Abbey's debit interest

johnmoney05

lindabea wrote: »

Hi Johnney,

Sorry - I did not mean to ignore your earlier response. The amount of interest Abbey charge is small - 0.10p. But this is not the issue here. If Abbey are wrong in making this charge under the conditions which I described, then they should not be getting away with it. I know it's a small amount but if they're adopting this practice with other customers as well, then they could be earning money unethically. I don't mind paying interest/charges when this is justifiable, but judging by responses to this thread, it's clear that Abbey are in the wrong. I also checked with other banks, and they said that they would not charge interest as they calculate it on a daily basis.

I think if that was 0.10p, that must be interest charge. So I agreed with the others that Abbey was wrong. Go to branch to make a complaint! Fight back what you are entitled to!! You have my support. Still good luck. It is very time consuming.

dollywops

dealyboy wrote: »

Hi dollywops,

I have been following the erroneous small overdraft 'charges' issue now for the best part of a year, including the about a dozen MSE threads (and your worthy contributions). I have been a sufferer since last December of both instant and advance variants, without going into detail which would be a very long story.

It is my view that there are 57 varieties of Abbey Customer Services advice on this subject but that flowerscotland is correct. I have operated my current account in the same way for some years, only covering a debit balance by a transfer on the same day, ensuring that always the account is in credit by the end of the business day. This is on the understanding that interest is charged daily on any outstanding amount, as stated at the bottom of current account statements. The interest is not charged at an hourly rate or even a real-time rate. If it were to be then Abbey would have to inform customers of a change in terms and conditions.

My personal experience is that the 'instant overdraft interest' and 'advance overdraft interest' spurious charges bear no relation to the intra-day balances (I can go into details).

Warm regards to all.

I would agree with you that the erroneous 'instant overdraft interest' and 'advance overdraft interest' charges have nothing whatsoever to with 'intra-day balances'. Charges were levied on my daughter's account because of a same day transfer, ignoring the fact that the large sum of money involved was firstly transferred from her esaver account and then out of the Abbey. Apparently, the glitch causing erroneous charges relating to a 'same day transfer' has been cured. I await my daughter's next statement with baited breath.

With regards to being overdrawn during the day, I was categorically told last year, because it happened to me a couple of times, that if I was overdrawn any any stage during the day, I would be charged.

In the meantime, regarding the erroneous overdraft charges, please can I refer you to this new thread I have started for any input you may have.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1240329

lindabea

johnmoney05 wrote: »

I think if that was 0.10p, that must be interest charge. So I agreed with the others that Abbey was wrong. Go to branch to make a complaint! Fight back what you are entitled to!! You have my support. Still good luck. It is very time consuming.

Yes it is interest charge which I hasten to add should not be made. Thanks to everyone for your responses. I am now waiting for a formal reply from Abbey confirming that there is no error with their charge. I will then forward all details to the Financial ombudsman and see what decision I receive from them. I will keep you informed with progress.

dealyboy

dollywops wrote: »

I would agree with you that the erroneous 'instant overdraft interest' and 'advance overdraft interest' charges have nothing whatsoever to with 'intra-day balances'. Charges were levied on my daughter's account because of a same day transfer, ignoring the fact that the large sum of money involved was firstly transferred from her esaver account and then out of the Abbey. Apparently, the glitch causing erroneous charges relating to a 'same day transfer' has been cured. I await my daughter's next statement with baited breath.

Sorry dollywops, just to clarify (if needed). What I meant by 'intra-day' was within business hours on the same day, I'm very sorry if I have mis-understood your reply.

I practice a regime of allowing direct-debits (or anything else) to go out causing my balance to go negative, then transferring from my e-saver or Abbey Direct ISA (both linked) to my current account (usually at about 11 am.) before close of business, the balance therefore always being positive as the last entry for any given day on a statement. Charges when they occur (and the latest was for 16th October) are typically just a few pence and seem entirely spurious, i.e. one couldn't derive them from calculation using the time and the amount the balance would have been negative during the statement period.

I was informed back in December 2007 by the Charges Team looking into the November/December transaction period that the 'charges' were caused by a system fault and not by my method, which I have practised for some years.

(PS. Of course I take your referral to your main thread).

Regards.