OMG charges £135 for £55 DD rejected - help/advice needed

bunnygirl007

Hi everyone

I've just come home to 2 letters from the Yorkshire bank! 1st letter tells me they have refused to pay my DD to eOn because I am over my OD limit and for this they have charged me £35. 2nd letter tells me that I'm over my OD limit by £170.12 and that for each day I am over they are charging me £25 - its a very long letter saying a lot of other things as well e.g. I may also be liable for a monthly charge as well as the daily charge.

I've gone onto my account on line to see what the situation is and they have been charging me since 12/01 yet they have waited until 20/01 to write to me meanwhile charging me £25 for each day I've gone over.

Why do they wait so long to tell you and also allow you to continue using your debit card?

Also is this the type of charge I can claim back in the future? They're talking about T&C's and my tariff so I have a feeling that these are charges that can't be claimed back even though they seem so extortionate and unfair in that I feel they shouldn't be waiting a whole week or more and charging me during this time before they decide to tell me. The majority of the amount over my limit is charges.

Please can someone advise?

Many thanks

bunnygirl007

in actual fact looking back at my account shouldn't they have written to me the very first time they applied a charge?

bunnygirl007

Please can someine tell me if this is the type of charge I can claim back when the 'hold' has been lifted?

Thanks

patrick0

Yes, that's exactly the sort of charges that people were claiming back before the freeze. You might be able to get them to refund them if speak nicely to them. If not wait til the freeze finishes.

SuziQ

I have had similar discussions with Abbey in the past,and have been told it is the responsibilty of the account holder to monitor their account and prevent going OD. I have in the first instance been able to negotiate a reduction in charges as ' a good will gesture' but was told categorically that no such gesture would be applied again! It seems to depend upon the bank and who you speak to how much compassion they show. I agree it seems unfair that they didn't warn you earlier-I have been told by Abbey that they inform you in advance that a charge is to be applied-with them it seems to apply from the first of the next month now,plus there is a cap on how many they will apply but it may be that your bank has different T&c.

starlight68

Hi

I was just looking on here for advice on bank charges as last Friday my account went overdrawn so over the weekend I transferred some money and by Monday morning the account was back in credit.

Today I had a letter saying they were charging me £35 for them paying the direct debit that went out on Friday and also £28 for going overdrawn without authorisation then went on about interest!

Just made a call to the Halifax asking what interest I'd be charged for 1 day and she said it would only be pence if anything, then she looked at my account and as we haven't had any previous charges, shes taken both charges off for me!!!!!!!!!!!:eek:

Just a little bit pleased, but I think from now on i'll check my account a bit more often.

bunnygirl007

Thanks everyone.

I went to the bank this morning. It seems their policy is not to tell you about the daily charges at first, they monitor things, I had a couple of deposits go in so my balnce dropped temporarily below the limit, and then they will only notify me when they reject a DD etc. Which they did. As you say they expect you to keep a check on things yourself, which I can't really argue with, we are adults afterall.

What concerend me was that she kept going on about the T&C's of my tariff and handed me a sheet with the cahrges for all different things listed on there. So, I was thinking that presumably at some point i must have agreed and signed for these when I opened the account I therefore would not be able to claim the bank charges back. but really i had no choice i had to agree or not not have a bank account

Although it won't help my dire situation now its a small comfort thinking that one day i might get the money back (over the last couple of years I've probably accumulated around £300 worth - or am i being optimistic?) - that's if they ever lift the freeze. However I haven't put a claim in yet - do I need to?

Anyway the outcome from today was they are not prepared to increase my OD so i have had to cancel one of my DD's due out next week - over night Mum managed to transfer some money to bring it back within my limit - but won't be able to do that again. So this weekend have to do some serious sorting out. Think the proverbial doo doo is about to hit the fan!! Better hold on for a rocky ride!! :eek:

KimYeovil

You were not forced to exceed your overdraft.

Were there any unexpected spends? Unexpected debits? If not, how did you exceed the overdraft?

The authorised overdraft exists precisely so you can avoid such charges. If you choose not to use the overdraft as an overdraft but as part of your monthly income then bad consequences arise.

bunnygirl007

KimYeovil i appreciate what you're saying, i know its my responsibility to keep within my limit however the situation was exasperated by the fact the company i work for paid us 10 days early in December so the already long January has ended up being 6 weeks long.

I was just asking about the bank charges because at the end of the day wrongly or rightly they are high, if they had honoured the DD I would have only been just over my limit and the DD would have been paid instead the charges have sent me much further over my limit and i still have the problem of the unpaid DD.

So I was just questioning if these are the sort of charges that people are trying to claim back that's all because i would have thought if they were in the T&C's then they've got you by the short and curlies.