Alliance and Leicester annoying the me!

Paulos77

Well Alliance and Leicester have done it again. Annoyed me! I wish I hadnt changed to their account now despite the £100 incentive they gave me.

I joined them about 7 months ago and last month they charged me £25 for going over my overdraft limit by just £2.00, which I admit was my own fault. When I realised I put in a cheque to bring my funds back above the limit, but by the time it cleared they added another £40 charge for being over my overdraft limit for being 8 days. As I thought this was a crazy amount of fines for going just £2.00 over my overdraft limit I wrote to them saying that I thought it was crazy and its my first offence and out of goodwill would they refund the charges. They refunded the £25 but kept the £40. I would have been a lot happier if they had refunded the £40 and kept the £25. Anyway, I thought that was it but oh no! I find today for this month 11th Sep - 11th Oct I have been charged £20 for being 4 days over my overdraft limit. I couldnt see how this could be because when I put in the cheque last month it was shown as in my account on the 12th Sept which is the day after the last £5 a day charge was taken (this was 11th Sept). My pay goes in on the 15th so they are telling my even though my cheque showed funds in the bank there wasnt actually anything there until i got paid!

I just rang them up and the guy said even though the cheque showed in your bank and the funds show available it hadnt actually cleared. So if it hadnt cleared why show available funds as the amount the cheque was for??? :mad:

Im changing banks, I dont like Alliance and Leicester!

missile

Paulos77 wrote: »

I dont like Alliance and Leicester!

Nor do I :beer:

dmg24

So you don't like A&L because of problems when you went overdrawn? Do you think that banks are in the habit of being sympathetic?

You went overdrawn, they did not make you do this. You should take it as a learning experience and not go overdrawn again.

Paulos77

dmg24 wrote: »

So you don't like A&L because of problems when you went overdrawn? Do you think that banks are in the habit of being sympathetic?

You went overdrawn, they did not make you do this. You should take it as a learning experience and not go overdrawn again.

Its not the fact that I went overdrawn its the fact I put money in when I noticed I had gone overdrawn after a few days my bank status showed the money from the cheque was in my account and was shown as available funds, yet according the bloke on the phone even though it was shown funds were available the cheque hadnt actually been cleared. If it wasnt cleared why show it as it had and the funds were available. My old bank used to say the cheque was in but wouldnt show it as available funds until it had cleared

mrcol1000

Paulos77 wrote: »

Its not the fact that I went overdrawn its the fact I put money in when I noticed I had gone overdrawn after a few days my bank status showed the money from the cheque was in my account and was shown as available funds, yet according the bloke on the phone even though it was shown funds were available the cheque hadnt actually been cleared. If it wasnt cleared why show it as it had and the funds were available. My old bank used to say the cheque was in but wouldnt show it as available funds until it had cleared

Go back to your old bank then. You think the £100 they give out they just pluck out of thin air? Banks have to make a profit and if you go overdrawn they will charge you. You should join First Direct. They give you a £500 overdraft and the first £250 of the overdraft is interest free. It stops you being charged for stuff like above.

RadoJo

If you deposited the cheque when you were already overdrawn, then the time it takes the cheque to clear would add to the length of time you were using the overdraft. Depositing a cheque doesn't mean the money is instantly in your account, so if you want to remedy a situation where you have gone over your overdraft, a cash deposit it probably the best way to go.
Unless I have misunderstood your post, I think you would have had the same situation no matter what bank you were with - cheques take a few days to clear whoever you bank with.

Paulos77

Yeah I know that cheques take a few days to clear, it did take a good few days to appear in my account which I did get charged for those days before it appeared

I cant remember when I paid it in but it was a good few days before it appeared on my account. Its just the fact that it did appear as in my account on the 12th Sep, the cheque was for £50, that £50 appeared in my account on the 12th Sep and showed as money available to spend so to me that looks like the cheque has cleared, the money is in your account and you can use it. I didnt touch that money intill I got paid. My wage goes in on the 15th and from the 12th to the 15th they added more charges for being over my overdraft, even though it showed I was £50 above my limit and had £50 availabe to spend. but according to the guy on the phone, even though it showed as being in my account it hadnt actually gone in.

Anyway Im going to speak to them and try and sort it out. Its not just this, its a lot of other things that niggle at me with A & L, there online banking and other things I just dont like.

Thanks mrcol1000 I'll take a look at first direct

hoyles10

I must say that I love Alliance and Leicester, they are the best bank I have been with by a long way. I have been overdrawn a couple of times but paid the cash in the same day and never received any charges but if not it's £5 for each day you're overdrawn. I would rather pay £5 or £10 if I couldn't put the cash in for a couple of days than the £25 charge I used to get with another bank even if I paid cash in on the same day.

charlesworth82

dmg24 wrote: »

So you don't like A&L because of problems when you went overdrawn? Do you think that banks are in the habit of being sympathetic?

You went overdrawn, they did not make you do this. You should take it as a learning experience and not go overdrawn again.

again another pointless message with no help.

Tozer

charlesworth82 wrote: »

again another pointless message with no help.

Not really. I think the point clearly being made was that the OP was at fault so it is difficult to have very much sympathy with him/her in this case.