vin v natwest - bank taking benefits

[vin2216]

I'm so grateful for this site, but...... is my bank allowed to take said inalienable benefits, if I didn't know about this before they took it? I am a disabled mum of 4 boys who's lost over 400 quid in the last month to bank charges... Nat ?West say there's no such thing as the right of first appropriation. To say I feel like committing suicide is an understatement.... my poor kids.

[enaid]

Re: Which Benefits are 'inalienable' ?

Hello vin,
Can I ask you to start a thread in this forum Natwest - Legal Beagles it is the Natwest forum. Give us a little more detail of what's happening with your account at the moment and we will be able to help you further. Please don't put any personal info in the post though.
Enaid x

[Tools]

Re: Which Benefits are 'inalienable' ?

Hi Vin and welcome to the site.

Amethyst wrote to RBS about this and if they are saying there is no first right of appropriation (FROA) then refer them to the following reply she received;-

Dear Ms Amethyst
Thank you for your e-mail addressed to Mr Hester, also sent to other members of staff at RBS and please accept my apologies for the delay in replying.
I have read your comments with interest and thank you for your recognition of the work RBS Group has done/is doing to help customers suffering financial hardship although being a commercial company we leave ‘tackling poverty’ to the Government. We have a number of policies in place to provide appropriate support to customers and will always work with them, or their agents, to fully understand their individual financial situation. We always encourage customers in financial difficulty to contact us as soon as possible.
With regards to a specific policy surrounding the ‘First Right of Appropriation’ our approach, when this right is invoked by customers in financial difficulties, is governed by the Banking Code, to which we subscribe. The published guidance on our Code obligations sets out what is expected of us in ensuring that income paid into an account is used first to pay ‘priority debts’ before ‘non-priority debts’. However in discharging our Code obligations we are reliant on the cooperation of the customer to identify what payments are ‘priority debts’. We need to know how much is expected to be paid into the account and when the moneys will be paid. The priority debts with first claim on the moneys require to be identified – if paid by cheque we need to know payee and amount. Direct debits are identifiable by originator. A general instruction to pay only ‘living expenses’ for instance would not be considered sufficient.
Of course the moneys must be in the account to be appropriated in this way – if a priority debt cheque or direct debit is presented and funds are not there the items will not be paid and charges will be incurred.
All customers, and not just those in financial difficulty, have a first right to appropriate to specific cheques, direct debits or standing orders payments into the account but it should be unnecessary if the account is funded to pay all items as they are presented for payment.
Thank you for taking the time to raise this issue.
Yours sincerely

Mike Guest
Manager, Group Customer Relations

The main thing you need to do is change the way your benefits are paid, namely open another account such as a Post Office Account that monies can be paid in but not taken out by anyone other than yourself. benefits go in, you can take it out in cash with a card at the post office, then either sort out paying things by paypoint/over the counter or in cash - it really is easy to do and so worth the peace of mind.

The £400 you mention, was this for overdraft fees? Do you already have a claim or complaint in progress at the minute?

As Enaid has mentioned, start a seperate thread that is specifically for dealing with your own problems, [edit] Please post more in here >> vin v natwest - bank taking benefits - Legal Beagles this way you will get more targetted help. I also suggest that you complete an Income / Expenditure form which can be found here >> Legal Beagles

If you then qualify for hardship, we can try and get those charges returned to you ASAP. Please include ALL income/expenditure and any other debts you may have.