font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by lesley_
Isn't it a shame when banks are doing this because we are trying to sort ourselves out...might be best to have a second account that is at the moment IVA friendly 'just in case'.
The thing is I wish I'd known this could happen and I would've done that. I'm also a little disappointed in my IVA company that they didn't warn me that this could happen. Whilst I know they can never know what these banks are going to do, surely they could have known that certain banks have a policy that if you're overdrawn at the time of the IVA inception that your account will be frozen. Or at the very least, warned me that banks are now starting to freeze or close accounts without any warning if you have an IVA. I'm new to this so had no idea this could happen, surely my IVA company should have given me some sort of warning.
But you're right, we're trying to better our situation by taking out an IVA so we can sort ourselves out financially, and these banks make things worse by doing this to you. I felt really quite superb this past couple of months, feeling like I was finally doing something after all these years to sort out my debt, then Natwest go and do this and make you feel like $%&* once again. Had me wishing on Monday that I'd never started the IVA in the 1st place.
Absolute classic from Natwest just happened. Had their complaints team on the phone, asking what they could do to resolve my query. Basically she had a script and stuck to it. I tried to tell her my problem of what had happened, and she just said "Well sir, now that Monday's been and gone, and you understand you can no longer use this account, is there anything you want us to do moving forward?". Oh the things that ran through my head at that point!!!
So pretty much just said, well there's no point now, my pay's bounced, you lot haven't helped me one bit so what's the point in you doing anything now?
"Well Sir, if you're happy (YES HAPPY she said!!) for me to close this complaint and issue a letter to you confirming this matter is now closed, i'll go ahead and proceed". She didn't even listen to what I had to say, just waited for me to finish my sentences so she could read the next bit of her script.
Never in my life have I been treated by a company in such a shocking way. And it's so bad, their complaints department cared less than their normal department. So now if i were to make another complaint, their complaints department would ring me back and ask what I would like them to do. Then when you ask what they can do, they say nothing. What a procedure!!! Give them an award.
Just 1 final update, which is hilarious. Last night, got 2 letters from Natwest. The 1st said, we are freezing your account, please find alternative banking arrangements!! 5 days after they'd frozen it. Thanks. For. That.
The 2nd letter said, you have had 3 direct debits marked as unpaid, and 1 bacs payment (wages) returned as unpaid. Please contact us to rectify this matter.
One last update peeps. Got my new bank account sorted today and got my pay in there and can finally start paying my bills. Been a tough week but onwards and upwards hopefully from here on in. Thanks everyone for their advice.
