Freedom Forums

Bank Charges Are Not Allowed If You Are On Certain Benefits

If you are on certain social security benefits the banks cannot make charges on your account.
This applies to those people on the following benefits:

Income Support
Tax Credits
Child Benefit
Job seekers allowance
Incapacity benefit
Disability living allowance
Attendance Allowance
CSA payments
Other DWP payments

Some of the above benefits may have changed due to a shake up in the way things are assessed but basically if you are on benefits this should apply to you.

If you have had any charges taken from your account you need to write to the bank that holds your account.
Tell them which benefit you are on and quote the act of Parliament - Section 187 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 and Section 45 of the Tax Credits Act 2002 Chapter 21 part 1.

Tell them that they have acted unlawfully and you require a refund of all the charges taken from you.

You may need to get a letter from the Social Security offices and show the bank that you were receiving benefits when they took the charges.

Just remember to keep your bank statements otherwise you will have to pay to get them and you will probably not get that back because you are basically buying a service and its not a charge.

So if you make a late payment on a loan or an overdraft, the banks and building societies cannot charge you while you are on benefits.

Protect your rights and do not let the banks rob you - if you don't tell them you are on benefits they will not know!

Here is a link to the pdf - http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov. ... a_1992.pdf

That's handy to know - cheers.

Oh wow, just wow!
You see what you find when you actually take the time to look

One in the eye for the general public.
I was on benefits a while back and was charged £12.00 on a few occasions when making a late payment.
It was more than 6 years ago now so it will be too late for me but good luck to those that this information will help.

I have just informed a mate about this and he is busy on with a letter as we speak

Nice to know.
I will pass on this information.

You might find that the information in this thread is not all what it seems.
As I understand it, your benefits are protected from charges against it.
However, once the benefit is in your account it is no longer classed as your benefit.
There is no way of determining what part of the money in your account is your actual benefit.
The way around this would be to have an account set up with a bank to make it clear that it is specifically for benefit money only.
If possible, have them make notes that it is protected benefits and it is unlawful for anyone to make a claim upon it.
There is always some fine points that need explaining

Good input Jester, it proves everything is not black and white.
But, if the act protects the benefits then that's how it should be.

Thanks for finely tuning the information Jester

Jester wrote:You might find that the information in this thread is not all what it seems.

It is what it seems its just that you highlighted a flaw