bank or retailer whos lying

lilian_gish

following numerous unauthorised overdraft charges from my bank which according to the bank in question arose through a set floor limit with a major retailer,i had finally had enough and sent an irate email to the said retailers complaints department.

the reply from the retailer surprised me, according to them they have a zero floor limit for visa payments and will only accept authorised payments.

on reciept of this response i was obviously keen to find out what my bank had to say for themselves, according to them the said retailer most definatly has a set floor limit and actually increase it during peak sales periods.

from pillar to post i went back to the retailer who verified with the EPOS system manager that his original response is acurate.

i have requested in writing from my bank an explanation of this floor limit but have not yet recieved it.

if the retailer is correct and a zero limit applies this means the bank has blatantly lied to me in order to charge me up to £500 in unauthorised overdraft charges.

surely this is fraud, can i in any way take legal action against the bank if everything is as seems,

i am so fed up with the bank walking all over me and now i feel i may have gotten my teeth into something, am i just being too hopefull or do you think theres the possibility i could have caught them out, and if i have how do i take it further i cannot afford to pay a lawyer

any advice would be appreciated

noh

Surely the charges arose due to you spending money that was not available in your account?
Wether or not there was a floor limit the bank would have regarded the payments as informal overdraft requests and charged you accordingly or is your account a basic bank account with no overdraft facilities?

lilian_gish

yes this is true, however the bank did not tell me it was an unauthorised overdraft request,they told me the sale did not need to be authorised due to the said floor limit this particular retailer has,

following numerous charges i have set my account so that if i have insufficent funds my card will be declined.

it may seem irresponsible for me to have put payments through which i didnt have money to cover but there has been occasions where i have overspent by 37 pence in a £50 transaction and incurred a £35 charge, i always have a rough idea what my balance is but not always down to the penny.

withnell

Could it not also be seen as irresponsible for you to have made a payment with money you didn't have, assuming that the bank would cover you?

bengal-stripe

lilian_gish wrote: »

.........there has been occasions where i have overspent by 37 pence in a £50 transaction and incurred a £35 charge, i always have a rough idea what my balance is but not always down to the penny.

Then do not go right up to the edge, you only fall down!

Leave a safety margin of £20, or even better £50 which you do not touch in normal situations. It covers those cases where you add up wrongly.

We might have a 'Nanny State', do you really want the 'Nanny Bank', as well?

natweststaffmember

lilian_gish wrote: »

yes this is true, however the bank did not tell me it was an unauthorised overdraft request,they told me the sale did not need to be authorised due to the said floor limit this particular retailer has,

following numerous charges i have set my account so that if i have insufficent funds my card will be declined.

it may seem irresponsible for me to have put payments through which i didnt have money to cover but there has been occasions where i have overspent by 37 pence in a £50 transaction and incurred a £35 charge, i always have a rough idea what my balance is but not always down to the penny.

I think your argument re Floor limits and bank charges is not one that you should go further with. What you need to understand is that they exist, that retailers will authorise transactions regardless of whether there are sufficient funds in the account or not and that the bank charges that have occurred can be reclaimed as we stand today. I would read Martin's guide to reclaiming and start the process.
I think what other posters are saying that the consequences of not knowing is that the account incurred charges and that perhaps now, you can appreciate that you should try and check your balance and take that into account when spending with your card. If you need further advice please post.

lilian_gish

thanks for the advice everyone

i am aware that the mistake was mine, not knowing the exact balance of my account,however my problem is not the charge itself but that it seems the bank is using this floor limit as reason for enforcing it,

i am in a minimum wage job with 2 small kids and am constantly living in my overdraft so have previously agreed with the bank that my card will be declined if authourisation is sought and i have insufficent funds, it was only after this agreement was made that they used this floor limit as reasoning,

i feel that the bank has lied to me blatantly in order to take my money and simply want to know where i stand, this is more a matter of principal rather than a monetary thing

lilian_gish

think iv been misunderstood here, these charges have built up over the last year or so,not in one go,

i am simply angry that the bank claim to have a floor limit with this retailer yet the retailer say they dont.

forgetting any other facts at the end of the day one of them is lying to me, this is my main issue

Tiggergirl

I think you need to learn to check you have money before spending it. Relying on retailers to check you have enough money when taking a payment, or relying on your bank to stop transactions if there isn't enough money is just asking for trouble.

You cannot rely on others to manage your finances for you. It's not their job to - it's yours.

militantconsumer

Dear fellow moneysavers,

Please can we show a bit more sympathy for lilian gish, who admits she has made mistakes in the past and is now, by the sounds of it, trying to sort them out.

She may be barking up the wrong tree by asking about 'floor limits' now, but that doesn't mean she deserves to have incurred all these charges.

We all know that the banks' charges are excessive and unfair - charging upwards of £30 for each and every transaction over an overdraft limit can easily lead to a spiral of debt, and not everybody is perfect with their money.

That is the whole point of Martin's guide to reclaiming, and that is the reason for this section of the forum.

Not to tear strips out of people for making mistakes that have had serious financial consequences for which the banks must take their share of the blame.

Tiggergirl

I certainly agree that bank charges are excessive, and I don't think anyone will dispute the fact that a £30+ charge is out of order. However, I still think it's unwise for someone to hope that a transaction will be stopped by the bank if they don't have the money in their account.