alliance and leicester overdraft issue.

Rev._Dick_Deluxe

Hi everone, first post here.
I opened an alliance and leicester premier account a few years back but stopped using it after a short while and just took advantage of the free over draft. A couple of months back i had a letter from them saying they were cancelling my overdraft facility and i needed to pay it off. I thoght this was fair enough as i hadnt used theaccount for so lng so i transfered £300 into the account and thought no more of it. About a month later i had a letter telling me i still owed them £300 odd pounds. I thoght maybe i had under estimated my over draft so transfered the money and carried on with my life.
This week i have recieved another letter saying i owe them 96 pounds.
Having checked the account it seems they've been charging me hundreds in fees since last year and because i've neglected the account and not had internet acces for the last 6 months its all got out of control.
The letters they are are sending are now threatening court action. Should i sit back and let them take me to court or should i pay the outstanding then try claiming it back.

esmerellda

On the premier account ''You’ll need to pay at least £500 every month into your bank account (or fees may apply).'' so I assume its these fees have taken you over the overdraft, then cause unauthorised overdraft charges and so and and so forth over 6 months.

The fee for paying under £500 in a month you will have to stomach but the unauthorised overdraft fees you can reclaim.

Just taking a look at their charging structure.

A usage fee of 50p a day (up to £5 a month) applies after that (for using the overdraft at all) so thats £5 a month.

Under-funding fee (if you fail to pay in the minimum amount we ask for each month) £5 each month

so £10 a month in fees.

If your account was at the OD limit then one of these £10 will have taken it to unauthorised, giving you a Exceeding Overdraft Limit Fee £5 a day for no more than 20 days in each monthly charging period (so £100 a month) so basically £120 a month to borrow that £300. OUCH.

That scan with what your statement says?

Rev._Dick_Deluxe

Thanks for the quick reply.
I am aware that A&L can charge a useage fee although i havent seen one show up on my statements. I can view an online statement as far back as nov 2008, that shows they charged £50 in nov for execeeding my overdraft then £5 a month usage fee untill july 2009 when they charged me £100 for exceeding.
The thing is back in november i was already over £600 overdrawn but the first i knew of it was when they wrote to tell me they were cancelling my overdraft in april.
The only thing i ever really used this account for was writing cheques, i even cut up my debit card as i wasnt paying money into the account.
I think i may ask for copies of all my statements to work out where this debt came from in the first place.
In the meantime how would you advise me to deal with these letters?
Should i pay up or will the bank agree to somehow freeze the account untill its all sorted?
Many thanks.

esmerellda

I'd write to the bank explaining your dispute and asking them to hold the account until it is sorted. Mention the issues around your particular case but also bung in some about unfair charges and the oft test case and a bit from oft 664 debt collection guidance which states they shouldnt take action while the accounts in dispute.

Alongside that send a Data Protection Act Request to get hold of all your transaction records to assist with putting a formal complaint in.

Rev._Dick_Deluxe

Thanks very much.
I've just knocked up a letter to send, i copy pasted a few bits out of a letter i saw in another post.
Does this look ok?

Dear Sir or Madam,

ACCOUNT NUMBER:

I am writing with regards to the alleged outstanding debt owing on my account.
In your letter dated 31 july 2009 you allege that I owe you £96.62. This is in spite of my previous payments of £650 in order to clear an overdraft of £300 that was cancelled by yourselves.

Since I havent used this account for several months I am willing to accept that a certain ammount of this debt could have been incurred through non usage charges, however since november 2008 you have charged me £200 in overdraft excess and usage fees.

I have no intention of reneging on any part of this account which may be legitimately incurred debt and as I understand the issues surrounding the dispute are currently pending determination in the House of Lords and with the Office of Fair Trading I would like to arrange with you to keep this debt on hold until the outcome of that case.

I would like to make you aware of The Office of Fair Trading Code of Guidance in which it states: putting pressure on debtors or third parties is considered to be oppressive This includes: Ignoring disputes about whether money is owed and refusing to freeze action if the debt is in dispute.

I therefore hope to receive your full co-operation in this matter and would like to request a written response to that effect.

Yours Sincerely