is this a valid argument for some charges?

mikeandrach_2

i have seen somewhere on this site a comment where a bank justified charges as fees for a service. if a direct debit or cheque is returned, they still charge though. if that cheque or direct debit is returned and not piad, what service has been provided to the consumer? the beneficiary has asked for the money, the bank has said no, at no point has the customer had the 'service' of being able to go overdrawn. i know i have worded this very simplistically but does it make some sense?

Premier_2

It would make more sense for a consumer not to write a cheque or authorise a DD that they don't have the means to pay

You don't think bouncing a transaction involves any work?

[Deleted User]

The service relates to checking to see if funds can be released, then rejecting accordingly. that in itself is a service I presume.

chipbeck

Premier wrote: »

It would make more sense for a consumer not to write a cheque or authorise a DD that they don't have the means to pay

You don't think bouncing a transaction involves any work?

Banking institutions now use computers Premier.

At, say 12:30 every night they will run something they call a batch job. This job will go through everybodys accounts and fire off standing orders and Direct Debits, and also deal with any transactions from the previous day. The banks will have a very powerful computer, they can afford it, and this will be able to deal with hundreds if not thousands of transactions in a second.
The batch job is in effect controlled by something called source code. Within this source code will be lists of commands that the system must undertake should certain criteria be met. I'll try and give you an example.

If cash-in-account < cash-needed-for-payment
then
goto shaft-em
else
goto missed-out-there

noh

chipbeck wrote: »

Banking institutions now use computers Premier.

At, say 12:30 every night they will run something they call a batch job. This job will go through everybodys accounts and fire off standing orders and Direct Debits, and also deal with any transactions from the previous day. The banks will have a very powerful computer, they can afford it, and this will be able to deal with hundreds if not thousands of transactions in a second.
The batch job is in effect controlled by something called source code. Within this source code will be lists of commands that the system must undertake should certain criteria be met. I'll try and give you an example.

If cash-in-account < cash-needed-for-payment
then
goto shaft-em
else
goto missed-out-there

Whether it is performed by a computer or a human it is a service provided.

chipbeck

noh wrote: »

Whether it is performed by a computer or a human it is a service provided.

Correct.

The argument is and always has been how fair are the charges in relation to the service provided. My point is that with very little human intervention the banks generate thousands of pounds in charges for very lttle effort.

pie81

I agree it's very difficult to call an unpaid item fee a fee for a service.

However, the Supreme Court ruling was that you couldn't look at each fee individually, you had to look at all the fees together as the overall price for the "package" of bank services. So the Supreme Court would just say the unpaid item fee is part of the price for the package of bank services.

esmerellda

In reality it actually costs more to the banks to return an item unpaid than to pay it taking you over your overdraft.

[Deleted User]

chipbeck wrote: »

Banking institutions now use computers Premier.

At, say 12:30 every night they will run something they call a batch job. This job will go through everybodys accounts and fire off standing orders and Direct Debits, and also deal with any transactions from the previous day. The banks will have a very powerful computer, they can afford it, and this will be able to deal with hundreds if not thousands of transactions in a second.
The batch job is in effect controlled by something called source code. Within this source code will be lists of commands that the system must undertake should certain criteria be met. I'll try and give you an example.

If cash-in-account < cash-needed-for-payment
then
goto shaft-em
else
goto missed-out-there

Do you understand the knowledge, technology and cost associated to such mechanisms... ?? The infrastructure and support for these systems doesn't come cheap and doesn't simply manage, fix or improve itself you know...

natweststaffmember

[Deleted User] wrote:

The service relates to checking to see if funds can be released, then rejecting accordingly. that in itself is a service I presume.

The service is the consideration of the request rather than the action from that. I do think that as an individual that you can challenge the fairness of it on the basis of whether it is fair which is UTCCR 1999 reg 5(1).

chipbeck

[Deleted User] wrote:

Do you understand the knowledge, technology and cost associated to such mechanisms... ?? The infrastructure and support for these systems doesn't come cheap and doesn't simply manage, fix or improve itself you know...

LOL.:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

If only you new what my job was!