Halifax -> A&L

pocketsempty

My wife used to bank with the Halifax. There were various little irritations which made her dissatisifed with the service but what finally made her move banks was when they charged her for exceeding her overdraft limit part-way through a day. A large payment was set up to go out of the account on a particular day and she transferred sufficient funds to cover it, from her deposit account, on the same day. We were always under the impression that overdrawn status was measured at close of business. Maybe this should be in the warnings topic: Halifax told her that transfers in these circumstances should always be made the day before the funds are required.
Anyway 'as a gesture of goodwill' they refunded the charges (once she had made her way through their phone system labyrinth). But she decided to change banks anyway.

Seduced by the Alliance & Leicester deal for new accounts, as promoted on MSE.com she opened an account with them. Eventually all direct debits etc were transferred (except for TV licencing). Then a couple of weeks ago an unplanned large payment went out of the account, taking it overdrawn. She transferred funds the next day to put it back in credit. So the account was overdrawn by around £650 for a day. A&L has charged her £25 for exceeding her overdraft limit despite the fact that the facility on her account is £1,200.
A&L's phone labyrinth is just as bad as Halifax's but she finally found a human who agreed that it looked like an error and would pass it to the investigations department. Two weeks later my wife has received a letter from A&L thanking her for raising the query and confirming that they are investigating it.
What's so complicated? Just give her the money back!!

Anyway - let this be a further warning to you: A&L don't necessarily seem to cosnider the published overdraft limit to actually mean you can go overdrawn!

Thanks for listening

pinkshoes

Could she not just keep a better eye on her spending habits and not go overdrawn?

I mean, not knowing over £650 was coming out your account... it indicates that she's perhaps not the best with money?!?!

pocketsempty

Well, actually, I transferred the money. She forgot to tell me that she'd drawn a cheque for the new front door (I was expecting us to be invoiced but she paid on installation). In general our funds are managed very tightly (by me) which is why there is not a lot of cash sloshing around in current accounts at any given time.