LloydsTSB Unplanned Overdraft Charges

barafear799 · 10 March 2008 at 2:20PM

Hi

Hope someone can help with some advice.

The posts I have read on here in the last few months have been rather derogatory to people who have been charged by their banks - a case of "serves you right" whereas in the past, it would appear to be "good on you mate, here's how to reclaim" -

I would like to say that I am not one of these people that have pursued the banks for £'000s of pounds of refunds, in the past, I have had the odd £30 charge for being over limit, bounced DDs etc. and I have written to my bank, and sometimes I have been given the money back, other times not - however, since the court case has begun, my bank (LTSB) has just written back to me saying that they can't do anything and it's added to a pile of claims to be sorted when the resolution of the court case is.

As a lot of you will know, in Nov07, LTSB changed their charging system - so instead of the one-off charge of £30 (which we all agree was WAY TOO HIGH) to a system whereby they charge a monthly fee of £15, and then daily fees based on your balance (£6 - £20 charge based on balances over your limit from <£25 up to >£100); the real sting in the tail though is that unlike the old charging system, whereby there was one charge for each transaction that caused your account to "go over limit", now LTSB just keep charging each and every day your account remains over the limit (incl Saturdays and Sundays) - up to a max of 10 days charges per month.

My query is as follows;

I was charged £30 twice during the months of June and Aug 07, wrote my letters and got LTSB's reply to tell me they can't do nothing - it had all been agreed with the FSA and there you go.

However, I have now been charged under their new system - meaning I have been charged (over the space of two months) nearly £300 in charges for an account where I was £70 over my limit for a combined period of 18 days;

I wrote to them and got the standard reply. Also included in the reply was the "When you opened your account, you agreed to these T&C" - however, I opened my account more than 20 years ago - these charges were introduced 2 months ago - how could I have agreed to them on account opening??

The other point is that how can LTSB fall back on "the FSA are letting us follow this course of action (ie: telling customers they cannot have any refunds)" when surely when the court case was started these charges didn't even exist!!! How can the court case be LTSB's saviour over a charging structure that was only introduced way after the commencement of the court case, and also the FSA's "allowance" to the banks to ignore any more claims??

Some advice is much sought.

Thanks.

borgbaiter · 10 March 2008 at 9:39PM

hi

in short the banks are taking full advantage of the court case. it doesnt matter if they win or loose to them. its a possible revinue so they grab it while they can. if they loose they hope most will forget to claim. if they win they will pay the charges back, if asked. they will try not to pay interest back.

it will be like credit cards are now. ask for the £12 back and they will eventually pay its dont ask and they keep it.

this one however will take years to resolve so even if they loose they will will have made lots of money over and above any interest on the few that persue that will ever reclaim.

its beyond a joke but the FSA FOS and Courts have all agreed this is how it will be.

were guilty until proven innocent the banks are innocent until proven guilty.

justice, i dont think so.

Borgbaiter

borgbaiter · 10 March 2008 at 9:43PM

hi

sorry for the rant.

until the court case is resolved unfortunately there is little if anything you can do.

Borgbaiter

barafear799 · 11 March 2008 at 2:19PM

My point is that these "new charges" they have introduced were introduced after the "test case process" had commenced - hence any leeway afforded to the banks by the FSA was surely only for the "old charges structure" - this is just the tip of the iceberg - what's to stop any bank just bringing in ever more draconian charges - ie: why stop at a max of 10 charges per month?? Yes I know people can avoid them if they do not breach their "t&c" - but that is not the point is it.

Anyway - where would I stand if I replied to my nice letter from LTSB stating that in the time that it takes to resolve the case, assuming the case is found in "my" favour, these will be the monthly and daily charges I will be adding to my "reclaimed" amount?? Effectively this is exactly what LTSB are doing to people by adding these "even more ridiculous than before" charges.

I am going to try to call LTSB in the next few days - I have a phone number given to me by their Indian call centre which is apparently their "charges complaints" dept - but I am not holding my breath. The only number LTSB want to make public is their 0845 3 000 000 number - and as people have said on other threads, they are no help whatsoever!!!! they send you letters to call them for help - even in my letter, they say that if you know a payment is going to send you temporarily over your limit, call us to see what we can do. what do they do?? Nothing!!! It's not in their interests to help you "avoid" charges!!!!!

I understand banks are a business and need to make profits, but this step is one too far.

Have other banks changed their charging structure to a similar extent???

If I write to the FSA stating my point about the "change in charges" - how long would I expect to wait for a reply?? Is there a good address/person to write to??

barafear799 · 12 March 2008 at 6:46PM

I keep replying to my own threads!!!! Well despite trying to get thru on the phone to the "LTSB Customer Service Recovery Centre" (the place where the standard reply to my "refund my charges" letter came from) - I failed - all I got was the standard "advisor" on their 08453000000 "helpline" who was as extremely patronising as most other people appear to have found - "if you run your account properly, you will not be charged" - whereas if you go £50 over your limit for 10 days, we will charge you the bargain rate of £165 for your troubles. Thank you.

Anyway - I had a look at the FSA website, and when they did a review of the waiver they gave the banks, they quoted the following on their website:

In the course of the review the FSA found that a number of firms had changed their terms and conditions in relation to unauthorised overdraft charges. In the waiver, each firm agreed 'it will not make materially adverse changes in the level of its unauthorised overdraft charges (or in ways that it applies such charges to its customers' accounts) which could amount to customer abuse'. The FSA will be closely monitoring how any change made by a firm will affect customers in practice and whether this amounts to a breach of the waiver.

Well until LTSB changed their T&C in Nov07, I would have been charged £30 for the above "offence" - so how successful will I be claiming that indeed their new T&C are "abusing me as a customer"? Will LTSB reply by stating that for some customers, the overall charge may well be lower?? Will they also state that they now give customers an extra "half-day's" grace period to sort out any problems??

ukdenners · 29 May 2008 at 9:51AM

Sorry mate, you won't get anywhere.

Because of this court case situation, the staff at Lloyds have been programmed to say "hands are tied", "don't shoot the messenger".

Until there's a ruling they have the perfect excuse to not have to deal with discussing bank charges.

And the mere fact that they are upping fees instead of lowering them can only mean that they have inside information regarding this court case and know that the bank will win. If you thought you'd lose, surely you'd stop charging now, like SMILE?

http://www.lloydstsbstolemycash.com

and if you want to add your own rant website for free

http://www.lloydstsbstolemycash.com/add.htm

Don't get mad, get even!

Chris J Denman

jakeylakey · 20 July 2009 at 10:12AM

Just thought id update this old thread with my recent experience. I accidently went £90 overdrawn, I had plenty of money in another acccount. It wasnt till 4 days later I received the letter and by then I was over £100 owed in charges.

I went to my local branch with a bit of a sob story and how im a perfect customer otherwise and she waived the charges straight away. I think that if you just write a letter you make it easy for them to send you back a standard response. In person they are under pressue and just want you out of their office! It was my first time being overdrawn which helped my case immensely. The charges are ridiculous though.

Hope this helps someone.

natweststaffmember · 20 July 2009 at 2:04PM

jakeylakey wrote: »

Just thought id update this old thread with my recent experience. I accidently went £90 overdrawn, I had plenty of money in another acccount. It wasnt till 4 days later I received the letter and by then I was over £100 owed in charges.

I went to my local branch with a bit of a sob story and how im a perfect customer otherwise and she waived the charges straight away. I think that if you just write a letter you make it easy for them to send you back a standard response. In person they are under pressue and just want you out of their office! It was my first time being overdrawn which helped my case immensely. The charges are ridiculous though.

Hope this helps someone.

Or if its the first time you have ever had charges they might refund you

Widelats · 20 July 2009 at 2:15PM

jakeylakey wrote: »

Just thought id update this old thread with my recent experience. I accidently went £90 overdrawn, I had plenty of money in another acccount. It wasnt till 4 days later I received the letter and by then I was over £100 owed in charges.

I went to my local branch with a bit of a sob story and how im a perfect customer otherwise and she waived the charges straight away. I think that if you just write a letter you make it easy for them to send you back a standard response. In person they are under pressue and just want you out of their office! It was my first time being overdrawn which helped my case immensely. The charges are ridiculous though.

Hope this helps someone.

Better to see them in person yes, they waived the £10 charge for the list of charges i asked for, and also gave me another full statement which was supposed to be another £10. The staff can be really nice, i think them Andover people are the real !!!!!! in Lloyds we never get to talk to them or see them.

LloydsTSB Unplanned Overdraft Charges

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