Benefit Payments

[raider99]

Lloyds Tsb have taken their bank charges and my jsa payment has gone in and lloyds will not refund the charges. ( although 2 of their operators said they were legally required too). I now have £4 to look after my wife and 3 children for the next 7 to 10 days when the government say i need £90 to look after them for a week. How do i get my charges refunded and stop lloyds taking " The governments money" as its not mine. Ive been reading the social security act 1992 and section 187 says they cant take it.

[broccoli_greens]

I can't help with getting back what they've already taken - someone else may be along who knows more - but it'd be a good idea to immediately open another account with a bank who you don't owe anything to to prevent this happening in future.

 

If you've only £4 in there and have any direct debits set up, it's likely you'll incur charges if they bounce again. Can you cancel any direct debits or standing orders to prevent this? Bank charges were killing me when my account balance started to get low so I cancelled all direct debits (even temporarily).

 

Recurring outgoings (automatically deducted from your account) cost lots of money in charges - any that aren't essential need to be blitzed. Start paying cash for everything and you can't incur bank charges without being aware of it.

 

You'll need to give the benefits office some notice to pay into your new account - hence worth doing now rather than later.

[Bazooka Boo]

There is some guidance on how to stop your bank from claiming charges out of your benefits here, it is apparently unlawful for them to do so under the Social Security Administration Act 1992 and Tax Credits Act 2002