bank charges!

bosco33

i set up a new account with halifax, and asked for strictly no overdraught!! i ordered stuff online and was not aware that i had overspent as the transactions had been accepted. i then recieved a statement with a £35 bank charge on it.... i had lodged further cash into my account and was not aware that it had not went through as i could not gain access to my online account as i had been blocked from entering the site, which has happened on a few occassions, and caused me a lot of bother and stress getting this sorted out.
i went into my bank today to sort this problem and payments out and have now been told that they now want £70 for bank charges on top of the small amount which they accepted as an overdraught payment which i clearly stressed i did not want..... they are now feeding me a lot of garbage about buying stuff online which does not fall into their overdraught agreement, "WHICH THEY CLEARLY FAILED TO NOTIFY ME OF"
can someone please tell me if this is legal and fair, as i dont believe it is. i have refused to pay the charges until i get some help with this matter, but they have told me that if i do not, they will continue to add further charges to these....

natweststaffmember

If you want the account completely gone, I would write to their customer relations state the facts and state that at no time were you made aware of that and that as a new customer you would like the funds refunded as a gesture of goodwill, failing that, it is a standard reclaims.

I should say that no bank will offer what you require.

DrScotsman

natweststaffmember wrote: »

I should say that no bank will offer what you require.

Except an account with a Visa Electron card or other authorisation required cards.

natweststaffmember

DrScotsman wrote: »

Except an account with a Visa Electron card or other authorisation required cards.

So what happened with the OP?

DrScotsman

natweststaffmember wrote: »

So what happened with the OP?

He doesn't have a Visa Electron/Solo, does he? He got an account with a Visa Debit/Maestro/any other card that can be used without authorisation, paid with it somewhere that didn't check there was enough balance, then got charged for it.

Had he had a Visa Electron this wouldn't have happened, either it would have declined him because he didn't have enough balance, the website wouldn't accept Visa Electron, or he would have been declined for no reason because some places don't play nice with Visa Electron.

I'm not actually recommending a pathetic Visa Electron bank account for the OP or anyone though (except for Ryanair)

bosco33

natweststaffmember wrote: »

So what happened with the OP?

just wonderin what the "op" stands for that u guy's r discussin?..... also thankyou for ur reply, i will try this approach, but i hate the thought of having to give them them the cash now.... i just feel so ripped off by them.

bosco33

DrScotsman wrote: »

He doesn't have a Visa Electron/Solo, does he? He got an account with a Visa Debit/Maestro/any other card that can be used without authorisation, paid with it somewhere that didn't check there was enough balance, then got charged for it.

Had he had a Visa Electron this wouldn't have happened, either it would have declined him because he didn't have enough balance, the website wouldn't accept Visa Electron, or he would have been declined for no reason because some places don't play nice with Visa Electron.

I'm not actually recommending a pathetic Visa Electron bank account for the OP or anyone though (except for Ryanair)

thanks for ur reply, i just wish that i had of known this b4 it would have saved me time and money, and having to deal with halifax. the banks just seem to get their way all of the time. nice one mate, i'm gonna try to get one of those cards 2moro and save anymore hassel...... which card do you recommend from the one's which you mentioned please.

DrScotsman

bosco33 wrote: »

just wonderin what the "op" stands for that u guy's r discussin?

Original Poster, i.e. you

bosco33 wrote: »

thanks for ur reply, i just wish that i had of known this b4 it would have saved me time and money, and having to deal with halifax. the banks just seem to get their way all of the time. nice one mate, i'm gonna try to get one of those cards 2moro and save anymore hassel...... which card do you recommend from the one's which you mentioned please.

These cards are given to either minors or people with absolutely terrible credit ratings (usually bankrupts). I'm pretty sure they only come with "Basic" bank accounts, which don't have features that other bank accounts have like withdrawing money from the branch and things like that. In addition, the cards aren't accepted in as many places (I'm pretty sure Boots didn't accept either Solo or Visa Electron for absolutely ages), and sometimes they randomly fail in places that do accept them.

I recommend a Visa Electron, as somehow - and I'm not sure I believe this myself - I managed to use it on a US site (amazon.com) as a normal Visa card, and being able to use it abroad was a big plus for me (I was young, so I didn't know about the fee Halifax charge on foreign transactions at the time )

Some banks ONLY give these accounts to people who fail the criteria for their normal accounts, so I doubt you'd get one from those banks. Halifax seem to offer one to everyone though.

For the record, a lot of what I'm saying I've just read elsewhere on the forums, so don't blame me if I've got it wrong

Orford

These 2 basic a/c's have electron:

Co-operative Bank
Cashminder

Minimum age to open an account: 18
Minimum amount to open an account: None
Free buffer zone: No
Direct debits and standing orders: Yes
Charge for unpaid direct debit: £19.50
Debit card (Solo or Electron): Yes
If any of the following apply to you, your application may be declined: Record of fraud.

NatWest
Step Account

Minimum age to open an account: 16
Minimum amount to open an account: None
Free buffer zone: No
Direct debits and standing orders: Yes
Charge for unpaid direct debit: £38
Debit card (Solo or Electron): Yes
If any of the following apply to you, your application may be declined: Undischarged bankrupt, record of fraud.

natweststaffmember

Orford wrote: »

These 2 basic a/c's have electron:

Co-operative Bank
Cashminder

Minimum age to open an account: 18
Minimum amount to open an account: None
Free buffer zone: No
Direct debits and standing orders: Yes
Charge for unpaid direct debit: £19.50
Debit card (Solo or Electron): Yes
If any of the following apply to you, your application may be declined: Record of fraud.

NatWest
Step Account

Minimum age to open an account: 16
Minimum amount to open an account: None
Free buffer zone: No
Direct debits and standing orders: Yes
Charge for unpaid direct debit: £38
Debit card (Solo or Electron): Yes
If any of the following apply to you, your application may be declined: Undischarged bankrupt, record of fraud.

At the moment NatWest Step account is solo card. It is changing in the third quarter of this year to VISA electron.

bosco33

Orford wrote: »

These 2 basic a/c's have electron:

Co-operative Bank
Cashminder

Minimum age to open an account: 18
Minimum amount to open an account: None
Free buffer zone: No
Direct debits and standing orders: Yes
Charge for unpaid direct debit: £19.50
Debit card (Solo or Electron): Yes
If any of the following apply to you, your application may be declined: Record of fraud.

NatWest
Step Account

Minimum age to open an account: 16
Minimum amount to open an account: None
Free buffer zone: No
Direct debits and standing orders: Yes
Charge for unpaid direct debit: £38
Debit card (Solo or Electron): Yes
If any of the following apply to you, your application may be declined: Undischarged bankrupt, record of fraud.

thankyou for this info, i will be looking into it today as i don't wish to be stung by banks again in the future.... have a nice day.