Charged £71 interest on a paid-off overdraft

JennyLouise

Hi all. I apologise if this is on the wrong forum, this is my first post here.

I'll try to keep the story short!

I took out a £300 overdraft with Abbey in (roughly) April last year. At the time I was working part time but had to quit in July, and was unable to find a new job until October. To cut to the chase, I ended up spending all the money from the overdraft but couldnt pay it back and instead tried burying my head in the sand and forgetting about it (something I'm not proud of). Inevitably Abbey chased after me and, in September last year, it was agreed I would pay back £50.00 on the 8th of each month - which came out of the HSBC account that my wages were paid in to. As I had incurred charges, the overdraft had grown to over £400 and Abbey told me to cut up & throw away the card, which I did.

They demanded the final £59.73 payment in March this year. I paid it into the Abbey account from my HSBC account on 6th April, however it didnt clear until the 8th.

I heard nothing further off them until this morning, when I recieved a statement in the post. Unfortunately I dont have a scanner (!) but it says:

'Balance brought forward from previous statement: -£ 59.73
Total money in: £59.73
Total money out: £0.00
Your balance at close of business 2nd May 2009: £0.00'

It then goes on to say...

'Interest and Charges incurred in this period

Date Why We're Charging You Amount
11th Apr Instant Overdraft Interest -£8.55
13th Apr (as above) -£8.60
14th Apr (as above) -£7.31
15th Apr (as above) -£6.55
16th Apr (as above) -£0.96
(as above) -£5.22
17th Apr (as above) -£.450
18th Apr (as above) -£3.28
20th Apr (as above) -£1.97
2nd May UNAUTHORISED OVERDRFT/INSTANT OVERDRFT MONTHLY FE -£25.00
Total this amount will be deducted from your account on 25th May -£71.95'

As you can see, the charges vary in dates and amounts. What I dont understand is how I've managed to incur interest on a balance of £0.00! Is the minus sign next to each amount significant? Can I be charged £25.00 for an 'Unauthorised Overdraft/Instant Overdraft' when I've torn up and thrown away the card, and havnt used it from atleast August last year?

I'm going to be visiting Abbey on Monday but I'm honestly clueless as to what's happened. Theres no way I can pay them £71.94 on the 25th - I dont get paid until the 29th and, as I only work 6hrs a week, I dont even earn £71.94 a month.

Can anybody please shed any light on this whatsoever?

Jenny

Extant

JennyLouise wrote: »

I'm going to be visiting Abbey on Monday but I'm honestly clueless as to what's happened. Theres no way I can pay them £71.94 on the 25th - I dont get paid until the 29th and, as I only work 6hrs a week, I dont even earn £71.94 a month.

Six hours a week - twenty-four hours a month - and you don't earn £71.94 a month?

JennyLouise

BarclaysManager wrote: »

Six hours a week - twenty-four hours a month - and you don't earn £71.94 a month?

Whoops, sorry about that. Iv started working 6hrs a week within the last month, it used to be 3hrs - I earned about £60 but kept getting emergency taxed, which should now be sorted. Youre right, I could pay it back - but I still want to know why I've incurred these charges? Jenny

jonesMUFCforever

You need to ask Shabbey - they will tell you and if it is an error should cancel the charge.

willo65

Are you sure the payment cleared on the 8th? looking at the list of interest it looks like they are classing payment on the 20th april.

JennyLouise

willo65 wrote: »

Are you sure the payment cleared on the 8th? looking at the list of interest it looks like they are classing payment on the 20th april.

Yeah I am sure it went in on the 8th, the statement also says (which I forgot to include in the first post:doh:):

Your Transactions 3rd Apr - 2nd May 2009
Date Description Money In Money Out £Balance
3rd Apr Balance brought forward from previous statement -59.73
8th Apr BANK GIRO CREDIT REF (my name) 59.73 0.00
2nd May Balance carried forward to next statement 0.00

JennyLouise

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

You need to ask Shabbey - they will tell you and if it is an error should cancel the charge.

Thanks for the reply. I am visiting them tomorrow but I wanted to know where I stood really incase they tried fobbing me off, or whether I've missed something obvious and there's a perfectly valid reason why they've charged me!

jonesMUFCforever

JennyLouise wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. I am visiting them tomorrow but I wanted to know where I stood really incase they tried fobbing me off, or whether I've missed something obvious and there's a perfectly valid reason why they've charged me!

The only thing I can think of is that before the money went in to bring the balance to nil the account was overdrawn and therefore charges would have already accrued from previous statements.
Only Abbey can say whether these charges are correct or not.

JennyLouise

Well thankyou to all who've replied, guess I'll find out tomorrow whether this is all a big !!!!-up.. which I'm hoping it is


Oops I didnt intentionally put a swear word in there It started with a 'c' and ended with a 'k' ..

dc110

did you have an authorised overdraft facility on your account which was being reduced manually by Abbey by £50 on the 8th of each month

sounds to me like most likely explanation

7th april your overdraft facility waso n the account
8th may they removed it as per the agreement that it would be paid on that day

you therefore have no agreed overdraft facility but you are overdrawn hence you incur charges

think thats probably whats happened

Lokolo

dc110 wrote: »

did you have an authorised overdraft facility on your account which was being reduced manually by Abbey by £50 on the 8th of each month

sounds to me like most likely explanation

7th april your overdraft facility waso n the account
8th may they removed it as per the agreement that it would be paid on that day

you therefore have no agreed overdraft facility but you are overdrawn hence you incur charges

think thats probably whats happened

She wasn't overdrawn at the time she got the charges. She had a balance of £0.00. Hence not overdrawn, hence charges shouldn't have been put on the account.