Alliance and Leicester Overdraft charges problem

Kstudent

I am writing this because my inability to get a solution from A&L is getting me into financial difficulties.

I opened an alliance and leicester account last year when i was working in order to use the large interest free overdraft to pay for a few essentials when i moved house - i paid off the overdraft and then stopped using the account as i remained in credit for the whole year. a while ago i received a letter from a&l saying that i had not contributed enough into my account to allow me to keep using the overdraft. fine thought I - however i was actually slightly overdrawn from somepoint last year a fact i hadnt realised. a couple of months after this last letter i got a letter from a&l saying you are £68 overdrawn. They also mentioned that i "could" be liable to overdraft charges.

I went to my local branch and checked my account and sure enough i had forgotten the amount - i deposited £70 and left thinking that was sorted.

FFWD two months - I receive a letter from A&L saying I am £68 overdrawn - an error I think. I go to check my account and sure enough i am still £68 overdrawn. I contacted A&L who said that as i was in my unauthorised overdraft for 3 weeks i was charged £5 per day - this was levied a few days after i paid off my last balance. What's more they told me that since their charges had put me back in my unauthorised overdraft they had been charging me five pounds a day for the last two months. I asked them to stop charging me as their was no way i could ever get ahead enough to pay it all off. She implied that she would move me to another account (which doesnt seem to have had any effect the charges are still being levied) and that the charges office (which have no telephone) would write to me. 3 weeks later i get a letter from them asking for full financial disclosure my situation etc for a hardship assesment.

I'm not in hardship i just dont have the £380 I'd need to get out in front of this.

Any ideas? Are these charges fair and lawful? I really dont know what I should do here, everyday I wait for letters from these people they get to charge me more money. Should i fight them or borrow to pay off the debt?

Thanks a lot

Ken

dc110

Sounds to me like when you paid in the £70 you had charges pending at that time which then took you back overdrawn incurring yet more charges.

(saying I am £68 overdrawn - an error I think)

First step would be to make sure of what has happened.

Fire_Fox

Alliance and Leicester current account terms and conditions clearly state that you must fund the account with £500 every month. Failure to do so incurs a £5 per month penalty - in addition to any interest or overdraft charges.