Important News Soon To Break

[Ihaterbs]

Re: Important News Soon To Break

A link to the radio program below. The question now is...was this a mistake?

BBC - Radio 4 You and Yours -Royal Bank of Scotland debt mistake

[Amethyst]

Re: Important News Soon To Break

Thanks for that, will keep an eye on the papers As for was it a mistake, I'd say more of a mistake than RBS really wanted it to be.

[TUTTSI]

Re: Important News Soon To Break

I was reading about this over on CCS - they say when the story breaks it is going to be big. There are quite a few in the same boat with RBS.

[righty]

Re: Important News Soon To Break

The only 'mistake' was RBS sending proof of their deceit to Paul.

As I have already stated until recent events involving the banks no one would have believed just how dishonest the banks are I certainly didn't.

It's my honest belief that not only should their officers be brought to account over the credit crunch but also that their treatment of customers like Paul should result in a prison term for fraud
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Don't forget to get the Sunday Times

[Ihaterbs]

Re: Important News Soon To Break

The Sunday Times could cause a lot of damage with this story...i understand from sources that documentation the people featured in the story have obtained is damning.

If this is the case......the party could well be over for RBS.

[TANZARELLI]

Re: Important News Soon To Break

The only 'mistake' was RBS sending proof of their deceit to Paul.

As I have already stated until recent events involving the banks no one would have believed just how dishonest the banks are I certainly didn't.

It's my honest belief that not only should their officers be brought to account over the credit crunch but also that their treatment of customers like Paul should result in a prison term for fraud
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Don't forget to get the Sunday Times

Is it in the Times this Sunday?

[Ihaterbs]

Re: Important News Soon To Break

Is it in the Times this Sunday?

I believe it is.

[hellhasnofury]

Re: Important News Soon To Break

Will be getting a copy of this one:carolers:

[Tools]

Re: Important News Soon To Break

Available here now too

From The Sunday Times

December 7, 2008
Couple stung by £100,000 ‘secret’ loan

RBS turned overdrafts into high-rate loans without telling customers


IN EARLY spring, a West Country businessman, Duncan Birch, and his wife Debbie feared they might be among the first victims of the credit crunch. A letter to the couple from their bank claimed they owed more than £100,000.
But what was particularly galling was that the large sum being claimed related to a debt of less than £25,000 in the 1990s which they believed had beenpaid off. They were baffled and concerned at the size of thedemand.
Two years earlier, RBS had been asking for £8,500 to settle their case, which they had been unable to afford. How on earth had this risen to more than£100,000?
According to internal banking documents obtained by the Birches, from Torrington, Devon, they claim to have found evidence that new accounts and loans were created in their name. At one stage, 80% was being charged on one account.
Related Links

• RBS secretly charged 80% interest on loan

It appears this weekend that the Birches stumbled upon a highly questionable practice in the debt collection branch of RBS in Telford, Shropshire, whereby new accounts and loans were systematically created without customers’ permission. In some cases, loan documents were even drawn up for the accounts.
According to RBS, these accounts were an internal bookkeeping device and the debts were never meant to be collected or even divulged to the customers. It seems a strange accounting practice, and last week the bank was unable to explain its exact purpose. “This is simply an administrative practice that has absolutely no impact on the [actual] debt or the liabilities,” said an RBS spokesman. John Healey, a former Treasury minister and now a local government minister, is to meet Stephen Hester, the new RBS chief executive, to establish the number of new loanaccounts created without customer consent and the number of customers who may have been wrongly pursued. “There are clearly questions for the bank to answer,” he said.
The Birches insist they are being pursued for the debts from these accounts. They have had legal charges put on their home by RBS at Barnstaple county court. They say it means when the home is sold, they will be liable to pay RBS about £70,000.
“They claim we owe this ridiculous amount and it’s almost ruined our lives,” said Birch, 46, last week. “They have certainly pursued us for money in these accounts which were created without our consent.”
In the 1990s, the Birches started a company which created printed T-shirts. The business was initially successful, but foundered when one of their main clients went bust, forcing them to close their business with about £24,000 of debts at the bank.
They agreed to pay back RBS at £300 a month, on the basis that interest and charges would be frozen. They paid back £7,500 but were then unable to make further payments.
After a county court judgment against them in 1999, they again started paying back £300 a month. By 2006, according to their own estimates, they had paid back £33,000.
At this point, RBS offered to settle the case for £8,500, but the couple could not afford the one-off payment.
Then in early 2008, the bank claimed the Birches owed more than £100,000 and put the legal charges on their home.
Armed with advice from online internet forums, the Birches made a data protection request to the bank. The documents they received detailed a fascinating trail showing the numbers on their accounts had been changed and three new “capital and interest” loans created without their consent.
While the couple thought they were paying back debts on which no interest was due, high rates were in fact being levied.
A bank statement for Debbie Birch’s account, which has been seen by The Sunday Times, shows that interest of £15,883 was charged in just one quarter in 2001.
According to another document, the Birches were being charged 80% interest when they were trying to pay back their debts. The bank claims the error was rectified.
There are other victims. Paul Walton, 41, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, discovered that RBS had created different accounts in his name without his consent. He also demanded bank documents under data protection laws after being told in 2006 he owed £16,000 on a loan taken out eight years earlier for less than £9,800.
The documents showed his accounts had been changed and a previous overdraft with the bank converted to a “flexible capital and interest loan”. He was also sent two loan agreements that had been drawn up without his consent.
According to a letter sent to Walton’s MP, Healey, in November last year, a senior banking official said: “I confirm that Mr Walton has never signed or agreed to these loans. The loans have never existed. The forms were inaccurate and sent in error.”
RBS said the court judgment against the Birches governed the amount they owed and “this is all they have been asked to pay”.
The spokesman said the bank accepted it had made errors in regards to Walton. Significant interest had been charged on accounts in his name but this was an “administrative” process that had no bearing on the sum he owed.
This weekend, the bank was unable to say how much the Birches owed or how the debts had mounted up.
“We just can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel,” said Duncan Birch.

[scoobydoo]

Re: Important News Soon To Break

if it were for internal book keeping (not that it was) would that not be false accounting as they would show as monies owing to the company at a much larger amount than was actually owing.And if they were duplicate accounts and the original correct debts were showing as well then the debtors figure at YE would be even more in-accurate?

[Tools]

Re: Important News Soon To Break

Oh Scoobs, what are you suggesting............surely RBS wouldn't ever dream of committing fraud or tax evasion would they? That would be a national scandal and I refuse to believe that they would be guilty of an unlawful act, let alone impose excessive bank charges, we all know RBS are pillars of the community.

[scoobydoo]

Re: Important News Soon To Break

As if I would ! Just an entirely innocent question - why would you create fase accounts in real peoples names ?Oh I know lets try setting accounts upto see if we charged them 80% what would we get back. And of course we must remember that these accounts may not have been included in the accounts, or as they were sent to the customers "in error" may be accidently they were??!!!

Lots of questions I guess.

[Ihaterbs]

Re: Important News Soon To Break

I understand from various forums that Mr Walton has also been laising with the producer of Panaroma.......interesting.

Regards

[Tools]

Re: Important News Soon To Break

When you visit those forums would you pass on my regards to Mr Walton and let him know I read the whole story in The Sunday Times today.

It would also be good if someone could give us the heads up with regards to any progress now and again.

Never realised that PW was a fellow Yorkshire man either...........albeit a Southerner lol.

[righty]

Re: Important News Soon To Break

As if I would ! Just an entirely innocent question - why would you create fase accounts in real peoples names ?Oh I know lets try setting accounts upto see if we charged them 80% what would we get back. And of course we must remember that these accounts may not have been included in the accounts, or as they were sent to the customers "in error" may be accidently they were??!!!

Lots of questions I guess.

Agreed but is anyone going to make them answer. The regulator AND the police seem reluctant to ask any questions & I can only wonder why either that or they accept the banks blandishments without question. Surely such serious allegations of fraud warrant some investigation & perhaps now that the banks have been exposed as lacking any moral compass it may happen:santa_wink:
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if it were for internal book keeping (not that it was) would that not be false accounting as they would show as monies owing to the company at a much larger amount than was actually owing.And if they were duplicate accounts and the original correct debts were showing as well then the debtors figure at YE would be even more in-accurate?

If they were for 'internal' accounting purposes why did they seek & obtain a charging order in these false sums............. Doesn't make sense does it