Looming bank charges

Burlesque_Babe

I'm a bit concerned about some bank charges I'm pretty sure i'm going to incur.....

A DD of £13 took me over my O/D limit by £3 and it was returned two days before pay day. I had a letter to say this would incur bank charges (I'm with the Abbey)

Yesterday, I checked my bank account and I was unexpectedly £39 over my o/d limit. I wizzed down to the bank and deposited £250 cash from my savings, which went immediately onto my account (I checked online about an hour later and it was there as available funds).

I have checked again yesterday, and the DD which put me over my limit for £79 has been returned.

I'm now concerned I'm going to be charged for that one as well even though I was only over my limit for literally a few hours.

Can anyone help with what to do - if anything can be done?

I usually manage to stay within my limit, even if it's only by a few quid, but with Christmas it's all just pushed me a bit over my budgets and I'm worried I'm going to be hit for some charges - returned DD ones and also a charge for going over my O/D limit (which the Abbey have done to me in the past, but not for a very long time now)

Should I wait until the charges appear?

Any help appreciated!

Kevicho

Id ring them up first to see if you can get the charges cancelled, most do this as a "goodwill gesture"

Check out the thread called "bank chargess - illegal?" for more info - dont bother qouting this to the people on the phones as they are not trained to deal with this

Burlesque_Babe

gave them a ring.....I was right - I'm due to be charged 2 x £35!! (one for a returned DD that put me over by £3 and the other for a returned DD the day after I deposited the cash!)

Anyway....she had to speak to the banking centre to get a reply....they said that because one was an account error (the £3 over one I guess) and one was their error (the one they returned after I paid in cash), they would refund one, but not both.

She said it was up to me to decide which I felt it was being refunded against. I said - but the DD only took me £3 over my limit, and she replied that this was seen as my error, which is why they would only refund one. She said in the past the Abbey had a £50 'buffer' for people to go over their limit without anything being returned, but customers were going over that as well, so they are being very strict about it - if you go 1p over, they will return a DD. She also said they had said to tell me if I incurred any other charges in the future, I would have to pay those charges.....

any thoughts - send the illegal charges letter? Put it down to a ( expensive!!!) mistake by myself?

BWZN93

Put it in a letter - there is a good one already written in one of the threads on the current accounts board. Get the money back, £30odd quid for being £3 overdrawn is unfair. My boyf has already sent the letter I found on here to lloyds, but we are still waiting a reply!

Jo xx

K9cuddles

yeah.. put it in writting.. there's some good templates floating round.. I managed to get 2x£25 back from A&L for being £3.95 over my OD.

inmypocketnottheirs

In the banking world, a day, which is 24 hours to the rest of us, is only a second to them. For example if at 23:59:59 on 31.12.05 you are in credit by £100.00 and if a debit comes in to your account at 00:00:01 on 01.01.06 for £100.01 you are overdrawn. It does not matter a jot if you pay in £100,000,000 on 01.01.06 you are overdrawn and will pay charges. Thus the banking world has managed to shrink the working day by 23:59:59. Incredible eh????

Pere_Ubu

I'd appreciate it if someone could give me the thread to the "bank charges illegal" and the letter templates

nearlyrich

I am going to move this thread to the banking board as more people will be able to see it and help...

*Sparkle*_3

I have got caught out so many times with abbey my worst month was charges of £270!!! and they were for silly things like £2 over my limit etc, they have previously taken back charges as a good will gesture, just call them and say look i've never been over my limit before, i haven't got enough cash etc etc and they might waiver it this time, just be polite and sincere.
Just take this a a lesson learnt, keep track of your direct debits and if you know your not going to have any cash in your account, call them to rearrange the DD a few days before to avoid charges.
I've learnt from my mistakes, i had soo many direct debits i couldnt keep track i think at one point i had over 20 DD on my account!!
Now i only have a few and i use online banking to keep track, plus i use the payment facilities, so i can just make a payment to my bills with a click of a button or two, i also use standing order as these are more easier to manage from my side.
To move a date of a DD you have to contact the company you set it up with the bank can only cancel it not move it around, where as a standing order the bank can change the dates.

Hope thats helped and good luck

dchurch24

Have you found the 'Bank Charges - Illegal?' thread yet.

If not, here it is:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=1349484#post1349484

dchurch24

Keren, read the other thread, and send the letter - they will reply with 'it's in the t&c's' - so you must come good on the threat and sue them for recovery.

They will acknowledge the claim, and in most cases actually put a defence in.

Then they will contact you to see what you will settle for (usually after a letter attempting to scare you off).