Daughter threatened with legal action

[MrsSkint]

Hi guys

My daughter has handed me a couple of letters from RBS regarding her balance on her current account. Unfortunately she has being going through a pretty hard time recently and has been unable to deal with this. She has asked me to help.

Not sure where to start though, but basically she is £749.64 overdrawn and has now been threatened with legal action/Enforcement/recovery which may involve attachment/arrestment of wages, seizure of assets or repossession. She says that most of this is due to charges.

Where do I start? I would like to get this moving ASAP as she is suffering with depression and the last thing she needs is the bailiffs calling at her door!

Many many thanks as always for your help.

[enaid]

Re: Daughter threatened with legal action

Hi Mrs Skint,
Is this your daughters only account and the one where her wages/benefits are paid into?

[Amethyst]

Re: Daughter threatened with legal action

Hi MrsSkint

Who is the DCA or is it from RBS ?

So she needs to claim her charges - I assume she has already moved her income elsewhere and is using a different account ? If not she should do that first.

Next she needs to get a claim in for charges, put the account in dispute and make an affordable offer to pay. If you give us a bit more info on her circumstances it would be helpful and we can adjust letters to suit. She also needs to go through with you and do an income and expenditure sheet Legal Beagles

first letter to send will be this
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Dear Sir or Madam,

ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxxxx

ACCOUNT IN DISPUTE - FINANCIAL HARDSHIP

I am writing with regards to the alleged outstanding debt owing on my account. Please be aware I consider the debt to be in dispute as the majority/entirity of this sum is made up of disputed charges and interest charged thereon.

In your letter dated xx/xx/xxxx you have informed me the amount outstanding on the account is £749.64. I estimate that since July 2001 you have taken approximately £XXXX from me in unfair bank charges, and ask that you repay these charges to me as they are considered unfair by the OFT as notified to you in August 2007, and as assessable under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts by the High Court and Court of Appeal.

PARAGRAPH ABOUT DAUGHTERS CIRCUMSTANCES

I have no intention of reneging on any part of this account which may be legitimately incurred debt and as I understand the issues surrounding the dispute are currently pending determination in the House of Lords and with the Office of Fair Trading, as a gesture of goodwill I would like to arrange with you to keep this debt on hold until the outcome of that case. Therefore I propose that you place a hold on further charges and interest being added to the account and that you accept an interim repayment plan.

I propose I make payments to you of £10 per calendar month, the first payment is enclosed, until such time as the dispute is resolved. Once this dispute has been resolved, if in my favour, you will continue processing my complaint, and if in your favour we will review repayment arrangements for the alleged debt. To be clear I currently dispute whether this sum or any is actually owed to your company and I am simply offering a reasonable solution in the interim whilst the dispute is considered.

I would like to make you aware of The Office of Fair Trading Code of Guidance in which it states: putting pressure on debtors or third parties is considered to be oppressive This includes: Ignoring disputes about whether money is owed and refusing to freeze action if the debt is in dispute.

I therefore hope to receive your full co-operation in this matter and would like to request a written response to that effect.

Yours Sincerely



Your Name

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She also needs to send a SAR to the bank - to work out her actual charges which she can find here - Legal Beagles

[LuggerBugs]

Re: Daughter threatened with legal action

Sh e should write a letter of complaint disputing the balance NOW. RBS cannot, whilst the test case remains unresolved, hound her once they are aware of the reason for the complaint.

They MAY write back and tell her a load of porkies. So if they do, she simply needs to tell them that she will be more than happy to discuss their charging regime in open court.

No way will they let you talk about their charges just now, so they will at the very least put this on hold.

Your daughter needs to work out exactly what the total of the charges are, and this will allow her time to do so.
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HAHA. A flurry of help.

[Amethyst]

Re: Daughter threatened with legal action

at least we all agree

[MrsSkint]

Re: Daughter threatened with legal action

Thanks guys

Will type up a letter for her this lunchtime.

She is using another account for her wages and Direct Debits. However, she doesn't have a cheque book, so could she propose to set up a Standing Order for £10 per calendar month? I can write a cheque for her first payment.

[Amethyst]

Re: Daughter threatened with legal action

Yes a standing order will be the simplest way, much better than a DD .

If you want us to go through the letter before u send just pop it on here

Ame
x

[MrsSkint]

Re: Daughter threatened with legal action

Just started typing up letter and noticed that it is from RBS Birmingham Collections Centre. Who should I address the letter to?

[WendyB]

Re: Daughter threatened with legal action

send it to Complaints dept, and copy it to the address on the letter. I also have a fax number for birmingham Collections centre if you want it.

[MrsSkint]

Re: Daughter threatened with legal action

Thanks WendyB - where do I get the address for the complaints dept?
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sorry - also, as yet I have no idea exactly how much she has been charged as she can only download bank statements going back to August 2008. In one year she has been charged £912! Not sure how to word the letter now though as I can't give them a true account.

[MrsSkint]

Re: Daughter threatened with legal action

Guys

I have attached a draft letter. Could someone have a look at it for me. I have highlighted in yellow a paragraph that I don't know exactly how to word as I don't have all her bank charges. I only know that in one year she was charged £912.

Thanks again xxx

[TUTTSI]

Re: Daughter threatened with legal action

Hi Mrs S

Your daughter will need to complete and income and expenses summary to go with her hardship letter. http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...ead.php?t=5102

Please ask her to complete it and send it to Ame to post up.

Tutts

[MrsSkint]

Re: Daughter threatened with legal action

ok, thanks
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Just had a look at the form. She is using a debt management company to pay off her debts every month so not sure how to go about filling it in. Gawd I'm useless!!!

[Amethyst]

Re: Daughter threatened with legal action

If you fill in the rest and email me a list of whats on her DMP and how much she is paying to whom then that would be easiest and I'll put it on a proper CFS sheet.

Having a look at the letter now (which needs to go to brum collections centre and cc it to collections~)

[Amethyst]

Re: Daughter threatened with legal action

Changed this bit a little


In your letter dated 9th August 2009 you have informed me the amount outstanding on the account is £749.64. I estimate that since July 2001 you have taken approximately £4400 from me in unfair bank charges, and ask that you repay these charges to me as they are considered unfair by the OFT as notified to you in August 2007, and as assessable under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts by the High Court and Court of Appeal. I have, under seperate cover asked for copies of full transaction lists from the period July 2001 to August 2009.


- Have estimated increasing charges year on year - so £900 last, £800 2007-8, £700 2006-7 etc -just until you get transaction lists - you also want to send a DPA request (as I linked in posty with draft letter) that would go to the data compliance office, to get the proper amount of charges, really doesnt matter if the estimate is out, the bank will know how much it is.