A good friend who I work with banks with Nationwide, with out telling her they have reduced her overdraft which means she bounced her rent check, apart from the £170 this cost her she is now in trouble with the landlord who is asking questions and muttering about her and her partner being bad tennants.

Can a bank do this with out telling her? She has recieved no corespondence from them in regard to this. It seems mad to do this considering they should be able to see the problems it will cause.

Any recourse open to her, ombudsman etc?

Bump

They can call in the debt whenever they like (or if say, you earnings drop, reduce it), they did it with me years ago, got a phone call and a letter about it though. Was with nationwide.

At an unqualified guess, no, not out of the blue. Maybe it was at its former level for a defined period, or perhaps she missed a letter? Just a guess though, maybe they can if the terms allow it, just seems unlikely that they would just cut it without warning.

They can if it’s to protect themselves. They would normally issue some sort of letter too

Read 59/7 towards the bottom of this:

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/59/59-banking.htm

If they’ve not written to her clearly informing her they are going to withdraw the overdraft, she’s likely got a valid complaint – she should write compleining to them, quote ‘the banking code’, the ombudsman, and that decision

I doubt it matters, but bear in mind Nationwide aren’t a bank, I suspect some fine print is different. I’d have thought they’re on dodgy ground still though.