Halifax let me use my debit card in 5 shops and then charged me £35 each transaction

jodcai

Halifax allowed me to use my debit card in five shops and have now charged me £35 for each transaction. I only realised that I had gone overdrawn when I tried to take money out of the cash point.

Surely they should have refused the payment knowing there was insufficient funds.

I know my husband has been refused payment at the till before.

natweststaffmember

jodcai wrote: »

Halifax allowed me to use my debit card in five shops and have now charged me £35 for each transaction. I only realised that I had gone overdrawn when I tried to take money out of the cash point.

Surely they should have refused the payment knowing there was insufficient funds.

I know my husband has been refused payment at the till before.

Not if the shop had a floor limit it may not. The main thing is that you should double check what is in your account prior to using your card rather than assuming that it not working is when you stop spending. It is a common mistake made by some people. However, you might want to start a claim for charges.

jodcai

What do you mean if the shop had a floor limit?

MarkyMarkD

All shops have a limit below which they do not bother contacting the card company for authorisation, although in some shops that limit is £0. The limit is called the "floor limit".

Shops are not legally obliged to check that you are paying with money you actually have. That is YOUR responsibility. Neither are banks legally obliged to decline transactions which would take you overdrawn.

true_blue

We discovered the same thing yesterday, spoke to them on the phone and they do not seem to care they have charged £35 for each use of the debit card, we used our card around 11 or 12 times before realising. Now waiting for customer services to call us back as we want the charges refunded, with the addtional unauthorised overdraft charges now to be taken out at the end of May & June the charges will total over £500. If theses cahrges were paid back in we would NOT be over our overdraft limit. How can they justify charging £35 per transaction, when asked what the breakdown of those charges was they couldn't tell us, just said it was a standard charge. Anyone had the same experience?

simon_templar_2

Is this a wind up?? The OP used the debit card 5 times in shops, i dont see how Halifax are at fault at all. If you present your card in a shop to buy things it is you who are saying ive got the money to spend. Does the OP need Halifax to wipe their !!!! as well?

fiendishly

true_blue wrote: »

we used our card around 11 or 12 times before realising.

whilst I do sympathise, I believe that the banks should NOT be allowed to do this, why on earth were you in the situation that you didn't know how much was in your account? Sounds like a hell of a shopping trip without checking you had the funds to pay for it.
The same thing happened to my best friend - also with HBOS (do I detect a pattern?).
She was full of excuses that she hadn't been able to log onto her online banking to check her balance etc. Really though she had no self control and was unable to manage her money - the bank just takes advantage to make a bigger profit.

mitchb

true_blue wrote: »

We discovered the same thing yesterday, spoke to them on the phone and they do not seem to care they have charged £35 for each use of the debit card, we used our card around 11 or 12 times before realising. Now waiting for customer services to call us back as we want the charges refunded, with the addtional unauthorised overdraft charges now to be taken out at the end of May & June the charges will total over £500. If theses cahrges were paid back in we would NOT be over our overdraft limit. How can they justify charging £35 per transaction, when asked what the breakdown of those charges was they couldn't tell us, just said it was a standard charge. Anyone had the same experience?

I think the bank may come back and withdraw your debit card facility.

DebtHater

true_blue wrote: »

We discovered the same thing yesterday, spoke to them on the phone and they do not seem to care they have charged £35 for each use of the debit card, we used our card around 11 or 12 times before realising. Now waiting for customer services to call us back as we want the charges refunded, with the addtional unauthorised overdraft charges now to be taken out at the end of May & June the charges will total over £500. If theses cahrges were paid back in we would NOT be over our overdraft limit. How can they justify charging £35 per transaction, when asked what the breakdown of those charges was they couldn't tell us, just said it was a standard charge. Anyone had the same experience?

Get a grip!!! How on earth can you go into a shop and not have some sort of idea what you have in your bank account !?!?!

I always know how much is in my account, even to the last penny!

And its not as if it takes 2 minutes to pop to a cash machine for a balance update now is it!

OrkneyStar

jodcai wrote: »

Halifax allowed me to use my debit card in five shops and have now charged me £35 for each transaction. I only realised that I had gone overdrawn when I tried to take money out of the cash point.

Surely they should have refused the payment knowing there was insufficient funds.

I know my husband has been refused payment at the till before.

Surely you should not have made the transactions knowing there was possibly insufficient funds ?
While I am all for challenging unfair charges there must be some element of taking responsibilty for your own finances too!

simon_templar_2

Not just some element of responsibilty but 100%. It is upto the individual to control their money just like their lives. Down to one person and one person only - YOU.