Alliance & Leicester, where do i stand??

carrie483

Hi,

I paid a cheque in on tuesday for £650. Today i checked my online banking and it showed available balance £650.75 (yes, i only had 75p in my account) Anyways, so i start to pay bills including 2 things off Ebay and an ntl bill. Total amount approx £220. I tried to pay another bill and they wouldn't accept my card. I check online and it still shows available balance £650.75 so i phone them.

This is where it gets annoying. He tells me my available balance is 75p so i explained about the online banking saying available £650.75 and he says 'yes i see where you coming from, it shouldn't say this' so i asked if i was going to go overdrawn and he said 'unless you put enough money in your account then yes.' I said 'if i go overdrawn and charged then i will be back on this phone complaining' and he said 'we'll deal with that when if you phone'

He also said something about paypal taking 1p out of my account???

Now i log back into my account online to print the page showing available £650.75 as proof and he has changed it. It NOW says available '74p' :mad:

So does anyone know where i stand? Do phone calls get recorded? I will burst if they charge me overdraft fees for their mistake!!

I thought online banking was fool-proof.

Sorry its so long.

Carrie.

Justicia

Not sure what effect (if any) this has on the situation in your post but at the bottom of the screen for my banking page is the following;

The funds available date given for cheques paid in is a guide only and may not be met in some circumstances.

carrie483

Justicia wrote:

Not sure what effect (if any) this has on the situation in your post but at the bottom of the screen for my banking page is the following;

But shouldn't it still say balance £650.75 available balance .75? Not available balance £650.75.

And he said something about paypal taking out 1p from my account and i can't find anything which would suggest this, apart from my balance being 1p less.

IvanOpinion

This is another one of those 'we have brought this on oursleves' situations. There are two stages to a cheque being cleared. As customers when we pay money in we want to see that amount appear on our balances as quickly as possible however that does not mean that the cheque has fully cleared. I can not remember the actual stages but that means that the cheque has been presented and added into the system. However if the cheque later bounces then it is still possible for the bank to claim the money back.

I agree it is misleading (and possibly unfair), but you can not just pay money in and expect to be able to use it immediately. It usually (or at least so banks claim) takes 6 working days for a cheque to fully clear ... have a look in your T&C.

Ivan

daveboy

99% of MSE'ers seem to think they never make oversights, so I expect you to face a firing squad soon IvanOpinion!

IvanOpinion

daveboy wrote:

99% of MSE'ers seem to think they never make oversights, so I expect you to face a firing squad soon IvanOpinion!

Nothing new there then

Ivan

carrie483

I'm not stupid, i know how long it takes for a cheque to clear but as this was a printed cheque from another bank i was told that it would be quicker. I was very surprised to see that my available balance showed the cheque amount on friday.

Even the guy who i spoke to who works for A+L said it shouldn't be showing available yet. He admitted there was obviously a glitch somewhere and then when i got off the phone i saw that he had changed it.

IvanOpinion

Carrie, printed cheques from banks are treated no different to any other cheques (as I found out several years ago). I have online banking for Abbey and Nationwide and they seem to do exactly the same thing as the Sprogget & Sylvester.. I don't know why. The problem is that if they do not show it somewhere then their call centres will be inundated with complaints for people looking their money whereas if they do show it then it is confusing. Maybe (and I have no idea if this is correct) it does start earning interest when it shows on your available balance ?

The T&C do not discriminate over the 'source' of a cheque .. just that it takes 6 (or similar) working days to clear. Have a good read of the T&C for your account .. is there anything in there?

Ivan

carrie483

IvanOpinion wrote:

The problem is that if they do not show it somewhere then their call centres will be inundated with complaints for people looking their money

They do usually show it in the 'running' balance but the 'available' balance would be different and it would say next to it 'the running balance and the available balance may be different if you are awaiting cheque payment. It didn't say this pre phone call but now does post phone call.

IvanOpinion wrote:

The T&C do not discriminate over the 'source' of a cheque .. just that it takes 6 (or similar) working days to clear. Have a good read of the T&C for your account .. is there anything in there? Ivan

Lloyds bank once told me that if you are sending a cheque to a person who banks at the same place then the cheque is cashed instantaniously. They also told me that printed cheques are quicker because they are deemed more reliable then written ones (as they usually come from a large company i.e. another bank). Maybe A&L are different. I will go and have a read of the T&C's now, can i find them on the website? As i opened this account several years ago and don't have any original documents to hand.

Cheers. Carrie.