hi legal beagles

[lynwoo]

i recieved a letter from the bank this morning,demanding repayment of an unarranged overdraft, which i have never had, as i was refused one when i did ask. they told me i could not have one that account was a current plus. which i have not used now for about 12 months however the letter states i owe the bank £665.78, interest accrued but not yet applied,charges accrued but not yet applied. if i dont pay within 21 days they will take court proceedings. i havent had the money yet they want me to pay them back. can they do this? and if so what can i do as i dont have that kind of money.

[wales01man]

Re: hi legal beagles

Am i reading this right threatning action for money not owed ?

[labman]

Re: hi legal beagles

I too am having a little difficulty understanding your original post. Let me rephrase it to say what I think you're trying to say, then you can tell us if I'm right.

You went overdrawn on your your current account plus (say by £200 as an example). You approached the bank and asked for an overdraft on the £200 which they refused you. As they refused to authorise an overdraft, it meant the money already overdrawn counted as an unauthorised overdraft of £200. You then stopped using the account, and since that time the bank has added interest to the sum of £200, and are now demanding £665.78.

Is that what happened (the £200 is only used as an example)?

[lynwoo]

Re: hi legal beagles

no. i was not overdrawn, i had been with the nat west for about 6 months, and did not have an overdraft, how ever i needed £300 to pay a bill urgently. i asked the bank if i could have an overdraft.and was refused. i ended up getting a pay day loan out.to cut a long story short.i stopped using the account altogether because the pay day loan company were attempting to get payments from the account every day,and as the money wasnt in the account they added £68 each time. it was not a direct debit and it was not an overdraft. as the bank never payed any money to pay day loans. but they are demanding over £600 unarranged overdraft fees. that i cannot pay, and dont understand why i owe them when i havent had any money from them. i have got till the 21 of this month to pay them or court proceedings will be taken against me. as you can imagine i am out of my mind with worry. please advise me,

[labman]

Re: hi legal beagles

So you signed a Recurring Payment Authority for this account knowing it had no money it to pay your Payday loan? Then each time the PDL company asked for money, the bank charged you.

How do they account for adding £68 charges each time they refused a payment?

What is happening with the PDL now?

[IanM]

Re: hi legal beagles

Natwest did the same to me a few years back. They made my account overdrawn by charging me £8 for a subscription that had been cancelled months earlier. When the account was £200 overdrawn i went into the bank to sort it out and after getting nowhere and getting 'frustrated' the police were called and i was evicted from the bank and told not to return, so i didn't, not even to pay the overdraft. The last time they contacted me the account was over £800 overdrawn.

The demands came thick and fast at this point so i asked them to provide me with a full explanation of how the overdraft was incurred and have heard nothing since.

They must have realised that i never took the account overdrawn they did, so any judge would have thrown it out of court if it ever got that far.

[labman]

Re: hi legal beagles

Lynwoo,

Do you have money in any accounts linked to this bank group? If you have, you need to move it to an unrelated bank if you can, and ensure that you phone the bank and instruct them not to pay the RPA, following it up with a letter.

There is a thing called the right of set off whereby they can lawfully 'combine' all accounts within the same banking group and take money from the other accounts to service the debt owed to a different account. PDL companies are well known for using this.

[lynwoo]

Re: hi legal beagles

hi thanks for the advice. i do have another account with the same bank, and they have told me they will take the money out of that account if they dont recieve the £665,78 plus unarranged overdraft fees which may accure and which are not yet included in the total amount outstanding and accordingly the amount to be paid will increase. i want to move my account to another bank but i dont know if they can stop me doing so. as for the pay day loan i still have to pay them exactly the same as the bank, i really am at my wits end. i cant afford to pay the bank the money. and dont know how i owe them the money, when i wasnt overdrawn. wasnt allowed an overdraft. the pay day loan wasnt a direct debit, so what have i done wrong? i would understand if the bank had paid the money to pay day loans. then i would owe the bank. but i owe the pay day loan and the bank now. i need to change my bank before the 21st because if the bank takes the money out of my other account, i wont be able to pay my rent ect. as my wages are paid into the account on a weekly basis. please advise me. i am so worried, its making me ill.

[labman]

Re: hi legal beagles

Barclays will open a basic bank account there and then for you. You'll be given the account number and sort code there and then, but will obviously have to wait for the debit card. Make sure you ask for the basic bank account. Co-op do one, but you won't get details immediately. Nationwide do a simple cashcard account which I think still has DD and SO facilities.

You need to take the issue of charges up directly with Nat West. The real question is what was the very first charge for, as all others have just added to that?

The PDL - move any money you have with any bank within the same group to be safe. The PDL Co. will take it.

Can I ask, do you have other debts besides this?

[lynwoo]

Re: hi legal beagles

thanks for getting back to me. the account that the pay day loan went in. never had any bank charges on it there was very little in it, as i used my other account for direct debits. in fact i hadnt used that account for sometime. when the pay day loan was paid into it.on the day payment was due on the loan my wages had not been paid in to my other account, i emailed the pay day loan company and apologised for the delay and would they wait a couple of days for the payment.they said they would continue to attemt to get the money each day and if the money wasnt available i would be charged £68 for each attempt. making it impossible for me to ever pay it, as it took 5 days for my wages to be sorted out ( due to an error regarding sick pay ) but i still do not understand how the bank can say i owe them money. and what for.