Is the bank taking your Benefits ?

[Pliny the Penuriosus]

Thanks for that encouraging advice. This evening I've applied to the Co-operative bank for a basic 'cashminder' account. I told them I was in trouble with other cards etc and the guy I spoke to said it shouldn't be a problem. They'll let me know within 10 days if I can have an account. I'm on my knees financially at the moment (like many people here I guess) and I couldn't believe that banks could simply dip in to your account and syphon off benefit payments. Maybe it was in the Terms & Conditions but stupidly enough -like many of us- I never read them that closely.

 

Thanks.

 

Edal they can't take income related benefits it's a breach of the Social Security Act 2002. (& they know it) The money doesn't actualy belong to you it's the States & is provided to support your daily living.

 

Suggest you go the begining of this thread where you will find the letters you need

[Edal]

I've just spoken to someone at Income Support. She said basically it wasn't their business, it was between the bank and me. But she did say that they could arrange to make my payments with Giro until I get a new account sorted.

 

 

I haven't spoken to the bank yet because I don't want to get drawn into discussing a repayment plan for the credit card. I'm going to an independent advice centre next week to seek their advice.

[standingupformyself]

Thats good news, at least you will now receive all your benefits... I agree with what you have been told, the benefits agency don't seem to get involved with the banks,

You must be feeling a bit better now that things are on the move

[Pliny the Penuriosus]

I've just spoken to someone at Income Support. She said basically it wasn't their business, it was between the bank and me. But she did say that they could arrange to make my payments with Giro until I get a new account sorted.

 

 

I haven't spoken to the bank yet because I don't want to get drawn into discussing a repayment plan for the credit card. I'm going to an independent advice centre next week to seek their advice.

 

Not again!

I do wish these clerks would get some training in this subject. Some understand some don't

 

Of course it's their business, & their Minister of State agrees. It's actualy their money not yours. The funds are supplied by the state for your upkeep not to pay bank penalty charges & they know it.

 

Use the letters at the start of this thread

[Pliny the Penuriosus]

Thats good news, at least you will now receive all your benefits... I agree with what you have been told, the benefits agency don't seem to get involved with the banks,

You must be feeling a bit better now that things are on the move

 

They have & they do.

 

DWP have contacted banks directly on behalf of benefit claimants

[Edal]

Thats good news, at least you will now receive all your benefits... I agree with what you have been told, the benefits agency don't seem to get involved with the banks,

You must be feeling a bit better now that things are on the move

 

 

I feel better knowing that no more payments will be going through the Lloyds TSB account. Is there a letter template here for claiming back money that has already been removed? The RIGHT OF APPROPRIATION one at the start of this thread appears to apply in advance of payments being made.

 

(BTW thanks to everyone that posts here - this site is absolutely indispensable - such a relief to realize that you're not the only one in this situation)

[petcat]

edal, abbey have constantly ignored my verbal requests to not take my benefits. after sending LBA a manager even said id be quicker if i took them to court! i didnt know about the law back then so ive only just started to quote this,on the N1,still awaiting their response. they have until 12th june to acknowledge. will let you know how i get on.

[Pliny the Penuriosus]

petcat of course they ignored you and I'm not surprised as it appears you didn't follow the repeated advice of this site to put EVERYTHING in writing

[petcat]

pliny thanks for thast comment -not.-i am more articulate on the phone than i would ever be in writing and also have noted all dates names etc.

it is in writng now.Hence the N1. the kind of comment i was after was constructive advice preferably from one who has had a similar situation.I do not mean to cause offence however i take a dislike to your patronising attitude. Abbey have been misinforming people is all i wanted to say.

[rory32]

petcat, I think pliny's point was that the bank can (and do) deny verbal requests as there is no proof that a request was made (basically it's your word against theirs). If you make a request in writing they can not deny that such a request was made - especially if you send it recorded delivery.

[Perseus]

Pliny, I do believe that there could have been a more subtle way of saying what was said! Not to cause an argument, but I too have been in a position where you see benefits come in and go out before it reaches the ATM, and all due to charges, interest, someones Direct Debit coming out 1 day early, another benefit going in 2 days late.

You fly by the seat of your pants.

Given that - you do use any means to get reassurance from anyone that you just might have some breathing space for a couple of days, or even a chance that the vicious spiral might actual stop for a moment.

 

People who are in the position of panicing daily about the amount of money they have left from benefits - and how much of that is coming out in on-the-spot and pre-advised charges, (and I speak from experience) will use any means to protect or safeguard the pennies.

As was posted, "i didnt know about the law back then so ive only just started to quote this" - I also phoned, wrote letters, called into the branch - well before knowing about my rights from this site.

 

Support and encouragement, even a 'oh well, done now so move on' is just slightly more reassuring than 'told you so'!

 

Many a stray 'petcat' needs some tlc....

[southyorksman]

Hi Petcat,

 

I too have problems as spending time to put things in writing frequently causes me panic attacks with no-one there to calm me down.

 

I made many complaints via Lloyds Banks customer services and in the end my branch filled in an "escalation form" and sent all the evidence of sec states letter and SSAA 1992 with it.

 

Today I've had a letter from the collections concerns team at Lloyds TSB saying that they were entitled to take my benefits as the money was paid into my normal current account, the sec of states letter referred to direct payment accounts set up by the government which are different. I phoned her and argued that the letter is about the direct payment scheme itself whatever type of bank account it is paid into, not just basic bank accounts but she wouldn't have it and said they have this complaint a lot and I'm not the first.

 

I'm now seeking a court hearing as I believe they are deliberately misinterpreting the intent of the Sec of states letter and ignoring the SSAA 1992 totally.

 

Anyone having this problem with Lloyds particularly?

 

IAN

southyorksman

[Vital Spark]

Does anyone have anything BUT problems with Lloyds?

 

I hope someone will go to Vital Spark vs Lloyds to sub-edit the letter I propose sending to Lloyds but not before it's had the go-ahead from those better in the know than am I.

[petcat]

hi southyorkshireman. I agree with your point and am amazed at their interpretation of the law.Anychance you could post the wording on here.Abbey have 6 days left before i can apply to judgement and ive a feeeling i may get delibrately forgotten due to including this on the N1. good luck.

thanks for the support above.

[1234debt]

Hi, I'm in the middle of claiming my bank charges back, I'm actually waiting for Northampton to send my case to my local court after the bank entered a defense two days ago.

The bank were taking the charges out of my benefits, as per this thread I notified them of their 'mistake' but got told that they were in the right etc so I moved my benefits to a post office account and stopped using that one, they continued to charge me OD fees but as I was in litigation with them over the account I pretty much ignored it after I'd already let them know they were unlawfully taking money from my benefits. This morning I received a statement from them and they've 'refunded' the charges previously made on the account leaving the balance as zero(as it should be because I paid back the two pounds I went over by)

I'm just wondering if this will effect my case, as they applied these charges after I'd started the ball rolling on my court case and moved to the post office there was nothing to claim back off them(because I didn't pay them) these fees were not included in my case at all.

 

hope this all makes sense!

 

Any information greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

[petcat]

hi 1234 debt. have you put hese facts on your POC.also is the defence standard or adapted to acknowledge the additional claims. i am waiting for abbeys defence at the moment and was in a similar situation with abbey. Altho in my case they took almost 3grand from benefits plus interest.You could always start another claim for the extra charges after this one.good luck to us all.

[Pliny the Penuriosus]

1234 I'm unclear have they paid the principal sum of your claim + interest in full. Have they included your court costs. If any if these have not been paid, in particular the court costs you should continue on the basis that they allowed you to issue before settling

[archer_66]

ok im doing my bundle for court... do i have to actually print out the section from the social security act or can i just put in the paragraph..i cant seem to find the section 187 in the SSA 1992 it goes upto 177 then stops?

[petcat]

archer 66

cant find the link but heres what section 187 says

187-subject to the provisions of this act every assignment of or charge on-

a) benefits as defined in section 122 of the contributions and benefits act;

b)any income related benefit; or

c)child benefit

and every agreement to assign such benefit shall be void; and, on the bankruptcy of the beneficiary, such benefit shall not pass to any trustee or other person acting on behalf of his creditors.

there is also a link to a letter from patricia hewitt to the banking association and their response somewhere on this site which is useful if i come across it again ill post the details.

[Perseus]

Try this post, it has all the letters etc on it...

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-debt/36790-bank-taking-your-benefits-5.html#post522407

[archer_66]

thanks both

[taylorandy10]

How do the banks sleep at night apart from on big and expensive beds i was in the same situation ie on state benefit and had £6142 taken in benefit i am registered disabled and whenever ad charges always asked for a small £50 overdraft which would have prevented any further charges but they refused heck why should they they were raking it in and had a guranteed repayment cause of state beneit going in every week am now taking alliance & leicester to court lets hope all those that are owed money rise up and show the banks that we are not theire own little piggy bank

[karen654321]

Hiya, really enjoyed reading all the success storys on this thread. Im in a similiar situation and would like some advice. I successfully reclaimed £4000 back from halifax in january this year. Since having an accident at work a few years back im on benefits and also i have a daughter who i recieve dla for. The other benefits i get are child allowance and tax credits. Thats the only income into my account.

Going through my bank statements since february i have been charged another £400. I know your probably think what did all that money go on back in january but i paid a lot of bills off.

I wrote to the halifax and asked them for these charges back but they have said as a signed the acceptance letter for my last claim on it was a clause saying that all future charges will stand and i signed it..

I dont know wether i would have a chance at getting this money back as its all benefits...

I welcome any ideas.

 

thanks

karen

[Pliny the Penuriosus]

My pension got paid into the bank account we are having problems with, i sent the Letter of Appropriation to the bank,recorded delivery (letter in templates library)they rang me on receipt of the letter to discuss this. Got the pension intact, the bank did not like it, but it worked. I rang DWP and explained what was going on and arranged for my pension to go into my parachute account. DWP said they could help if I wanted the pension still to be paid into the account in dispute, but think having it paid into a different account is better for me.

 

Amazing isn't some members have been told repeatedly & erroneously by some staff at DWP that they could not help

[Perseus]

Hiya, really enjoyed reading all the success storys on this thread. Im in a similiar situation and would like some advice. I successfully reclaimed £4000 back from halifax in january this year. Since having an accident at work a few years back im on benefits and also i have a daughter who i recieve dla for. The other benefits i get are child allowance and tax credits. Thats the only income into my account.

Going through my bank statements since february i have been charged another £400. I know your probably think what did all that money go on back in january but i paid a lot of bills off.

I wrote to the halifax and asked them for these charges back but they have said as a signed the acceptance letter for my last claim on it was a clause saying that all future charges will stand and i signed it..

I dont know wether i would have a chance at getting this money back as its all benefits...

I welcome any ideas.

 

thanks

karen

 

I personally would reply, stating that it has just been brought to your attention that under s187 of the ssa , your benefit payments going into the account are exempt from a charge or levy etc, and as this is not a consumer or contractual dispute, rather a matter of income based social security funding, you consider the clause previously signed vitiated.

 

Maybe someone could expand on the wording for you, but its a start!

 

All the best

Pers