General Chat

Vey best of luck today Gill x

Hi Everyone I went to CAB on Tuesday and they were very good. Say this is the one of the worst cases of irrisponsable lending they have come accross. I am going to the bank today with my mother to speak to the Consumer Credit Council Service. I will update you all tonight. We can't use both CAB and CCCS so we will decide which road to take after today. Regards Gill

Any news gillian? xx

Gillian, I do hope you are getting somewhere with this, and are OK. Last night (I was at work) there was a programme on BBC about debt (about 3 in the morn) I didn't see it all, but it seemed to centre arround a lady in very similar circumstances. She eventally didn't have to repay any of it! There is a BBC website BBC*co*uk/debt which they claim has useful info. Do let us know how you are. Suex

Gillian Glad you have picked up the point that the Bank cannot hold her Pension to ransom as it were - it is illegal for anyone to hold a Government paid benefit as security against a debt. If this were my situation - and of course, it isnt - I would let the Bank do their worst, i.e. Court. They might be very reluctant to go that far as they are not going to come out of this exactly covered in glory, and as you say, would probably be awarded £1 per month, which is considerably less than they are getting now! I understand exactly what you are saying about the Bank staff being very nice. Unfortunately, they are led from the top and are pushed and pushed and pushed to 'sell' money to their customers. They probably feel personally very embarrassed about the situation, but Employer loyalty prevents them from saying what they really think. Good luck OC

ring up national debtline they will give you advice hope everything works out for your mum she dosnt need this at her age and you dont need the worry yoursef lol joycexx

Hi Dave Thanks for your input. I do appreciate your response and hope you don’t take my reply in the wrong way ;-) Maybe I have not explained myself very well in the previous threads. The bank didn’t talk to me about her affairs without the account holders consent. I frog marched my mother down there and she was given every opportunity not to have anything divulged to me. I was dismissed from the room while they talked to her and ascertained that they could tell me EVERY THING that was outstanding. When she agreed this was done in her presence. She was relieved that I at last knew what dire straits she was in (so was her personal banker). This had apparantly been going on for six weeks. I would not ‘out’ the bank because the employees of the branch concerned have shown a lot of consideration for my mum. She has banked there for many years and my Dad banked with them for Twenty years before he died. It still doesn’t explain how she could be given so much credit when they knew her circumstances but the actual ‘people’ concerned could not have been nicer to her. They don’t intimidate me. I just didn’t know how to proceed without the bank stopping her access to her pension which is paid directly into the bank. I will be getting another account opened for her pension to be paid into. Litigation doesn’t bother me. Believe it or not I am a credit controller but on the ‘other’ side and know what the courts can enforce. This is part of my trouble. Do I let it take its course through the courts where I am pretty certain any debtors will get short shrift (£1.00 per month) or force the issue to other measures? Would love your input as this is truly proving a problem for me. Thanks Gill

4 years ago we had a problem with my husbands stepfathers account he was drawing large sums of money out but we couldn't fathom out where all of it was going One problem we indentified was that he was being overcharged at a local shop by not being given the correct change i.e if he tendered a £20 note he would only be given change for a £10 note We got the trading standards in on that and they sent an older person in to do some shopping and they were overcharged The shopkeeper was fined and he sold the shop My husband signed some papers at the bank and from then on he manged his bank accounts, He set direct debits up to pay all his bills and gave his Dad just a small amount of money and we did all his shopping I think it's a disgrace how banks allow older people to be tricked, there has been so many stories recently of how they have been tricked out of their life savings by con men and yet the banks don't appear to do anything about it I would definitely contact CAB or Age concern about your Mother and her bank Hope you are able to sort thing s out Regards Bren

I've read through all this thread and it is worrying that the bank talked to you about a third party's affairs without the permission of the account holder. If this is your bank - move your account immediately. And 'out' the name of the bank so that others can do the same. Enduring Power of Attorney is an expensive route to go down and is usually only used for someone who is ga-ga or cannot write. The easiest thing is to get 3rd Party Access to her accounts using a form that the bank will have. If you can't deal with banks and the like yourself - lots of people find such situations intimidating. An Independent Financial Adviser is probably the best person to engage considering the amount of money involved. He will be able to deal with the bank and give you good advice. A solicitor is not the best person to help unless - God forbid - your mother gets to a litigation stage. You will find that you're unlikely to get to talk to the CAB within a month. You need very urgent action. Dave

Just to clarify things for peeps, Enduring Power of Attorney is the one you want as it needs to be able to take effect if someone loses their mental ability to run their finances. It has to be registered with the Court of Protecton when that time comes. :0) Joan

Nite, nite Gillian, good luck tomorrow. Bev

Once again thank you everyone for your replies. I am now going to bed as the bacardi has got the better of me. Just melted one of the keys on my board with the end of my cigarette :-) (have got to give up smoking). I will update when I know more. Regards and thanks Gill

The ombudsman will require that you have exhausted the banks own complaints procedure firstly - and that has to be done by your Mum as she is the account holder, or she has to give written authority for you to do it on your behalf - data protection act. You must get the statements first and alos the credit agreement for the loan and card that should have your Mum's signature on it - to check that it isn't fraud. I'm still amazed she was allowed to lend that amount of money and also obtain a credit card. Get your Mum to give you written authority to deal with everything and also as I have said go and get Power of Attorney Joanne

I have pm'd you Gillian. I do hope you can get it sorted, I know what a worry it can be. Please feel free to get in touch if you need to. All the best, Joan

20 years ago, TSB absolutely ruined me. I was married and about 15 years previously, my husband had taken out a small business loan against the house (£1000) - I signed for this, as I was joint owner of the house. Fast forward 20 years, I walk out and leave him. My Bank Manager (who had been a guest in my home on many occasions) was not aware of this but I mentioned it in passing (LOL). I was then asked to 'pop into the Bank, to sign some papers'. When I saw them I almost died. They wanted me to sign for a debt of over £100,000 which was secured against the house. I refused to sign and demanded to know how this loan had been obtained without my knowledge. He excused himself from the room and five minutes later his Secretary told me he had been 'called away urgently'. Repeated phone calls and visits to the Bank brought the response that they could not discuss my husband's business account with me. I went to see a Solicitor who told me that, as I was not my husband's business partner, the Bank were under no obligation to disclose anything to me (it was a business loan). I demanded to see all the paperwork and some FIFTEEN MONTHS later, the Bank reluctantly sent my Solicitor copies of the agreements I had 'signed' over the years. The signatures were forged, either by my husband, or by the Bank Manager. My Solicitor didnt believe me at first, but had to agree that the signature looked nothing like mine. The Police didnt want to know and my Solicitor said that he would take it to Court if I wished, but he knew from experience that these cases often dragged on for seven years or more, and he would therefore want £10,000 up front, although he was sure I would win. I didnt have ten quid, let alone £10,000, so I left it there. Strangely, a few months later, a woman in a similar position to me won thousands in damages from the same Bank, and the law was changed to disallow business loans against homes unless both parties signed in front of a Solicitor. I dont trust Banks! OC

Gillian I am slacking, I am a glass behind you, but I am working on catching up ....honest...lol There has been a lot of good sound advice on here, enough to keep you busy tomorrow, good luck, I hope you can get it sorted with out too much upset for both you and your mother. Bev

Thanks Joe I will visit the site tomorrow. regards Gill

Hi Joan Of course you can pm me. Tegards Gill

Gillian I may have an idea of what she may be doing (Had a similar problem with a family member) If it's ok can I pm you ?? Also I suggest you take your Mum down to a solicitor's asap & get an Enduring Power of Attorney drawn up so that you can have full control of her finances. :0) Joan

Hi Margaret No not TSB. I have been banking with the same bank (different branch) for thirty years. Had to bully the Indian phone centre to get me an appointment at the bank as they only speak to the account holder or the account holder has to viit the branch. Made my point with him and he faxed the bank to get them to hone me for an appointment. I think they were relieved as things have got so far out of hand and they thought her health was suffering. Maybe the girls at the branch were worried about her. They phoned me within 10 mins of my conversaton the the call centre. Gill