Report Bank Charges successes and failures

SueMumof3 wrote: »

Hiya Little Mo 70. It's long and complex! But in a nutshell.
I wrote to Abbey National in August 2005 to tell them I was closing my account and would they cancel my 6 direct debits totalling £31.42.
On 1st September my account had gone overdrawn by £4.69. This was an oversight I admit. I paid in £50 on the 26th September 2005 as soon as I found I was overdrawn by £24.57. My next statement arrived in October and included £169 in charges for returning the unpaid direct debits.
I had telephoned the Abbey to ask them to cancel these, and this time was told to put the request in writing, which I did, and at the same time informed everyone else concerned. My next statement came and again, all the direct debits had been returned and the charges this time were £155 plus £20 for an unauthorised overdraft. I rang the Abbey again. They said that they had not received my letter.
By 1st January 2006, purely due to bank charges I was £223.17 overdrawn. I was finding it very difficult to manage financially and becoming very upset.
I paid a cheque in for £225 on the 4th January 2006 to cover this, plus another £15 on the 16th January so I was in credit by £16.83. On the 23 January I was charged £20 for an unauthorised overdraft, and with added interest made me £5.06 overdrawn yet again.
This continued throughout February, March and April and on the 1st May I paid in another £55 to cover the overdraft of £46.04, only to find I had incurred another charge of £20. This was causing me so much distress and upset and my finances were stretched to the limit.
At the beginning of July I phoned the Abbey yet again and was told if I paid £52.29 (£20 overdraft charge was deducted from the original amount of £72.29) then I could close the account. I paid that on the 11th July and wrote to them again to tell them to close the account. This time I sent the letter by recorded delivery. I have a copy of the electronic proof of delivery.
In August I received what I thought would be my closing statement. Yet again I had been charged £20 as I had been 23p overdrawn. The 23pence was interest from the previous statement. Once again I rang, only to be told that they had not received my letter instructing them to close the account and if I paid the 23pence into the account they would drop the £20 charge. I had destroyed my cheque book, paying in book and card as I was instructed to do so in July after paying in £52.29. On 5th October 2006 I finally spoke to someone who closed the account properly. My fury is that Abbey denied receiving both my letters and nobody told me about interest on the account taking me into overdraft. By the time you get your statement it’s too late. So that’s how being overdrawn by £4.69 can cost you £531!