Hi members, I have recently received a final response from Lloyds about a huge number of charges applied to my graduate account which ultimately lead to it being defaulted and closed. Basically in 2012-13 after I graduated, I fell in to quite severe financial difficulty and became reliant on credit to get by. My graduate overdraft of £2000 was usually maxed and I started using payday loans even after I lost my job (I know, different story). I requested all my statements from Lloyds to see how much they had charged me in fees and interest etc before I was defaulted. The total came to over £700 in the 12-18 months of difficulty and this sum is mostly made up of unauthorised overdraft fees and interest on top of them. In Lloyds response they simply say the charges were 'applied correctly' and invite me to call their recoveries department to arrange repayment. Even though I'm still unemployed, I told them I'd be happy to begin a payment plan if they removed these charges, but they're having none of it. I want to take this to the FOS but I've had such mixed experiences with them in the past (loads of complaints re payday loans), and I don't know the best way to go about it. Is it possible to still reclaim charges such as these or will the FOS rubber stamp Lloyds response? It seems ridiculous that over 40% of my debt to them is made up of overdraft charges on what was supposed to be an interest free graduate account! If anyone has any suggestions of how to approach the FOS with this or any success stories, please let me know! Thanks

Lloyds customers are losing their free, interest-paying current accounts and told to sign up for one at £60 a year. Loyal Vantage current account holders will no longer receive interest of up to 1.49 per cent from May 3. If they want to earn interest they must opt for the Club Lloyds account, which pays up to 3.93 per cent on balances of up to £5,000. It also offers access to a savings account paying the same and a 0.2 percentage point reduction on Lloyds mortgages, plus perks such as free cinema tickets. But customers will be hit with a £5 monthly bill unless they pay in £1,500 a month. Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-3549204/Lloyds-snubs-loyal-customers-taking-away-free-paying-current-accounts-tells-sign-one-60-year.html#ixzz46pxXHH99

I'll try to keep this as short as possible... I took out finance for a car with Moneybarn back in November 2015, amount borrowed 9k, amount to repay 16k (roughly), £280 per month. In January 2016 I lost one of the two jobs I held, reducing my income dramatically. I fell behind on January's payment and contacted Moneybarn within a day or so of the money being returned from my bank account. I spoke to a lady and explained my current financial situation, I asked her if it would be possible to help me through this temporary bump in the road. I was asked to fill out an affordability form, however, far from helping me, I was instead told that I was deemed unable to afford my monthly repayments (which I already knew) despite my numerous requests for a temporary lower payment plan, which I was happy to pay interest on, she refused. I received an arrears notice shortly after, and swiftly paid it. In February the same thing happened, my repayment for the end of the month was once again returned due to lack of finances. I didn't want to just ignore this, so I once again contacted Moneybarn customer services and spoke to a very arrogant gentleman. I explained my situation and pleaded for a lower repayment amount until such time I find a second job again. Despite this, he was adamant that this would not be possible, and pressured me into agreeing upon three "exit options". He vaguely described what each option meant, and when asked to send me this in writing - so I could carefully consider each option - I was told this was not possible. He told me I have 20 days to find second employment and provide proof of my affordability for the original £280 per month. I said I would do my best, however, a month later and I am now two months into arrears (Febuary & March) and I still only have one job as I have been unable to find second employment so far. After my last phone call to Moneybarn Customer services in which I was spoken too in a very arrogant manner and felt pressured into agreeing something which I didn't fully understand without being able to properly read the details - I decided against contacting them via telephone. I instead wrote a letter on March 15th to Moneybarn's head office, detailing my current situation and requesting that my account be frozen until such time we can agree upon a fair outcome. Exactly one month later I received nothing in reply from them, so I decided to email them instead attaching my original letter. In response to this I received an email saying "Sorry we cannot discuss this matter via email, your account has been passed onto our Asset Management department, please call our customer service number" even though, I quite clear stated that I did not feel comfortable discussing this over the telephone and wanted written information where I can carefully read and consider what is being said to me. I once again requested for a postal address for their Asset Management department, in response, my request for an address was completely ignored and I was instead told their next action is to appoint recovery agents to come and take my car, and if I would like to discuss this to call their customer services... So far they have ignored my original letter, ignored my requests for written information of what is being said, and avoided helping me in every possible way. Despite their tag line of being "committed to working with customers to resolve any issues". I don't quite know what to do next, or what options are left for me? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hello. I have a Santander 123 account and have been paid interest, less tax, on it over the last tax year. I was surprised last week when all the tax I'd paid on the interest was returned to my account. Has anybody else on the forum received the tax back and does anybody here know why? Thanks

I bought a pair of unnecessarily expensive sunglasses because I felt like treating myself. At first, I put my order in and my available balance updated from 254 pounds to 74 pounds. I wait a couple of days, after contacting customer support about an issue I had involving the status of my order, and if I could amend it, and my balance is still the same as above. There was no record of my payment being refunded in the message from customer support. 1 Day after this contact, and now after receiving my purchase, my current balance had not changed from 254, but my available balance had went back up to 254 pounds. Does this mean I have not been charged? Have I been refunded? I'm writing this because I have no knowledge of delayed payments, and am worried that I'll have to keep a close eye for a random payment. There is also no notification of a transaction taking place in my transaction history for my online banking page. I'm 17, and this was a gift to myself, and I'm now worried that I'll be charged a couple of months down the line and forced into overdraft. Any help or knowledge on this kind of situation would be extremely appreciated. I have no general knowledge on consumer rights or whatever this whole situation involves. I just want to know if I'll be charged sometime soon because this has never happened before. Edit: Also, almost every transaction I've done that was done straight through the bank and not Paypal, was removed instantly. This purchase was made with my debit card, not through paypal.

Hey, I recently had some work done by a plumber, to whom I gave the payment in advance as he said he was in need. However since then, he has not returned back to finish the remaining work. He is not responding to mobile calls either. The payment was made to him by bank transfer so I have his bank account details. Can I use MCOL in such a scenario? Can MCOL ask the bank to release his address? I did not have any formal contract signed with him but I do have SMS and bank payment as proof of engagement of work. I am really distressed about all this. Can someone help me.

In 2008, I stopped using Barclays as my current account provider and it turns out I was overdrawn by £18. I stopped checking online backing, etc as I didn't realise that I still owed them money (my fault, I know). Long story short, I now overdrawn by £1063, made up almost entirely of overdraft charges. Where do I stand in getting these charges negated? I would be grateful for any advice. Thanks

Hi everyone. First time for me posting so be gentle. I have read this thread with interest as I've just been time barred for my packaged account complaint by the bank and FOS as they say the bank has told them they "would have" sent me 'refresher packs' in July 2009 and March 2010 so I should have complained within 3 years from then. My complaint is that they upgraded my account without my knowledge in 2003 and at a time when I was in financial difficulty and would not knowingly pay more in bank charges. I'm keen to know what is a CCL letter that is mentioned earlier in this thread? Thanks

Hello good people. I have a question or two about my EE account that I know nobody can answer better than you. Here goes. Approx this time last year I was invited by EE to take out a contract with them as they had taken over from my then current provider T Mobile. I visited my local store and discussed my needs with them they assured me that the contract they were selling me was more than adequate to cover my UNLIMETED DATA USAGE agreement with T Mobile. Within 2 months of signing up with EE, I was receiving data usage warnings, and was being cut off half way through the month. I revisited their store to discuss my concern and was persuaded to up grade my contract to an extra 1GB of data per month at an additional cost of £3 per month. Immediately afterwards I started receiving data usage warnings and again was cut off mid month. I revisited the store and was persuaded ( yes I wanted one ) to take out a contract on an IPad. and this additional 2 GB of data would eliminate the problem. You guessed it. data usage warnings. 3 visit lucky?? No chance. The store assistant on enquiry commented that my Ipad contract was " crap " and on discussing with the store manager, they offered to give me, free of charge, a 1GB " booster " that would normally cost £19.99 and £10 per month. Data usage warning part 4 I have since found out that they have been charging me £10 +VAT per month since August ( £80 ) for a booster that was provided free of charge. I returned to the store to discuss the situation and was met with such a lack of interest, that I actually asked the store assistant to stop shrugging his shoulders with a couldn't care less attitude. I have recently written to EE customer services in an attempt to resolve the situation, but I wonder if I am doing it in the right manner, and is there anything else I can do. I have gone from a £25 + VAT per month " Unlimited data usage " contract with T Mobile to a 4GB Data usage £30 a month contract with EE on my phone. 2GB Data usage £25 a month contract with EE on my IPAD 1GB Data usage £10 a month contract with EE on a booster that was provided Free of charge. Call me stupid, naïve, or whatever, but I am not putting up with this. I have all the contracts, including the FOC agreement, but am getting nowhere with EE Any suggestions please. Thank You

Hi, Hope someone can help, we applied for attendance allowance for my 85 year old mum, she had to send her PO details on the form, but unfortunately when she got the details of her account from the PO help line, the last number of the sort code was put down wrong, whether they told her wrong or mum put it down wrong we don't know, her account number was correct, £411 was paid out in back pay to her, but obviously didn't get into mum's account, when I phoned DWP they said because we had put the number wrong, and mum had signed it there was nothing they could do and suggested calling the PO, on calling the PO help line we were told, there was nothing they could do and it was up to the DWP to sort it, I believe that this money has been sat in limbo for the past 2 weeks as it hasn't been sent back to DWP. Can anyone help my mum is getting very distressed about this, and both sides seem to just wash their hands of it, I cant understand why the DWP are happy just to leave £411 going nowhere!!!

Hi all, my husband has held a Barclays business account for about 7 years now. The charges over that time are ridiculous. Every time he was getting a charge of £35 per failed dd. I have now noticed they have reduced that to £8. Since this massive reduction I assume they have realised how unfair this charge was. Do you think I could apply for these charges to be reimbursed? Even though it's a business account. Thanks

Hi Guys, I sold an item back in November via eBay. Customer then opened a PayPal case for SNAD in February and PayPal informed them that the item should be sent back to me, once it was sent back, they issued a full refund. The item arrived back broken and I called them up, I was then informed to report this to ActionFraud which I did and to provide them with the Ref #. I did this but this was not enough, they want a letter with Ref #, I am chasing Action Fraud for this. Everyone at PayPal says something different, one chap said the Ref # is enough, then another said I need the letter headed paper from ActionFraud! these guys Akinika have sent an email, of course I have not contacted them but I just had a few questions: Can these guys affect my Credit Rating, I never had no issues before and I don't want any sort of mark on my Credit Record. Do these guys have any power at all, reading the forums, I see they referred to as potless DCA, Any help would be much appreciated, Regards

Hi guys. Started getting texts, emails and letters from Lowell for an old Additions account. I had already SAR'd Barclays and have the paperwork. It seems the last credit to the account was around 2004. Should be statute barred except I've been making token payments until 2014. There is nothing on my credit files. I know that Lowells have a tendency to add defaults well after the fact so I'm keeping an eye out and will act to get it removed if they do. Reading other posts I know that the clock kept running due to the token payments so not SB. However I'm not sure if Lowells have that info and are just chancing their arm. I'm tempted to send a prove it letter to get them off my back. Not sure whether to do that or just ignore them. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hope this forum is still active and I can get some answers Im not getting any kind of help from LLOYDS OFF SHORE except run a round on the phone which is becoming tiresome... .in the nutshell Im old LLOYDS customer with about 24 years . .last 16 years off shore bank account also.. Im not UK citizen nor do I pay UK taxes.. .I just happene to open LLOYDS account while I was brifly living in UK and later just continue to use it .. .till recently I did not have much of a problem with LLOYDS OFF SHORE on ISLE OF MAN because I did not really touch those funds there ..I did not need to. .I was mostly working and funds kept on off shore account where just sitting idle . .till this december when I decided to move all the money to INSENTIVE MONEY SAVERS ACCOUNT . ..about month after that action I received mail from manager of the branch I guess asking me where are all those funds came from. .I replayed that he can check my account history and that all will be there ..money came from OFF SHORE MONEY MARKET CALL ACCOUNT a,d that I simply shifted funds around off shore and on shore accounts searching for best interest rate. ..second question he had for me was bit strange ..well it appears that at one point whili wisiting UK last december I put cash money on my off shore international account . .not much maybe 640 pounds all in all but he asked me about the receipt and proof from where that money came from. ..I told this the truth that I dont remember anymore and that I did not keep the slip nor bank statement ...all in alll I thought that he understood the situation and that s the end of the matter but .. a=one month later I decided to pay some insurance premiums back in my country I made a transfer back from SAVERS ACCOUNT to INTERNATIONAL PREMIER account si can write cheques to mu insurance company. ...I wrote one check no problem and then I wrote 3 more on smaller amount -in my country I can not deposit large cheques on bank accounts I had to break the amount on 3 smaller cheques ...well one of those actions triggered my accounts to be blocked /suspended and placed under investigation .. .now same manager is asking again about those 640 pounds bill and source of money and also he is asking in advance to see my insurance policy before I even paid for it . ..really strange and I should say bordering on harassment . ..does anybody here on this forum has any idea what happened to me , my accounts and where the problem is. .oh just for the general info my account is rather modest 5 figure amount nothing fancy its just at the moment all my money . .all my saving since I wasnt really working last few years due to illness

Hi All I had a under 18s account with Abbey in 2004 which was then upgraded to a basic account when I was 18 in 2006. I then stopped using the account around 2010. Recently I checked my credit file and noticed a default from Santander for £55. I called to enquire as I assumed these accounts were now dormant due to them not being used in so many years. I was told that they were defaulted in 23/3/2012 (I don't recall recieveing a notice of default) and that it was due to an unpaid DD on my basic account and another on the Under 18 account. Neither had credit or overdraft facilities btw. I sent a complaint and recieved a call the following day saying that instead of being upgraded my under 18 account wasnt closed and another account was opened and as they are unpaid DD fees I still have to pay them. Ideally I would like to get this wiped off my credit file completely as I am preparing to buy a house and this is completely tarnishing my credit file, dispite the small amount. Could anybody advise as to how I can go about doing this?

I have a number of defaults on my credit reports they are about 4 years old. I am thinking of writing to each creditor/collection agency asking to produce copies of the default notice and the credit agreements. My question is this. If a creditor or collection agent cannot send me copies of the original default notice and the original default becomes unenforceable is it possible for them to issue a default notice following this for the same account? therefore a 2nd default on that same account would be on reports for another 6 years? Thanks in advance.

Hi, I sent out a CCA request to DLC, who were collecting for an old Egg debt; I have been paying £1 token payments to them every since the account defaulted over 6 years ago, and due to having moved house a couple of times since, have completely lost track of what has happened with this as the standing orders were set up to come out automatically. Last week I received a response to my request from DLC stating "we returned the account to Egg in July 2010, who have since ceased to trade. We assume that your account has been acquired by a third party company and we suggest you contact them". I have no idea who to contact about this now! Any advise as to what I should do next? If Egg have ceased to trade, then where has my £1 a month been going?!! Many thanks AM

I had a few personal accounts with NatWest with a few grand overdraft on each which I couldnt pay back. These accounts were eventually closed by the bank and are now in the hands of debt collection agency. I also have a business account with them which has no debt attached to it. A while back I stopped using my business account in case they took money out of that account to repay the overdraft and just used a basic personal account from a different bank for my business banking which really isnt ideal but helped me get through at the time. Im now wondering as I dont have good enough credit to open up a business account elsewhere if I can still use my NW business account without them taking money directly from it since the personal accounts are now closed and the debt passed to another company? What do you think?

I paid them for a couple months via Monthly Standing Orders which i set up, this was after the Debt Management Company I used folded, I then stopped paying all of them recently ... I have just received a true copy of my original CCA from Halifax, back dating to 2001, so will now need to sort a repayment offer with them They are the only 1 from 5 to provide thus far, so tbh i still had a great result This is very true, i assumed info from a company like StepChange would be best i would get, not a mention or suggestion of doing CCA's came from them Sometimes their hands are tied to give certain aspects of advice and as I say CAG was a blessing in disguise when i read what people were saying about making CCA requests I have just received a true copy of my original CCA from Halifax, back dating to 2001, so will now need to sort a repayment offer with them, they are the only 1 from 5 to provide thus far, so tbh i have still had a great result ! Better late than never, very true

Hiya, any advice will be gratefully received. I started a PPI claim against santander early 2014 for a loan which was taken out in 2001. They claimed to have settled a PPI claim on this account in 2007. In 2007 they settled a 'bank charges' claim for a closed current account not a PPI claim for the loan account. I have never claimed for PPI on any account until early 2014. But in 2007 I had taken on quite a number of banks for charges. I had a call from the FOS today. They said that santander had provided evidence of this settlement. I asked what the evidence was and he said it had the loan agreement number on it, the amount, date and that it was for PPI. Non of this information is true. It's totally fabricated. I expressed my concern to the FOS and he said he'd contact them again to ask for further details. I called santander straight after to request this information and told them it's totally untrue and fraudulent! I'm hopping mad. I don't want to let them get away with this. But what do I do? The FOS have to make a decision on the information they have. I haven't kept anything from my charges claim, as far as I was concerned the matter was closed so I destroyed everything. If they FOS rule in their favour, how do I complain without any evidence? Thornyangel

Hi Ok i am trying to Re claim my accounts fees as they were missed sold to me. I have all my statements after i finally got my SAR request through. I am claiming back to 2006 when i was signed up to additions account without my knowledge. I have drafted this letter. Dear Sir or Madam, Account name: First Additions Account number: I have had the above account since 1st February 2006 but believe it was mis-sold to me for the following reasons. - I didn’t know I was paying and don’t remember ever agreeing to having this account. - I was upgraded without my knowledge. - I wasn’t told there was an alternative, free account. I am writing to request a full refund of the fees I have paid plus any interest owed to me. I have enclosed a copy of the schedule of account fee charges. I look forward to your response within eight weeks, otherwise I won’t hesitate taking my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Yours faithfully, Now i may need to change the last paragraph as going to the fos is a waist of time. So i believe the court route is required. Can someone tell me what the timings are before court action is this similar to bank charges. Thx Rob

Hi Over the Christmas period I was charged by Santander £25 for DD failure, 2x £25 for two standing order failures and £20 for an unarranged overdraft request (which I didnt request or receive). I have spoken to the bank who refuse to withdraw the charges so I have withdrawn my money and arranged for my pay to go into another bank prior to the charges being applied. Now they have applied charges to the empty account and written to me saying I can write to the Ombudsman etc and that the Supreme Court ruled charges fair. Any positive advice? Thanks

hi, i made a purchase online for a set of dust filter for my computer from south africa to the UK, i made the payment and payid for shipping for £21, i assumed this was to take care of the import fees, i received the package, a couple of days later i got a letter from DHC saying i owe them VAT of £17, i emailed asking how they came to £17 and they replied saying that i was being charge £7 VAT and a £10 administration charge cause they paid the VAT when they picked up the package, this is the first time i've made a purchase abroad i was a bit peeved they were making me £10 pounds when i already paid for shipping i understand they wanted me to pay the VAT which i would of done, but because of the administration charge i felt cheated. i decided to ignore the payment, weeks later i got a new letter from a company called control account PLC saying they now own the debt and have added their admin fees to the payment of £10 and said i should no longer contact DHC. the new charge was £25. i received this letter late so i missed the window to make they payment, and then received a letter this week saying "that i must pay the sum of £25 within 14 days or this matter will be passed on to our legal department, At this time litigation may commence with a County Court Judgment sought, the cost of these proceedings would increase your current liability with judgment in place, would allow enforcement action to be taken. This is your final oppprtynity to remedy this matter prior to further action being taken" what should i do?, its already to late to pay it back, whats the worse that could happen?, what is likely to happen. any advice would be really appreciated, i'm really worried Thanks

Hi Everyone, I had a HSBC bank account from the age of 9/10 when I reached 18 they offered me a credit card with nice credit limit of £2500, along with an overdraft of £1000, stupidly at a naive age of 18 I used both of them to their full advantage, making payments every month. Unfortunately a few years later I reached a financial hardship for my age, earning only a low wage and having split from a partner I was living with, I found myself in a house share paying most of my wages to live and eat, also (stupidly in hindsight) taking out Wonga loans to make ends meet, because HSBC were charging me bank charges on top of bank charges. I quickly spiralled into debt land with everything including both my HSBC Credit Card and bank account, luckily I had a second account with Halifax where I could have my wages paid into without it being eaten up with bank charges. My debt with HSBC was soon 'sold' onto their made up 'solicitors' - Restons, and also 'Metropolitan Collections' which I also believe is a subsidiary of HSBC. 6 months into this my mother offered me a place to stay, and I was far to embarrassed to tell her the extent of my debt at the time, 1 day the bailiffs came knocking on her door to advise that I had been ignoring HSBC and not made any payments. My mother and step father sat me down and I vowed to set up a payment plan to avoid this embarrassment for them again and I stuck to this for at least 18 months or so. I was lucky to meet my now fiancé who helped me out a great deal by paying off what I thought was the remaining debt with HSBC, and I found myself back on track. It wasn't until yesterday I came home to an ominous looking letter on my doorstep, advising me that 'Reston Solictors' have issued a Count Court Claim form for the unpaid account for my HSBC Credit Card, which I admit on my part was forgotten about as I thought I had paid them off and never thought to check. As I'm still only young (26) this is the first I've seen of one of these and it really left me shaken at the thought of having to go to court, I called CAB and they were helpful in advising my options with the form to which I made a decision that I want to get rid of it completely and called 'Restons Solicitors' today to settle the account with £772.00. In a matter of curiosity I opened an experian account this evening to check my credit score, I notice two defaults on my account, for both aforementioned HSBC accounts. This has really shaken me again as we're looking to take out a mortgage next year to buy our first marital home. My question to the knowledgeable people of this forum is, am I in any position to make a complaint to HSBC that I don't agree with these defaults as the root cause of the debt initially was due to bank charges which I couldn't pay, it states they were issued in 2011 and I have no recollection of these (does anyone else remember any post they received 5 years ago?!) or - are they quite right to do this to me, for my own stupidity? Thank you very much in advance and thank you for reading my rather lengthy life story post! Also to ask if anyone knows - If both my fiancé and I apply for a mortgage once we're married next year, and he has an impeccable credit score, would the defaults on my account still affect any applications?

hello all I wonder if anyone can help me. I took out a loan with Blackhorse in 2002 and it had PPI on it. I was in fulltime employment and had no need for PPi, but was told it was needed. with this being the first loan I had ever taken out, I didn't know any better. I tried to make a mis-sold PPi claim. problem is, I don't have any paperwork with account details. my own bank - HSBC - tell me they cannot go back to 2004 when I finished paying for the loan to help me get the account details. Black horse cannot find me on their system, and therefore reject my claim. I approached FOS who came back to say that Blackhorse had sent screen shots of their attempts to find me on their system, and they were satisfied Blackhorse had done all they could. My question to the more experienced folk on here is: is there any more I can do to make a claim, or do I just accept defeat hear. BTW: the loan was £6k repaid over 18 months. so I'm not even sure how much PPi I paid and if it would be worth chasing. thanks in advance for any help