bank want to charge me 4 sets of £30 for being

building

over my over draft limit. abbey tell me that over a day or so i was over my over draft limit back at the end of september. they just billed me now for this fee in november just noticed it. the reason i only noticed this is because i never received my bank statement so i was really shocked when i called up to ask them what it was all about. is there anything i can do as this represents £120 and i have always been very good at keeping my accounts in credit up to now. thanks in advance.

moneyspendingexpert_3

Hi building,
I have the same problem. I went £2.66 over my limit, transfered in £50 from my savings account to cover it the next day, after I noticed it online.
Then today I happened to look at my paper statements, which I normally just file and it said that they are going to charge me £80 which will come out of my account on the 6th Dec.
What I didnt notice was that last month I got charged £30 for going £2.66 over. This £30 took me over my limit again and 2 things went through that I thought I had enough money in to cover, but i didnt.
So for the initial oversight of £2.66 I have now incurred charges of £110 + interest.

I rang the callcentre to see if they would refund any of them and the computer said no!
Im going to the branch today to see if I can speek to someone who speaks English.

I think they should put these charges on the website, as thats all I check, I just file the paper statements.

Anyway thats my gripe.

purplepatch

building wrote:

over my over draft limit. abbey tell me that over a day or so i was over my over draft limit back at the end of september. they just billed me now for this fee in november just noticed it. the reason i only noticed this is because i never received my bank statement so i was really shocked when i called up to ask them what it was all about. is there anything i can do as this represents £120 and i have always been very good at keeping my accounts in credit up to now. thanks in advance.

I would write to them saying that it was a one off, pointing out that you've always been successful in keeping within limits up til now, and that you feel extremely aggrieved by the level of charges and is there anything they can do.

I had a similarish experience with First Direct where my overdraft limit decreased at the end of a year, but they didn't advise me, so I went over it. I said that I had always been very happy banking with them and that their customer service was what kept me with them when I knew that they weren't the most competitive current account on the market and was there anything they could do about the charges (the call centre would only halve the charges, hence why I say to write).

They phoned me the day they got my letter to say that they wouldn't be charging me.

In my case I felt the bank was at fault for not informing me of the change in limit, so it may be different for you. But I would say that it's definitely worth writing as you may at least be able to reduce the charge.

Good luck.

dchurch24

You could of course sue them for recovery of the sums in the County Court as this type of punitive charge is not strictly legal.

They will give in - check the other posts on this subject.

HGLTsuperstar

The Abbey again- is anyone else noting a pattern emerging!!!

canny_yorkshireman_2

yeh well I dealt with them the worst thing I have had ever done Had a loan off the internet arm cahoot and had nothing but trouble from them so needless to say will never deal with them ever again.

dchurch24

My partner has just had a letter back from them saying that they are not going to refund her charges, and or the cases that she mentioned (mine, David Hone, Oliver etc...) some are defended and some are settled.

Ok then! Round 2 - We'll start proceedings over the weekend.

I love it really - and I hope that this time they have the bottle to take it to court.

Sadly, I doubt it. Just like school bullies - stand up to them and they cack themselves and back down.

building

thanks in advance. how is it not strictly legal too?

dchurch24 wrote:

You could of course sue them for recovery of the sums in the County Court as this type of punitive charge is not strictly legal.

They will give in - check the other posts on this subject.

building

thanks in advance

canny_yorkshireman wrote:

yeh well I dealt with them the worst thing I have had ever done Had a loan off the internet arm cahoot and had nothing but trouble from them so needless to say will never deal with them ever again.

building

2 lots of people complaining to them is a stronger case than one remember!!!!

dchurch24 wrote:

My partner has just had a letter back from them saying that they are not going to refund her charges, and or the cases that she mentioned (mine, David Hone, Oliver etc...) some are defended and some are settled.

Ok then! Round 2 - We'll start proceedings over the weekend.

I love it really - and I hope that this time they have the bottle to take it to court.

Sadly, I doubt it. Just like school bullies - stand up to them and they cack themselves and back down.

dchurch24

The charges are an unfair term in a consumer contract, not least because ALL banks charge them and you don't have a choice. This means that they are a breach of the Consumer Credit Act (1999).

Also, if a breach of contract has occurred, it is not legally enforcable for one party to impose a penalty on the 'breacher'. This is outlined in many cases since 1895.
Any time someone has been to court to enforce a penalty for breach of contract the judge has ruled in favour of the person who committed the breach, simply because it is illegal to profit from a breach of contract.

I sued them for recovery of my charges which amounted to over £1500 over a span of 13 months. They put a defence in to the court, and then their solicitor sent a letter to me trying to scare me with their costs. As the claim was for less than 5k I wouldn't have been eligible for their legal costs anyway. I wrote to them stating that fact and that I was aware that they are now "running scared" in-so-many-words, and that if they wrote my overdraft off, and sent me a cheque for my court costs, I would stop proceedings. They did.

Had to chase them for the cheque though :-)

I usually wouldn't have done this type of thing, but they had pushed so hard and stole so much of my money that at one point my daughter needed shoes and I didn't have enough money to buy them after paying their charges. It was then that I decided, one way or another, I would get that money back and make them pay for what they have done.

I went on BBC2 and had an article in the Guardian newspaper outlining exactly what the 'Abbey Habit' was. I hope it cost them a lot more in lost custom.

To find other posts on this subject, just click on the 'find all posts from Dchurch24' - I am quite vocal on the subject as I see it as my personal crusade to get rid of these charges once and for all.

If everyone who had ever been charged these charges sued for recovery of them, I think the banks would have to have a re-think as to defend every case (and eventually drop it as has been the case in every case so far - over 100 that I know of) would be unworkable. It may force them into a fairer way of funding the 'free banking'.