B.O.S and Paypal problems

the_libertines

Hi, hope I'm posting this in the right section.

Basically, I'm a student that just has a simple current account with the Bank of Scotland and isn't really overly interested or clued up in banking. I'm happy to keep things simple and that's worked fine for years.

Now, in the last few months I've encountered a couple of problems. I've used paypal for a while and the source of income for it was my credit/debit card (visa electron). However, it recommended me to become verified and connect my bank account straight to my paypal account, which seemed to have the added bonus of no or less fees so I chose this. Now up until now, paypal had always worked whereby I could only send money in my account if it was there. It would check my bank card and an error would come up if the money couldn't be sent. Now though with my bank connected directly there seems to be some delay. Whenever I send money to someone, I make sure I have enough money in my bank account, and I always think that the transaction is completed. However, paypal seems to withdraw the money from my account several days or a while later, at which point my balance might be lower and there may be insufficient funds.

This led to me getting a bank charge of £35 for 'unauthorised overdraft' a month or so ago. Now I've just had another letter. Paypal tried to withdraw £6 from my account because I extended my premium rapidshare account by 30 days. The thing is, at the point I extended it, I had sufficient funds. Then a while later they take the £6 from my account but I happen to only have £5 in it. Cue another letter saying I'm going to be charged £35 for 'unauthorised overdraft' because I didn't have a quid extra in my account....They are going to take the charge off my account in a few days apparently, any way I can stop this? (My account is close to empty so I'll have to go and put money in soon or else no doubt I'll be hit my more ridiculous charges).

I'm at my wits end really. I guess the obvious idea would be to remove my bank accounts direct connection to paypal, but this means I'll have higher paypal fees and less priviledges...

It seems completely ridiculous that I'm being shafted because several days after purchasing something I don't happen to have sufficient funds. It's like walking into a shop to buy something when you have sufficient funds then being hit with a penalty ages down the line because you don't happen to have the necessary cash anymore.

Argh, please help. I've tried both customer supports and got nowhere. A case of passing the buck or acting/being completely ignorant. The B.O.S woman just offered to put me through to the online account department or something who would help me reading my online statement :rolleyes:. Maybe I need a change of tact? My Dad could probably sort this all out in 5 minutes, but I want to stand on my own two feet for a change and sort this out...

RhinoSimon

Seems to me you have a couple of options. You could ask the bank for an agreed overdraft facility (very low value) so that you don't ever use an unagreed o'draft and incur costs. This will have the added benefit of showing you managing a credit account and boost your credit score for later life ( am assuming you are not a mature student).

If that is too scary or not agreed by the bank then leave a float in the account to act as an overdraft, imagine it is another £35 charge to the bank but one you get to keep.

Dabooka

Other than going into the Branch and pleading ignorance, not much you can do. There are template letters on here about reclaiming bank charges which you could try sending off.

Otherwise, the only piece of useful information I can give is to ensure that the transactions have cleared before spending the money. Make a note and log on to check it's gone out before you spend it. It's a bit of a bind, but not impossible.

jamesperrett

It always takes a few days for transactions like this to go through. The banks have promised to speed things up so that the transaction takes no more than 2 working days but they have until 2012 to implement this.

I don't know what BOS's online facilities are like, but some banks will indicate that funds are about to go out of your bank account by reducing your cleared balance before the transaction shows up properly.

Cheers

James.