Help please. Where do I stand?
Lloyds TSB say I owe them £270 in charges.
Basically I upgraded to a Silver Account. Don't know why, but the lady in the bank said it was really good and stuff. This was 3 or so months back.
I have no money in the bank to pay the silver account as it comes with a fixed monthly charge of £7.95 a month.
I am also getting charged for fast4net internet. An internet subscriber I haven't even used for months as I'm not with Tesco dial-up. I never set up a direct debit with fast4net, yet they've got my card details and keep charging me. They even charged me twice in one month.
I don't understand this, though, as I have a debit card. Surely if I have no money in the bank to pay something then the payment would be declined unless it was a direct debit? Yet it isn't. They just process the details they have for me every month to take the £6.99 Internet subscription out.
So even with SilverAccount and Internet Subscription coming out, it would still only amount to a maximum of £50 out of that £20. All the rest is the daily charges and the monthly charge on top of that.
My dad went in a couple of months back and cancelled all my direct debits for me. So that I wouldn't end up with this problem, and having direct debits that I can't afford to pay. At the time I paid off £200 worth of charges anyway.
Rang up telephone banking half an hour a go to speak to them about this as I recieved a statement through today. Never normally bothered about my statements, but I've had a tax rebate come through and I can't bank that because that money will be taken straight away from me because of the charges.
Anyway, the bloke I spoke to told me to ring the branch or go in tomorrow morning which I will do. He said that if they will allow my dad to cancel my direct debits on my behalf then they can downgrade my account so I don't get charged the £7.95 for a silver account and it is just a basic one. So despite my dad going in and cancelling everything even asking for the silver account to be downgraded, they haven't done this and I am still getting charged for that.
Where do I stand with the Internet subscription I am being charged for, and yet I cant' remember signing anything. The bank have even confirmed it isn't a direct debit it is just a credit card transaction.
I wen onto the fast4net website to the members' area, but that page is unavailable. I personally think fast4net is a con, and the bloke from Lloyds TSB said for me to cotnact the branch and fast4net before anything else.
So where do I stand?
I just don't understand how they can take this money off me just because I made a payment and now they've got my details to use every month. I don't even have the money ni the bank to pay it. I haven't been able to pay it for 3 months and just been racking up charges. Told the bank I am not paying it and was threatened with bad credit rating stuff and perhaps not being able to even go with another bank. Also, how if it wasn't paid then solicitors would be involved and crap.
I just told the bloke I wasn't paying it. I told him straight. I only work one day a week and I even told him this.
anyway...Advice?
thanks.
Basically I upgraded to a Silver Account. Don't know why, but the lady in the bank said it was really good and stuff. This was 3 or so months back.
I have no money in the bank to pay the silver account as it comes with a fixed monthly charge of £7.95 a month.
I am also getting charged for fast4net internet. An internet subscriber I haven't even used for months as I'm not with Tesco dial-up. I never set up a direct debit with fast4net, yet they've got my card details and keep charging me. They even charged me twice in one month.
I don't understand this, though, as I have a debit card. Surely if I have no money in the bank to pay something then the payment would be declined unless it was a direct debit? Yet it isn't. They just process the details they have for me every month to take the £6.99 Internet subscription out.
So even with SilverAccount and Internet Subscription coming out, it would still only amount to a maximum of £50 out of that £20. All the rest is the daily charges and the monthly charge on top of that.
My dad went in a couple of months back and cancelled all my direct debits for me. So that I wouldn't end up with this problem, and having direct debits that I can't afford to pay. At the time I paid off £200 worth of charges anyway.
Rang up telephone banking half an hour a go to speak to them about this as I recieved a statement through today. Never normally bothered about my statements, but I've had a tax rebate come through and I can't bank that because that money will be taken straight away from me because of the charges.
Anyway, the bloke I spoke to told me to ring the branch or go in tomorrow morning which I will do. He said that if they will allow my dad to cancel my direct debits on my behalf then they can downgrade my account so I don't get charged the £7.95 for a silver account and it is just a basic one. So despite my dad going in and cancelling everything even asking for the silver account to be downgraded, they haven't done this and I am still getting charged for that.
Where do I stand with the Internet subscription I am being charged for, and yet I cant' remember signing anything. The bank have even confirmed it isn't a direct debit it is just a credit card transaction.
I wen onto the fast4net website to the members' area, but that page is unavailable. I personally think fast4net is a con, and the bloke from Lloyds TSB said for me to cotnact the branch and fast4net before anything else.
So where do I stand?
I just don't understand how they can take this money off me just because I made a payment and now they've got my details to use every month. I don't even have the money ni the bank to pay it. I haven't been able to pay it for 3 months and just been racking up charges. Told the bank I am not paying it and was threatened with bad credit rating stuff and perhaps not being able to even go with another bank. Also, how if it wasn't paid then solicitors would be involved and crap.
I just told the bloke I wasn't paying it. I told him straight. I only work one day a week and I even told him this.
anyway...Advice?
thanks.
0
Comments
Very brave of you to tell him this.
You're always asking people to sort things out for you. Why don't you do it yourself? You're in debt basically. You're incurring charges on this debt. What would you like the bank to do, forget it because you only work one day a week?
Are you looking for other work? That might be a start.
The lady said it was "really good and stuff"? Learn to say no next time someone tries to pressure you into a product you don't need or want. My bank tries to sell me several cards everytime I ring up. I politely say no thanks. When I buy something from a department store they try to get me to sign up to a store card, I politely say no.. even when offered a discount. No thanks.
From what you said in your post, it appears clear to me that you signed up to an internet service. You gave them your debit card details and they will have told you they'll take a certain amount from you each month. Internet service providers don't sell one off months normally. You don't pay for one month and then never hear from them again.
When you switched provider you should have contacted "fast4net" and cancelled your account. Simply thinking "No money, no problem" is a big mistake. They'll still charge you regardless of what your bank balance says.
Also I'm surprised your bank allowed your Dad to make changes to your account. Sort of makes a mockery of account security and data protection.
What were "fast4net" providing you? Dial up access, broadband or what? Could you still use their service today if you wanted to?
If they provided broadband and you switched to another broadband provider then you may be able to prove to them their broadband service stopped on a particular date of switch over. But if it's something else they provide you may be out of luck and have to pay what you owe.
My advice? I'd get that paid as quickly as you can and get your balance back to £0 before any more charges are applied. Speak to your bank, they *may* agree to cancel the charges if you explain what's happened, it's worth asking. My bank used to cancel my charges back in the day if I spoke to them. But if it's due to your own fault they may not have much sympathy.
Speak to your Dad and see what he thinks is best.
You haven't a clue about your finances and how to manage them so my advice is to hand over your cards to your dad and let him manage them on your behalf (assuming he's willing to take on the responsibility).
Didn't bother to read the thread after that - it';s clearly more nonsense on your part.
must try harder.
If this has been going on for three months, there isn't really any reason why you shouldn't have been aware of it before, in my honest opinion, especially if you're a bit "financially challenged". I have been in sever financial difficulties a couple of times, and I scrutinised every single transaction very carefully to make sure I knew exactly what it was for. Anything I didn't know about got raised with the bank, and did on three occasions lead to further investigation where companies had charged me erroneously.
You need to get a grip on your payments, get your account downgraded (why agree to an account with charges in the first place, if you're only working one day a week and having financial problems?), and start keeping a close track on what you spend where and what pieces of paper you sign.
I can't say whether the bank will refund any of the charges you've incurred. I've requested it on a couple of occasions and been successful (but both of those happened when they mistakenly applied an unauthorised overdraft charge when payments for bills were taken in the 5 or 6 hours before my wages were credited to my account). Was a pain in the arse to deal with, but I picked it up within a day or two and sorted it, because I knew where I was with my figures.
In fairness, when I was in the worst place with my bipolar, I explained the situation to my bank and they agreed that someone I nominated could deal with certain elements of my banking provided I spoke to them (the bank) on the phone and confirmed who that person would be before handing the phone to them, but it proved more hassle than it was worth.
So perhaps the OP has agreed a similar thing for whatever reason.
Otherwise, it does indeed sound like a fail.
I may need to get my "WUM" sensor tested again
*titter*
Maybe you should imagine your whole life is a "game" - you seem to be good at those. Then you might be able to deal with things.
I'm starting to see what FM have said in other threads is true.
That made me LOL
and he was p*ssing about buying a £200+ digital camera to take pictures of his dogs
This should stop the fast4net payments coming out.
or maybe he should phone them and stop the payments
Make sure you go into the bank and get them to cancel your silver account.
And lastly make sure you try and be a bit more responsible, you should check your statements and make note of how much money you've got. It will also help you , because if you had been looking before you would have noticed these fast4net payments and would have been able to do something about it sooner.
I have already done so when I was having problems with telephone banking due to fraud on my account.
I have problems going places where I don't feel comfortable and it can be nervous for me to go into the bank.
I was told a while a go to go into my local branch with photo ID to prove my identity so I could use telephone banking. I did exactly this, but the lady in the bank must have made a mistake because when I rang up telephone banking the next day, they still couldn't access my account and said I needed to go back in with photo ID.
I have already paid off a sum of money due to charges.
They did cancel my direct debits because I received a sheet saying they'd been cancelled, but seeing as my father asked for my account to be downgraded and it wasn't. Because it hasn't been done I'm now receiving charges for it.
The person I spoke to earlier at Lloyds TSB spoke to his manager and said to ring the bank, or go in, and explain this as they should have been able to downgrade my account seeing as they can cancel my direct debits on my father's behalf of me.
Also, fast4net I haven't used for months and even the bloke I spoke to earlier found it strange that I'd been charged twice in one month and how the company (fast4net) still kept charging me regardless of me having no funds. I might as well have a credit card as my understanding was that you can't spend money you haven't got and yet I clearly am because of this Internet subscription I am still paying for.
I'm going to ring the bank up tomorrow and fast4net, seeing as their website members' area isn't working and try and sort this out. Once I've done that I should be able to get a dispute going.
I do find it awkward going to the bank, but I have done before. Seeing as my dad goes to the bank on a daily basis anyway, he says he will go in for me if he wants me to. I like to use telephone banking, though, now I can use it as I feel more comfortable.
Yeah.
I just thought that with a debit card you couldn't be charged for stuff unless you had the money. Fine with direct debits, but not just a company that uses your same details every month as I never ticked a direct debit agreement. I just did it all on the Internet as dial-up is different and just a number your computer dials.
Once I've sorted this all out I am not using the bank again. They are robbers in my honest opinion. Started off being £4.15 overdrawn and now it is £270. I'm not one to not pay, though, as I paid my charges off last time this happened and that is the reason my direct debits were cancelled, but now this.
Oh well. I'll get it sorted.
I've provided the link http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ here and all you need do is type in your own postcode to find your nearest local office. This forum here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ also specialises in consumer advice though I'd suggest trying the local CAB office first.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/YoungPeople/Money/ManagingYourMoney/index.htm
Also moneysavingexperts has some really good advise on how to manage your money.
I'd rather ring the bank in the morning and fast4net first, but I will keep that in mind.
I got a tax rebate from 2008-2009 today of £295, but it 'To pay: Mr T ****'. Problem is that if I bank the cheque they will take that money straight off me.
My dad has banked cheques and cash for me before as he goes to the bank a lot and we live about 10 minutes away from town. Not sure if he'll be able to bank it, but he is going to see then withdraw the money out his bank to give me.
Thanks for your positive words as well.
Do you really think I am the only person to get like this?
It is how the banks make their money.
Get off your high horse why don't you.
OK, Thomas, but at least you can get some more local support if you need it and I hope things go well