I switched but lost with the Woolwich's direct debit error

I changed banks in September last year. All went well in October, but then my home loan provider, the Woolwich, inexplicably cancelled the new direct debit and tried to collect from my old, empty bank account instead.

The Woolwich did not tell me there was a problem until there were three months of missed payments.

It then imposed £95 in charges. After I protested, the Woolwich admitted that the blame was theirs, and withdrew £40 of the fees.

But they said the repayment of the remaining £55 needed to be cleared by another section. This has not happened.

I wrote to Woolwich's chief executive to get an assurance that all charges will be lifted, that no one at the Woolwich will tinker with my accounts in the future, and that there can be no suggestion that my credit rating has been affected by what the Woolwich refers to as "mortgage arrears".

But 15 days and many telephone calls later, I'm still no nearer getting these assurances. Phoning the Woolwich is an incredibly frustrat ing exercise - even some of its staff have had to admit that they've had problems with the system - so what chance does a humble customer stand?

I propose to switch my mortgage soon - what should I tell a new lender about my "arrears", as I fear they may see me as a risk?

JC, Leeds



You do not have arrears so there is nothing to tell a new lender. The Woolwich says that there was an error when the new direct debit was cancelled and the old direct debit was reinstated. But so far, it does not know how it happened and it is still investigating the incident - it can hardly be unusual for its mortgage customers to swap accounts.

As a result, it has removed all charges which have been applied to your account including the £55 in contention. It has also erased any adverse credit rating notes resulting from this "unfortunate incident."

The Woolwich will be writing to you to apologise for the level of service you received. It will also send you £150 compensation as a gesture of goodwill.