Compensation

chi30

My bank withdrew my overdraft without giving me any notice 4 days before my wedding. A friend had just deposited £1500 for me to use to pay off for some services including flowers, band, drinks. I had to take back £1,000 from the caterer so she reduced some of the food etc so can secure the other services. Although the overdraft was then restored 2 days before the wedding a lot of things has already being changed because I had to secure them before the Saturday. The stress on me and my partner was also tremendous. They offered me £250 good will gesture which I refused and referred the case to financial ombudsman, who now wants me to say how much i want as compensation.
I want to ask for the £1500 plus £500 for stress is this reasonable?

opinions4u

No.

If you read the terms and conditions of your account you will see wording along the lines of "overdrafts are repayable on demand".

While I wish you luck in trying, I would personally be more than pleased with £250.

Unless there are circumstances you haven't explained in your post.

Why do you think you are entitled to any compensation, why have the bank offered £250 and why do you think they should pay £2,000?

Surely if the overdraft was reinstated you were able to repay your friend the £1,500 anyway?

YorkshireBoy

If the £500 is for "stress", what's the £1,500 for (bearing in mind the overdraft facility has been reinstated now)?

There are two elements here...

1. Compensation - to put you back in the position you would have been had the 'error'(?) not occured, and

2. Distress and inconvenience (goodwill) - it seems this is what you're being asked to quantify. Suggest you look at the examples/case history on the FOS website to see how your situation compares.

RayWolfe

Should you actually be spending so much money that you did not have?
Whatever the rights and wrongs of what the bank did or did not do, take this as a lesson for your future married happiness ... living in debt is never a good place to be. The pleasure of getting married to the one you love aught to be enough ... spending money that you do not have to facilitate it is not the best way to start your new life.

Extant

Be realistic. Do you deserve that much money for this?

Compensation is to set a value on your loss/injury/suffering. Do you honestly think you're owed £2000 for those two days?

Milarky

The FOS may well choose not even to look at the case at all (they only ask you to state what you want on the form because that is part of the application process) and you will be sent back to the bank to agree a settlement. As they explain;

In certain circumstances we can dismiss a complaint without considering its merits. This is sometimes called early termination or dismissal. The Dispute Resolution Rules (DISP) set down by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in its Handbook of rules and guidance give a total of 17 sets of circumstances where we may dismiss a complaint without considering its merits. The Handbook is available on the FSA’s website at www.FSA.gov.uk.

The circumstances listed below are those that tend to crop up most frequently in the investment cases we deal with [including]

the firm has already made a fair offer of compensation
We can decide that there would be no justification for our investigating the complaint if the firm has already offered the customer redress which – even if we upheld the complaint completely – we would not improve on.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/49/dismiss-investment-complaint.htm

So by complaining you could be wasting about 6 weeks (the time it would take to get a reply) I appreaciate there are hurt feelings but £250 usually covers quite a lot.

sabretoothtigger

Try to base it off actual costs I think is best and loss of your wedding catering.

So maybe the figure of having to 'borrow' 1000 from the caterers is an actual figure you can quote as your unique loss in this case as obviously it is too late to have a proper catered wedding now

Make sure you present all evidence relating to the figures and your marriage date, etc


I take it they basically froze your account and started charging fees for everything


I probably would have just taken the 250 tbh and maybe for the stress suffered asked them to 0% the overdraft interest for the rest of the year like they do with students.

I think its easier for them to bump up the benefits on an account then write off large amounts on their balance sheet

Redemption

I don't know if this is of any help.....

Quite a few years ago a couple sued a wedding photographer because none of the photos came out. Obviously they did not pay him but asked the court for damages for distress etc. The judge awarded them the amount the would have paid had the photos come out. He took the view that this was how much the photos were were worth to them.

talana

I don't know if this is of any help.....

Quite a few years ago a couple sued a wedding photographer because none of the photos came out. Obviously they did not pay him but asked the court for damages for distress etc. The judge awarded them the amount the would have paid had the photos come out. He took the view that this was how much the photos were were worth to them.

That can't be applicable here. In that case the photographer is directly responsible for the service provided, ie supplying the final photos to the couple.

In the OP's case, the bank is certainly not responsible for the success or otherwise of the OPs impending wedding. There's no reason for the bank to know about, let alone care about the wedding.
As a previous poster said, overdrafts are repayable on demand. What the money has been spent on is irrelevant.
Granted the timing was unfortunate in this case, but that's all. The bank hasn't done wrong. £250 sounds more than generous.

chi30

Thanks so much everyone.