MSE News: CONFIRMED - OFT gives up bank charges battle

discoass

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

Hi discoass

I suggest that you contact you the company who present the DD and ask them to change the date that they present the DD to your bank.

My pay is paid in on the last working day of the month and arrives at my account at 00:01 (just after midnight) on the morning of the last working day. I don't know if my employer sends the payment early but you could either:

1. ask for an authorised overdraft of one pay packet.

2. get used to the idea that the money takes 3 days to clear.

or

3. change banks to one that uses Faster Payments.

and

4. phone you bank and ask them if they can waive the charges that YOU incurred due to YOUR oversight. (Going in all guns blazing will not get them on your side - it's called negotiation)

Good luck.

GG

I was trying to make the point that a system that requires "time for money to clear" shouldnt have penaltys attached to it so strictly .Unless the banking system operates instantly (which it can and should) then there has to be a bit of give and take ie 3 day buffer etc .
On this occasion my wife was paid early due to chrimbo but was told it should be cleared by monday hense the budgeting for the DD and £5 in this months wage .

davidgmmafan

"Sadly over the past decade I've found people to be less and less willing to accept responsibility for their own actions."

Sadly over the past decade I've found banks less and les willing to accept responsibility for thier own actions. Natwest charges were around £12-£14 circa 2000. Until recently they were charging £38 for a returned item, my great concern (despite recent triffling changes) is that the decision essentially means they can charge what they like (why not stop at £30, why not a million £££'s).

Given the near collapse of the global financial system I wouldn't put any trust in these greedy people.

chja

This is good news for those of us who are able to run out accounts properly and wish to continue to enjoy free banking.

Bank charges are avoidable. Simply do not take money that does not belong to you.

discoass

chja wrote: »

This is good news for those of us who are able to run out accounts properly and wish to continue to enjoy free banking.

Bank charges are avoidable. Simply do not take money that does not belong to you.

bangs head against wall :mad:

UncleJaysus

chja wrote: »

This is good news for those of us who are able to run out accounts properly and wish to continue to enjoy free banking.

Bank charges are avoidable. Simply do not take money that does not belong to you.

Go back a few pages and read some posts. Hopefully you'll learn why what you've just said is, on multiple levels, very silly.

esmerellda

~HARDSHIP~

137. Subscribers should be sympathetic and positive when considering a customer’s financial difficulties. Although there is an onus on customers to try to help themselves, the first step, when a subscriber becomes aware of a customer’s financial difficulties, should be to try to contact the customer to discuss the matter. This applies to both personal and
micro-enterprise customers.

138. Personal customers should be considered to be in financial difficulty when income is insufficient to cover reasonable living expenses and meet financial commitments as they become due. This may result from a change in lifestyle, often accompanied by a fall in disposable income and/or increased expenditure, such as:
• loss of employment;
• disability;
• serious illness;
• relationship breakdown;
• death of a partner;
• starting a lower paid job;
• parental/carer leave;
• starting full-time education; and
• imprisonment

139. Financial difficulties may become evident to a subscriber from one or more of the following events:
• Items repeatedly being returned unpaid due to lack of available funds;
• Failing to meet loan repayments or other commitments;
• Discontinuation of regular credits;
• Notification of some form of insolvency or court proceedings;
• Regular requests for increased borrowing or repeated rescheduling of debts;
• Making frequent cash withdrawals on a credit card at a non-promotional rate of interest; and
• Repeatedly exceeding a credit card or overdraft limit without agreement.



MONTHLY...FAMILY OF FOUR (2 Adults/2 Children UNDER 14) - Max monthly APPROX figures.

Phone - 45.00
Travel - 140.00
Housekeeping - 550.00
Other - 250.00

This of course excudes council tax, mortgage/rent and utilities.


This is a very useful guide to working out your budget as an individual http://www.moneyadvicetrust.org/imag..._April2008.pdf

There is also useful information from the Minimum Income Standards Board and a handy Calculator for seeing what figures you would be expected to budget for in different circumstances - this can be found and used http://www.minimumincomestandard.org...oner/index.htm.

A.Jones

UncleJaysus wrote: »

With Rage Against the Machine's recent chart victory fresh in memory, perhaps we could set up something similar for banking. After all, if the little guy can influence the pop charts, then maybe such banding together could be used to create an even more meaningful message?

I'm just thinking off the top of my head here, but maybe we could get anyone who's with one of the big banks (those involved in the test case) to sign up and pledge to leave their bank and take their money, wages, cards etc to a smaller bank on a day or time period to be decided.

If enough people joined this, then the chosen day/week/month where everyone emptied and closed their accounts could mean chaos for the banks.

Many people are happy with their banks. I am with halifax. I am perfectly happy with them as a customer. They pay me £15 a month for putting £1000 into an account then moving it to another account, moving it to another account, and moving it back again. It takes me 2-3 minutes a month, and earns me £15. I wouldn't move from them.

davidgmmafan

I understand many people are happy with thier banks, but those peole are usually recapture very quickly. Only kidding.

Its great that you are happy with your bank. Trouble is there is ample evidence that if something does go wrong, even if its fairly simple, it can be very difficult to get an meaningful response.

The banks give you a complaint number and send whichever template best fits your complaint. Only if you pursue the thing all the way do you get hold of someone who will actually look at what you are saying and maybe take action.

By way of example the recent changes made by Halifax to simplify bank charges. It is simple, and its massively in their favour. People write in an say they absolutely refuse to accept the new charging regime and wish to close thier account paying off the balance at the interest rates they DID agree to.

Halifax send a letter which ignores thier clear instructions the gist of which is tough we're going to apply these new charges to your account anyway.

Now onto the familiar argument which links in. Some people say maybe Halifax are trying to get rid of customers they don't want. But the customers who incur charges ARE THE ONES THEY MAKE MONEY FROM!

An example of this blinkered approach is below.

"This is good news for those of us who are able to run out accounts properly and wish to continue to enjoy free banking.

Bank charges are avoidable. Simply do not take money that does not belong to you."


For the millionth time the people who by your logic don't run thier accounts properly are paying for YOUR banking. YOU are using a service and not paying for it.

A.Jones

I don't know what it is like with other people's direct debits, but every credit card and utility company for which I make a direct debit, I was allowed to select a date that payment will be taken. I made sure all were a week after my salary was paid, so I know there will not be a porblem with clearing times. I've never had a problem paying one.

A.Jones

davidgmmafan wrote: »

For the millionth time the people who by your logic don't run thier accounts properly are paying for YOUR banking. YOU are using a service and not paying for it.

I pay taxes which pays benefits, which pays for bank charges. So I pay for it.