Overdraft £1.21 - fees £148.81 - should I pay?

jamans

In sep 07 I paid off my Abbey current account and decided to stop using it (as Martin had recommended the A & L current account. I had forgotten about the interest on my overdraft which carried on to the next month, £1.21. For the next couple of months they applied an unauthorised overdraft charge but removed it manually as it was unfair obviously, then they stopped doing it and when I wanted to start using the account again they wouldn't get rid of the now enormous amount of £148.81.

the debt was then passed onto Moorcroft debt agency who I immediately rang up and told them that I would not pay and to arrange a court date as soon as possible to which they did not write to me or contact me again.

Now that the court case has finished and the banks feel as if they can do what they like without fear of being called bullies I have received a letter from Abbey (not Moorcroft) saying that the law now agrees they can do what they like and I should pay up.

Does anyone think that a judge will force me to pay £148.81 for borrowing £1.21 off the abbey from Sep 07 to Jul 08, or should I just pay up.

Please help, thanks, jamans.

Premier_2

Come on, you can do better than that.

Some people claim to have charges in the thousands for just a few pennies OD.

Was it really necessary for you to have used £1.21 of the banks money without prior authorisation from September 2007 right through until July 2008?

Or did you just think blow it, Let 'em charge me, they'll either continue removing the charges manually like they did for the first 2 months else I'll be claiming any charges back anyway because they are illegal, unlawful and unenforcible as stated by the OFT (according to some posters here in the past)

natweststaffmember

Premier wrote: »

Come on, you can do better than that.

Some people claim to have charges in the thousands for just a few pennies OD.

Was it really necessary for you to have used £1.21 of the banks money without prior authorisation from September 2007 right through until July 2008?
How do you use the banks money without authorisation? They authorise it...please use some newer arguments however, I do think that the OP should have paid in the £1.21 since that is the amount he states he legitimately owes them, ie he made a mistake.
Or did you just think blow it, Let 'em charge me, they'll either continue removing the charges manually like they did for the first 2 months else I'll be claiming any charges back anyway because they are illegal, unlawful and unenforcible as stated by the OFT (according to some posters here in the past)

If he has paid in the £1.21 then we have a completely different scenario but thank you for reminding me to ask that question since there is no hint in the original post.

Premier_2

natweststaffmember wrote: »

...How do you use the banks money without authorisation? They authorise it...please use some newer arguments...

I said prior authorisation

As you posted in another thread, the charges made are " for consideration as to whether to pay or not pay."
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2123121&page=5

There is no charge (except interest) is you use an authorised overdraft where prior authorisation has already been granted.

There is no charge when you have cleared funds available.

natweststaffmember

Premier wrote: »

I said prior authorisation

As you posted in another thread, the charges made are " for consideration as to whether to pay or not pay."
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2123121&page=5

There is no charge (except interest) is you use an authorised overdraft where prior authorisation has already been granted.

There is no charge when you have cleared funds available.

There are days when I want to slap MSE Site team around the head, and you have to pick them as the source all the time, lol.
Where is site team for me to slap around

jamans

On the 11th of February I did pay in £7 to more than cover the original £1.21 interest plus the interest on all the other charges.

Why did they stop applying charges in May? Why are they not still applying them to this date as I still haven't paid? Is this because if it was now £400 it would seem too ridiculous?

I have just checked and the month that I paid everything off I had a £100 OD limit, the next month when I had the £1.21 interest go on the OD limit had gone. I don't remember cancelling it, it may just have run out of its agreed time limit though, it was a long time ago and I can't remember.

natweststaffmember

Did they specifically refund the charge for the £1.25 after you had paid the £7.00 in?
Or had they stopped doing this by this time?
Did you pay it in to have the account closed?

jamans

1.No they didn't.
2.The charges stopped being withdrawn in January and kept on being applied till May.
3.The account was not closed till maybe July, this is the last time I received a statement. (it may still be open)

LegalBlonde

It will be in the terms and conditions when you first got the account so you will be obliged to pay. I had it with the account I am currently using and racked up £150 in charges leaving me with no money for rest of month. The only thing Lloyds would do was let me have a temporary overdraft of £150 reducing by £50 a month which was a life saver at the time and felt like I was £150 up, but at the end of the day I am still paying them back.

I think in the current climate a Judge WOULD make you pay it because at the end of the day whether it was an oversight, or you did not realise, or did not use account anymore - I am not really clear why you are claiming it is unfair - the t and c of your account which you probably readily signed at the time will presumably list the charges???

Plus presumably they will have sent you letters every month saying they were charging??? Or did you just think they would remove them??? IMHO you should have rang them when it was first charged, or why did you not pay back the £1.21at the time??? The first time you were charged why didn't you lodge that amount of money??? edited to say I see you paid £11 in July but why did you not just do this as soon as you got wind of any charges??

Sorry, I don't want to seem like one of these people that come on here lately judging people in their situations but you did ask for advice and you did ask for a Judge's likely response, obviously I am not a Judge but just giving you some more angles to think about.

I think your best bet is pay it and chalk it up to experience if you can afford it, if not call them up and arrange a payment scheme.

The_Hill

go to court

LegalBlonde

Thank you The Hill - it has all come flooding back to me why I don't bother wasting my time getting involved in these threads, why I don't waste my time posting advice and why I don't waste my time coming back for updates.

Over and Out