Bank needs £500 a month - any advice?

okay79

Hello moneysavers,

I've recently opened an A&L account following Martin's tip. Now I've learned they need £500 a month deposited, else they charge a £5 "underfunding" fee.

Yearly, I earn more than £500 a month, but my work is seasonal and I won't be receiving pay into the account all year round. A&L insist I deposit monthly, as is stated in their T&Cs, and have refused to consider the yearly equivalent.

I find myself suffering because of my seasonal work and pay, it seems unreasonable that they won't take account of my circumstances. My two ideas to handle this are 1) to contact the banking ombudsman, hoping they would force the bank to accept a yearly equivalent - does anyone know if they can do so?, or 2) to move £500 to another account then back into A&L each month.

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

FairyElephant_2

Hiya,

I have 'played this game' with A&L before (I have left them now as I found them to be incompetent, but that is another story!).

I did your 2nd idea - set up 2 SO's - one to move the min. amount in to A&L and then another to move it out again the next day - it worked fine and they never queried it!

HTH,

FE

umami

Ditto, your 2nd idea best.

cos69

Ditto - 2nd option; also do that with my 2 current accounts, get free banking and benefits that way from 2 providers

mcjordi

2nd idea sounds the best

okay79

Thanks for all of your advice, I've set up the SOs now.

It does seem unreasonable that seasonal earners have to do this, perhaps someone else will fight that battle another day.

Many thanks.