital and interest variable rate loans" without his consent, and that he now owed more than £16,000. He also obtained an internal RBS memo, which boasted that the bank had introduced procedures allowing staff to "recreate" loan agreements that it had mislaid.
RBS told Money that Walton had been the victim of a series of errors involving incorrect paperwork and loans that "didn't exist". But Healey, who previously served as a Treasury minister, says: "I think there are still some specific questions about the management of Mr Walton's accounts and the information given to him. What concerns me is whether Mr Walton is an isolated case, or the tip of a bigger banking iceberg. There are questions about whether or not this is common practice with RBS and whether it is a practice that customers in other banks might come across as well."
The MP plans to write again to the bank. This week, we were contacted by another RBS customer, a woman living in Dumbarton, whose case has some similarities to Walton's. The woman, who asked not to be named, had a current account with an overdraft in the late 1990s. She got into financial difficulties and, after being contacted by RBS's solicitors, agreed to pay what she owed at a reduced rate. But she noticed the amount she owed seemed to be going up, not down.
In 2006 she asked for all the documentation, and received a letter from the solicitors saying "we have been instructed to take no further action and have therefore closed your file".
Then, out of the blue last year, she received a writ from the local sheriff court on behalf of RBS. This stated she had three accounts outstanding which she says were not hers. The writ said she had obtained a personal loan to the tune of £3,697, plus two "capital and interest" personal loans where the total outstanding was £10,447.
"I wrote to the court and RBS's lawyer, thinking it was a mistake; however, I heard nothing," says the woman. She asked for copies of all the paperwork. Later, she received an amendment to the writ, deleting two of the accounts. She submitted her defence, and then received a letter from RBS in October saying: "Due to this delay [in the bank's response] and for various internal commercial reasons, we have closed the above accounts [the three she says were not hers] and therefore do not require further payments".
Asked about the minister's concerns, RBS says it has already responded twice, the last time in November. "We await any response to the detailed explanation we sent."
As to the other customer, a spokesman says a commercial decision was originally taken to close her accounts and write off the debts. "Regrettably, due to an administrative error, the accounts were not closed and details of the outstanding borrowing were resurrected some time later, and the customer received a writ calling for repayment. The writ should not have been sent, and the confusion was further compounded with the writ erroneously referring to all the previous borrowing as personal loans. We apologise for the confusion these errors caused and confirm that [the customer] is not being pursued for any of these debts."





r.jones@guardian.co.uk

[righty]

Re: The 'Reconstructed' CCA Saga & 'Phantom' loans continue

There WILL almost certainly be a 3rd episode to this saga

[Amethyst]

Re: The 'Reconstructed' CCA Saga & 'Phantom' loans continue

Weren't there 60 or so admitted 'recreated' ccas ?

be good to get all those people wouldnt it