Abbey Charges

vixtrix

I have had an account with Abbey National for over 20 years. Sometimes I have got into a few problems along the way but two months ago they charged me over £100 in charges for unpaid direct debits. That was annoying but what REALLY ANNOYED me was a charge of £30 for allowing a debit card transaction of £15 to go ahead. Why on earth did they not just refuse the debit transaction like they do other times???? What do you think I should do?? As a result of those charges I went overdrwan AGAIN last month and have another set of charges....Please help someone!!

loubie_lou

That happened to me with Abbey. I went £4 overdrawn and they charged me £60!! I wrote them a letter but they just reeled off crap about sorry how unhappy I was with them and they would pass the complaint onto the complaints department and would here something within 4 weeks! Did I? Of course I didn't! I'm now in the process of writing another letter complaining about this and the fact that that I got charged another £80 this month.


Luckily for me I can bin the overdraft with them next month and move!

110frankie

Do a search for the Bank Charges thread. Lots of folks getting their money back.

HLK

Also refer to https://www.bankactiongroup.co.uk as well as the rather long 'bank charges illegal thread' here - worth reading though. These penalty charges aren't enforceable!

Another site is bankchargeshell.co.uk

grumbler

vixtrix wrote:

...but what REALLY ANNOYED me was a charge of £30 for allowing a debit card transaction of £15 to go ahead. Why on earth did they not just refuse the debit transaction like they do other times????

What kind of a 'debit transaction' do you mean? What type of card do you have? Only Solo and Visa Electron cards are supposed to check your available balance before each transaction.

What do you think I should do?? ....Please help someone!!

Control your spending and check your balance regularly (as I do despite having £2000 agreed overdraft limit that I never use). Otherwise use cash, cancell all your automated payments and make all payments manually.

$17mma

vixtrix wrote:

I have had an account with Abbey National for over 20 years. Sometimes I have got into a few problems along the way but two months ago they charged me over £100 in charges for unpaid direct debits. That was annoying but what REALLY ANNOYED me was a charge of £30 for allowing a debit card transaction of £15 to go ahead. Why on earth did they not just refuse the debit transaction like they do other times???? What do you think I should do?? As a result of those charges I went overdrwan AGAIN last month and have another set of charges....Please help someone!!

See the thing we have to remember.. and I am by no means on the side of the bank:mad:

Is that there are shop floor limits.. so whether there are sufficient funds on your account or not if your transaction is below the shop floor limit your card and transaction will automatically go through..

This is because most stores especially during busy times lower their shop floor limit to speed up transactions for shopping customers and reduce queues.. that is why on a saturday in tescos you can spend £50-100 and whizz through, at quieter times your transaction be authorised and will take longer..and more likely to be declined if balance is insufficient.

Not only this the store is charged everytime a card goes for verification to Visa, which is why they have a shop floor limit, if below the shop floor limit it does not go through VISA however the BANK HAS to honour it..which is why you will find that your transaction was allowed (not by the bank, they have to honour it) even though there were no funds in your account... kind of putting the bank in a sticky situation. so imagine the bank having to pay 100's of these ( they can afford it) on a Monday morning after Satruday shopping..

So on this occassion.. the bank is not really to blame.. they have to honour the payments that the stores push through because 1, they dont want to get charged by visa 2, they want to reduce queing time for shoppers and 3, they have a low shop floor limit to enable them to do this..

This is why the bank will say to you.. you should know how much money is available on your account before you use your card..

Please note that this is for ALL cards, debt, solo, electron..

Yes you can go OD with an Electron!!!

So my advise is to check available funds daily before using card.

Wolfhound

I got a charge of £35 reversed by writing a letter to the manager at my local branch. The call centre is like banging your head against a brick wall.

Bernard_Coleslaw

$17mma wrote:

Not only this the store is charged everytime a card goes for verification to Visa, which is why they have a shop floor limit, if below the shop floor limit it does not go through VISA however the BANK HAS to honour it..

Please note that this is for ALL cards, debt, solo, electron..

Yes you can go OD with an Electron!!!

So my advise is to check available funds daily before using card.

Good post - just a little clarification though. All transactions do go through VISA, whether above or below floor limit. The "above floor limit ones" just go through twice, once for the initial authorisation (i.e. "has this customer got enough in their account for this purchase?") and then once gain for the actual debit itself. Transactions below floor limit just process the actual debit (often a day or so later).

The above applies to Visa "Classic" debit and credit cards (i.e. the number is embossed rather than printed).

Typicallytelephone and internet transactions have a zero floor limit. Electron cards also have a zero floor limit automatically (which is why some places don't accept them) so it's really quite difficult to think of how you can O/d on one, but I suppose it must happen occasionally.

Regards

BC

PBA

Also, on a standard Abbey account transactions get authorised if they take you up to £50 over your limit. This applies whether it's on an Electron or Visa Debit card. You don't get charged interest on this borrowing, but you do still have to pay the cleared transaction and overlimit charges.

$17mma

Bernard_Coleslaw wrote:

Good post - just a little clarification though. All transactions do go through VISA, whether above or below floor limit. The "above floor limit ones" just go through twice, once for the initial authorisation (i.e. "has this customer got enough in their account for this purchase?") and then once gain for the actual debit itself. Transactions below floor limit just process the actual debit (often a day or so later).

The above applies to Visa "Classic" debit and credit cards (i.e. the number is embossed rather than printed).

Typicallytelephone and internet transactions have a zero floor limit. Electron cards also have a zero floor limit automatically (which is why some places don't accept them) so it's really quite difficult to think of how you can O/d on one, but I suppose it must happen occasionally.

Regards

BC

The problem with electron is that if you are shopping below the shop floor limit and getting £10 cash back 3-5 times a day this will not register on your account till the next day.. because below shop floor limit it is impossible to pick up until the system has been updated the next day.

bargains83

$17mma wrote:

The problem with electron is that if you are shopping below the shop floor limit and getting £10 cash back 3-5 times a day this will not register on your account till the next day.. because below shop floor limit it is impossible to pick up until the system has been updated the next day.

I remember buying some food from an airport last year on an Electron card. This was authorised (i.e available balance less than current balance) but 3 days later the money was available in my account again and the actual transaction itself didn't show on my statements until a further 3 months later. So I could have been overdrawn from that.

I also purchased a tv costing £270 towards the end of last year on the same electron card, this did the same, however 4 months have now passed and the actual amount still isn't showing on my statement nor has it being deducted from my balance. I am still expecting it to be taken at some point which is why i always make sure there are plenty of funds in the account for when it does come through.

So quite right, it is very possible to go overdrawn with an Electron card.