Why Reclaim Bank Charges

Ste_C

Cleany wrote: »

I wonder if it's the best thing for everyone that the claim to make bank charges "unfair" has failed...

I totally agree. But this is the age of entitlement and rights and nobody takes responsibilty for themselves these days.

Cleany

chipbeck wrote: »

Not a problem.
Once you lose the biggest proportion of your wage it's very difficult to get back on track and you get stung again.

Lloyds are really good and send you to collections when you are over your limit. They don't then charge you, well only the interest, and just take a given amount to clear your excess OD.

When you are back within your OD limit (usually takes a few months) they then move you from collections back to branch.

Then, for example you get an unexpected DD going out, I had one that I assumed would be around £60, they took £160 thus putting me over my limit again. Lloyds then add the charges then send you back to collections.

In short it's like saving a few hundred quid over a few months then giving this money to the bank in order that you can be looked after by collections.

Ahh right I see, not nice. Aren't the people taking the unexpected DD out of your account liable for this cost?

Cleany

euronorris wrote: »

This is part of the problem. People are also charged for DD's that are rejected and unpaid.

If the bank stopped charging for rejecting DD's then it would be up to that individual to contact whoever requested the money and agree a payment plan with them. Imagine it's for AA membership as NSM stated earlier, then that person has the embarassment of calling the AA up, explaining and arranging for payment on another date, or have the membership cancelled as a result.

That, for me, is far more embarassing and acts as a deterrant. But, it also wouldn't trap people in a spiral of debt.

Well yeah that's what I thought. Maybe it would be better that way, I don't know why the situation is as it is with regards to DD payments.

Maybe there should be a campaign about that lol.

Chrysalis

Cleany wrote: »

Yes I do. But charging structures are never consistant, and businesses have the right to set them as they please.

The cost of a first class airline ticket doesn't reflect the actual cost to the airline, indeed that actual cost is very difficult to quantify.

I can go to the Slug and Lettuce and pay full price for a meal for 2. However I could come on this website, find a link, print a voucher and pay half price (that's if the offer is still on). That's inconsistant but I wouldn't complain about it on here!

bad example, you comparing a product to a service that falls under unfair trading conditions.

Chrysalis

Cleany wrote: »

I don't quite understand, once this was over did it happen again?

please understand this.

block all payments so unauthorised overdrafts are impossible, if a bank clears a payment then they are authorising the overdraft at their own choice.

Things like delayed wages, banking errors, etc. do happen that can cause bounced direct debits. These should not result in large charges they should pretty much no fee, if there is a fee then the same fee should be applied to all forms of blocked payments.

To me the common sense approach is this.

1 - Block all attempted payments where there is insufficient funds.
2 - optionally have a service where the customer receives a letter stating payment has failed, this could perhaps be charged at 50p to cover the cost of postage and paper etc.
3 - if someone has repeated bounced payments eg. 4 in a month, then call them in for an interview so can discuss how to improve things with their cash balance. Not to sell them more products.
4 - consider a flat banking fee for everyone that is not waived for been rich.

The punishment for not having sufficient funds is simply the bill doesnt get paid and whatever the bill was for will soon have its repurcussions anyway for the billpayer.

knighter

LaydeeNina wrote: »

Justify £400 for the sake of being over by £12 and justify £1000 for the sake of being over by £6!!!! the first one was a tv license dd, that didn't even get paid but resulted in £400 and the second was because i topped up my phone whilst i had money in the bank but the money came out almost a week later and has since now built up to just over £1000 it is absolutely DISGUSTING!!!!!! I cannot abide the bank charging, and would much rather give my money to an alcoholic living on the streets than multi billion pound banks, for a service...WHAT SERVICE????!!!!!! the call centres can't speak english, the queues in branches are out of the doors, and they take ages to send things through the post!!!!!!!!!!! It makes me utterly sick!!!!

Would you be kind enough to say what your overdraft limit was?

knighter

chipbeck wrote: »

Then, for example you get an unexpected DD going out

This is clearly impossible, how can a DD ever be unexpected?

If you live so "hand to mouth" financially that you cannot afford for an amount of money to leave your bank account your clearly incapable of managing your finances and handling credit and should avoid DD payments as much as possible.

It sounds to me like your yet another person who uses their overdraft as if it is part of their own bank balance and not for use in an emergency.

This culture is a large part of the credit and banking crisis we are all suffering under at the moment.

natweststaffmember

knighter wrote: »

This is clearly impossible, how can a DD ever be unexpected?

If you live so "hand to mouth" financially that you cannot afford for an amount of money to leave your bank account your clearly incapable of managing your finances and handling credit and should avoid DD payments as much as possible.

It sounds to me like your yet another person who uses their overdraft as if it is part of their own bank balance and not for use in an emergency.

This culture is a large part of the credit and banking crisis we are all suffering under at the moment.

You have a life and/or busy one(I don't have kids but I do know the havoc they create with your sleeping patterns) and then the AA takes their annual payment. Due to sleep deprivation you honestly forget that it is due in spite of the reminder and bang, it happens.
Come on, are you seriously telling me that a one parent family with a young child is going to be deadly with the associated lack of sleep on everything??

chipbeck

knighter wrote: »

This is clearly impossible, how can a DD ever be unexpected?

If you live so "hand to mouth" financially that you cannot afford for an amount of money to leave your bank account your clearly incapable of managing your finances and handling credit and should avoid DD payments as much as possible.

It sounds to me like your yet another person who uses their overdraft as if it is part of their own bank balance and not for use in an emergency.

This culture is a large part of the credit and banking crisis we are all suffering under at the moment.

I must be naive.
I'm not saying I didn't know the DD was going out by unexpected I mean the amount.

Dan_Bailey

Cleany wrote: »

Well yeah that's what I thought. Maybe it would be better that way, I don't know why the situation is as it is with regards to DD payments.

Maybe there should be a campaign about that lol.

To be honest mate thats the exact problem I (and probably a lot of other people) have with the banks. £35 is a hell of a lot to charge for bouncing payments (matched with a similar charge at the other end eg £30 credit card) The banks weren't paying my bills for me and I certaintly wasn't spending other peoples money. And when their charge taken in 28 days time push you into the red enough to bounce another two Direct Debits it's genuinely frustrating. I got caught in the classic snowball trap and within the space of about 4 months paid about £600 in bank charges - more than a months wage to me at the time.

Can't help but think some of the people defending the banks and the "free banking" model really don't understand what the fuss is all about. I do "enjoy" "free banking" nowadays but having been there and seen how the banks can rake it in from people already struggling with debts, the young and the unfortunate, I would quite happily pay a flat service charge, or maybe a more appropriate set of interest rates, to ensure the banks make enough to continue their business.