Don't pay late payment charges - I don't!

bj-sailaway

There are obviously quite a few folk here that have never been short of cash! My husband is a self-employed plasterer, during the last month; and often in the past, we have suffered from people stalling payments and bouncing cheques. They arrange for him to come and do work, and then say 'I'll pay you on my payday', well they shouldn't arrange to have work done. The rubber cheques are a nightmare, and very hard to get your 'dosh from them. No-one mentions this on the 'builders from hell' type programmes, being a tradesman can be hell.

So, it isn't always our fault if we can't pay on time, often we are waiting for our hard earnt cash to come to us - so please band all these insulting statements around about people just not bothering to pay on time. Also, Direct Debits are great, if you have the money!

Thanks for this post, I contacted my credit card company and managed to get a charge waived, for a payment that was a week late - late only because I just didn't have the money.

stevenclarkuk

I usually don't have an issue with these charges. However, when HBOS hit me with 2 charges for going £30 over my overdraft limit I was furious. The bank honoured a direct debit payment which took me over my limit, £28 charge. They then charged me another £30 for not having enough funds to cover the Direct Debit!! - total charge for single transaction = £58!!
There is no way in my eyes that the charge refects the crime..

I got hold of thier customer services people and used the arguement that the £58 charge did not reflect the cost them, that it was 'unfair'.
Eventually I did get the charge dropped, but they used the line that since I had never had any previous charges dropped that this is why they are doing it this time.

I do not have a problem with people asking for the charges to be dropped. If you get away with it then well done. Isn't that what this web site is all about.. trying to help people make or save money. I just saved myself £58 in 2, 5 minute calls.

Another thing that annoys me is that if the bank never took the incentive to pay the Direct debit then I would have only had a £35 charge instead of £58.

The banks are there to charge you as much as possible for doing as little as possible!!

Steven C

bj-sailaway

Totally agree with you, and as Martin keeps saying, this site is all about taking money back from the large corporations and putting it back in the hands of 'nice people'! As we are all lovely, we should try and get as much back as we can!

MrSmartprice

This is what I posted a few weeks ago about penalty charges:

"I administer my father's account at one of the High St banks (which I wouldn't touch with a bargepole with my money) and they are always making errors.

I now enforce a penalty charge on THEM every time they foul up. When they first got wind of this, they moaned like hell, but they never claim that the charges are unfair. They know you have them over a barrel, and now they pay up without question. So far I have charged them £220 in penalties and received every penny! "

Hope someone finds it useful advice.

dchurch24

Good news - I really think the ball is rolling now - the end of this illegal charging is in sight!!!!

beeniemac

Doesn anyone have any examples I could send to my bank before resorting to filling papers?

dchurch24

I'm not allowed to post the address, but if you search the forums for pro-forma letter you should be able to find it.

SparciaM

I don't know if this would apply to anyone on this post, but when you do call up your bank to moan about charges or to get a refund, please don't moan or scream at the adviser as we're only doing our job.

We, the adviser, have a set thing to say when you want a refund, different policies for different banks. But when people call in and moan and shout at me, it really bugs me. I know people aren't shouting at me, but a few people out there, think that I'm just a call centre drone whom is not helping them at all!!!

That is so not true, I actually use advise from Martin and this forum to help customers, even quoting Martin in the guardian at times! I managed to get a guy to close his savings of £10,000 on 4% to pay his credit card off £9,500 at 12.8%, but was told off for this, but hey, I'm there to provide a service as I see it.

So next time when you call the bank and we say No refunds sorry, it's probably because that is all we can say until it goes further!!

inmypocketnottheirs

SparciaM wrote:

I don't know if this would apply to anyone on this post, but when you do call up your bank to moan about charges or to get a refund, please don't moan or scream at the adviser as we're only doing our job.

We, the adviser, have a set thing to say when you want a refund, different policies for different banks. But when people call in and moan and shout at me, it really bugs me. I know people aren't shouting at me, but a few people out there, think that I'm just a call centre drone whom is not helping them at all!!!

That is so not true, I actually use advise from Martin and this forum to help customers, even quoting Martin in the guardian at times! I managed to get a guy to close his savings of £10,000 on 4% to pay his credit card off £9,500 at 12.8%, but was told off for this, but hey, I'm there to provide a service as I see it.

So next time when you call the bank and we say No refunds sorry, it's probably because that is all we can say until it goes further!!

Well I am sorry to sound harsh, but I do not have any sympathy. I have been dealing with banks for years, and my view is if you are prepared to take their money then you are a supporter of the system. I know you get paid cr*p, my wife worked for Nat West for 12 years. I have no sympathy for bank employees, debt collectors, traffic wardens, tax employees, VAT employees, they are all collaborators and work for the enemy. The enemy is anybody who tries to cheat, swindle, wangle or extort my hard earned cash, and anybody who works for them clearly supports their aims and views.

Well there you go, that's my piece said. Have a nice christmas! :xmastree:

paulw_3

Has anyone experienced a bank removing funds from an customer account to pay arrears on a credit card? ie. I have an Aliiance Premier account and an Alliance MBNA card. I have defaulted on the card but since it is actually MBNA I owe the money to can Alliance get involved?