Alliance and Leicester robbing bast****

milliemonster

I paid off my A&L credit card balance on 20th August of £831.15 (well I actually overpaid £831.43) and consequently cancelled my direct debit with them and the bank.

I got my statement today and noticed that they still tried to take the direct debit of £50 on 3rd September and the bank refused it so they charged me and unpaid direct debit fee of £12 plus interest of £3.45 meaning I now still have an outstanding balance of £15.17 even though they actually owed me 28p!!!

I have phoned them but they flatly refuse to refund this saying that I didn't cancel the DD with them, only my bank therefore they still would try to take it and its in the terms and conditions about the unpaid DD fee so I have to pay it

What can I do?, I know it only £15 but that's not the point when they actually owe me 28p

YorkshireBoy

So long as you gave them the 7 working days notice stipulated by your contract (with MBNA by the way, not A&L), just give them the name of the MBNA rep you cancelled the DD with, along with the date and time of the call. Job sorted.

Failing that, give customer loyalty a ring on 0800 783 1116 (office hours)...but BE NICE TO THEM!


EDIT: Missed the bit about interest. Looks like you might have undercooked your interest calculation as tictax has kindly pointed out below.

tictax

You were still due them the interest which had accrued up until the payment was received unless you had previously had a nil balance for two months previously.

Dewberry

Have you spoken to their complaints dept (probably named customer service dept)?

If not then i would raise a complaint, then ask them to send you their complaint procedure and follow it to the letter!

Failing that I would put the complaint in writing to the head of A&L (not sure who this is) giving them a set time to respond before you will take it to the ombudsman.

Gorgeous_George

errr, it doesn't work like that.

You can cancel standing orders with your bank. Direct debits need to be cancelled at source i.e., the CC Company in this case.

Sorry but I think they've got you. Tell them that you are leaving and they might relent. If not, leave.

GG

MarkyMarkD

YorkshireBoy What are you talking about, YB?

The OP didn't cancel the DD with MBNA before the statement was issued. Therefore the DD was due. The DD was collected - or at least, MBNA attempted to do so.

MBNA did nothing wrong.

The OP failed to understand that DD payments are collected as specified, irrespective of payments made in the interim. This applies to many credit card companies.

I don't understand this 7 working day notice period you are talking about. To cancel a DD in respect of a statement, you need to notify the card operator before the statement is produced. Once it is produced, the DD will be collected, come what may*.

* for card operators who work in this way, which is more than half of them.

GorgeousGeorge The OP says that he notified both MBNA and his bank, but after the statement was issued (or at least, that's how I read it).

YorkshireBoy

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

YorkshireBoy What are you talking about, YB?

Well first of all I misread the OP. I then (sort of) acknowledged that fact with my edit. However, now I've had chance to think about it further, the sequence of events is likely to be as I've detailed at the foot of this post.

However, first I'd like to address a couple of issues in your post...

The OP didn't cancel the DD with MBNA before the statement was issued. Therefore the DD was due.

You can cancel an MBNA DDI with MBNA at any time up until the day which is 7 working days before the PAYMENT DUE date (ie 2-3 weeks or so AFTER the corresponding statement was produced). See your (if you have one) "important: confirmation of DDI" letter. The statement date has absolutely nothing to do with it.

The DD was collected - or at least, MBNA attempted to do so.

To cancel a DD in respect of a statement, you need to notify the card operator before the statement is produced. Once it is produced, the DD will be collected, come what may*.

Not with MBNA it won't.


Anyway, here's what I think has happened...

Because an attempt was made to collect (because it hadn't been cancelled for whatever reason...be it because the notification was 'inside' the 7 day window, or because the request taken by the CSA wasn't actioned) the (fixed?) £50 DD, and funds were not available, the OP's balance (which was 28p in credit) increased by the value of the £12 charge which was placed on the account on the 3rd September...giving a running balance of £11.72 debit.

This meant that the balance had not been paid off in full by the 3rd September payment due date. Because of this, £3.45 interest was then added which meant the 4th September statement showed a balance of £15.17 debit.

Agree?

YorkshireBoy

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

See your (if you have one) "important: confirmation of DDI" letter.

Here's the exact text...

MBNA wrote:

Important: Confirmation of the set-up of your Direct Debit Instruction

If you make manual payments to your account once the direct debit has been activated, these will not reduce the amount that we will collect by Direct Debit, unless you advise us at least seven working days prior to the Direct Debit being collected.

milliemonster

milliemonster wrote: »

I paid off my A&L credit card balance on 20th August of £831.15 (well I actually overpaid £831.43) and consequently cancelled my direct debit with them and the bank.

I got my statement today and noticed that they still tried to take the direct debit of £50 on 3rd September and the bank refused it so they charged me and unpaid direct debit fee of £12 plus interest of £3.45 meaning I now still have an outstanding balance of £15.17 even though they actually owed me 28p!!!

I have phoned them but they flatly refuse to refund this saying that I didn't cancel the DD with them, only my bank therefore they still would try to take it and its in the terms and conditions about the unpaid DD fee so I have to pay it

What can I do?, I know it only £15 but that's not the point when they actually owe me 28p

It seems many of you have not read my post correctly at all, maybe I didn't explain myself clearly.

I paid the balance off on my account and cancelled the DD with MBNA and my bank on 20th August, MBNA are telling me they have no knowledge of this phone call and that is why they have still tried to take the DD and then charged me £12 for the privelege on 3rd Sept which is 14 days after I cancelled the DD, unfortunately it seems its my word against them. I have sent a letter of complaint but not sure how long this will take to sort out

Should I pay the balance off in the meantime which is now due to avoid more charges and then wait to try to claim it back?

YorkshireBoy

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Here's the exact text...

Originally Posted by MBNA
Important: Confirmation of the set-up of your Direct Debit Instruction

If you make manual payments to your account once the direct debit has been activated, these will not reduce the amount that we will collect by Direct Debit, unless you advise us at least seven working days prior to the Direct Debit being collected.

Well there's a coincidence; the DDI confirmation for my new Virgin Atlantic White card has arrived this morning and I see they've now changed the wording...

MBNA wrote:

Once your Direct Debit is in place, any extra payments you make will not affect the amount we collect unless you contact us at least five working days before the payment due date. Please note that working days do not include Saturdays, Sundays or Bank Holidays.

YorkshireBoy

milliemonster wrote: »

It seems many of you have not read my post correctly at all, maybe I didn't explain myself clearly.

I think that's a fair statement.

Should I pay the balance off in the meantime which is now due to avoid more charges and then wait to try to claim it back?

Yes, of course you should...but you should overpay it to stop any more interest being charged. Suggest an extra fiver or so.

Was (any part of) your balance, as of 20th August, interest bearing? If no, then I believe my summary at the foot of post #7 is correct. If yes, then I'm afraid the balance you paid on 20th August was only correct for that day only, and there was additional interest to add for the time between the 20th August and the date the payment cleared onto your account (as tictax stated in post #3).