My accounts is in a negative balance becuase of bank charges, should i pay them?

jamesthfc

In July I opened an Alliance & Leicester account, as I wanted a seperate current account to use for my paypal transactions so I could keep track of them easier.

I had the account for a few months and barely used it. I didn't realise I had gone about £4 overdrawn until they sent me a letter. I immediately transferred some funds in to bring it back up to the balance. I thought all was well until I actually started using the account in early Nov and there was a message online stating they were going to take £85 for bank charges. What a joke!

I called them and explained the situation. I said I am a new customer and have hardly used the account, there has probably only been about £85 worth of transactions on there. I said I was going to start using the account for my wages and as my main account in January (a lie) but there was no reason I would ever want to use them with such ridiculous charges and asked them to remove them. A few days letter I get their standard reclaiming letter..

So now the charges have been taken out yesterday, I already took all my remaining money out so the balance was £0 and it is now at -£85.

What does everyone suggest? I'm not happy to pay them at all and they have already said that the charges are on hold in their letter, but this is usually once they have been paid and the ball is actually in my court now as I haven't paid them!

redagila

I had a similar problem last year when I stopped paying in £500 pm to an account (had forgotten that it was a requirement as I intended to close the a/c). Charges had been added which I discovered when I applied to close the account but like you the credit balance had been nil so there were no funds for them to raid.
I heard nothing more from them although I had asked them to confirm closure of the account. After about a month I e-mailed again asking them to confirm closure - no reply - but I was not able to access the a/c on the internet, so assumed they just wrote off the charges. I have not heard from them since.
Of course, that was before the crunch so they might not be so kind now.

jamesthfc

They are now charging me a fee for going overdrawn because of their fees. Unbelievable

gordikin

You lied? Why?. I suggest you don't lie...it's not what this site is about.

gordikin

jamesthfc wrote: »

They are now charging me a fee for going overdrawn because of their fees. Unbelievable

Why......
?

Fonda_Cox

gordikin wrote: »

Why......
?

Because they took the charges when there was no cash in the account, so have charged him for going overdrawn again.

Or do you not think it unbelievable?

borgbaiter

hi

you have paid the charges. its now a debt you owe so the bank will continue to add charges every month. the only way to stop the charges is to bring the account into credit (taking account of all pending charges and possible underfunding fees). then close the account and start a reclaim in the normal manner. your claim will be put on hold pending the oft test case resolution at which time we may or may not get our money back.

borgbaiter

jamesthfc

Surely I do not have to pay for something that I do not believe is just? That is not the normal way business works, if they believe I should pay then they can take me to court - not the other way around.

Obukit

I think admitting you have no intention of paying your wages into A&L's account, then posting the exact wording of the letter you're going to send them on a forum A&L are known to frequent means they will probably not refund the fees until the test case is up.

Some people have genuine financial hardship and need their fees refunded immediately - from the way you come across you are just making rather pathetic threats to withdraw business you never intended to give A&L, after they've made the (IMO fair) offer to freeze your charges.

tinkerbell84

Obukit wrote: »

I think admitting you have no intention of paying your wages into A&L's account, then posting the exact wording of the letter you're going to send them on a forum A&L are known to frequent means they will probably not refund the fees until the test case is up.

Some people have genuine financial hardship and need their fees refunded immediately - from the way you come across you are just making rather pathetic threats to withdraw business you never intended to give A&L, after they've made the (IMO fair) offer to freeze your charges.

:T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T :T

natweststaffmember

James, you want the bank to remove charges after you used their money. They will not close the account until the debt made up of charges, which as we stand today, are lawful. They are still subject to the OFT test case which if the banks win will mean that you are extending your indebtedness to the bank. I agree with Borgbaiter on this thread about paying it off and claiming the charges back. They are unlikely to waive or refund charges.