Overdrawn while having savings with same bank

Dan29

Hi all

My friend incurred about £500 of overdraft charges while having approximately £1,000 in savings with the same bank (Barclays).

He's wondering whether this strengthens his claim for a refund of the charges at all, as he believes they should have reminded him about his savings account. I don't expect it to, but wondered if anyone here had experience of this.

Sorry if this has already been covered; couldn't find anything relevant by searching.

Thanks in advance
Dan

sulkisu

Dan29 wrote: »

Hi all

My friend incurred about £500 of overdraft charges while having approximately £1,000 in savings with the same bank (Barclays).

He's wondering whether this strengthens his claim for a refund of the charges at all, as he believes they should have reminded him about his savings account. I don't expect it to, but wondered if anyone here had experience of this.

Sorry if this has already been covered; couldn't find anything relevant by searching.

Thanks in advance
Dan

The banks have the option of 'offsetting', i.e. taking money from his savings account to clear the debt on the other account but they don't have to do this. Banks are criticised heavily when they do offset, so it seems to be a case of 'damned if they do, damened if they don't'. The idea that they should have reminded your friend that he has savings and could have used them to clear his debt, is a bit (acually a lot) of a stretch. I doubt that he will get anywhere, but I suppose there is no harm in trying.

orc_2

As above really. However, your friend should put this in writing to the bank and await an answer. Consider threatening to remove savings elsewhere.

However, nothing to stop friend starting the reclaim process by following the guidance and templates available. Satrt by ensuring that he has a full list of charges made on the account using the SAR.

gOOD LUCK.

hicskis

I would have said it weakens your friends chance. If he had managed his affairs properly ie used the money in the savings account (which i assume being Barclays was on !!!!!! all interest a month) - he would have been able to avoid the charges in the first place.

Your friend can all but try but considering the headache he is about to embark on it might be best to forget it, and to put it down as a learning experience.

I'm sorry.

C_Mababejive

Oh thats nothing...Nationwide blagged me with an unpaid cheque fee due to a mix up on my account whilst having use of a pot of money in other accounts with them....much more than £1000. When i queried their stupidity all i got was a standard letter about how they couldnt comment about banking charges until the outcome of the EU judgement ! ROTFL...they have gone downhill big time Nationwide..

nzseries1

C_Mababejive wrote: »

Oh thats nothing...Nationwide blagged me with an unpaid cheque fee

Man I hate the word blagged!
Sorry, now that that's out of my system, I'll go back into my hole

Dan29

Thanks for replies. Pretty much my own thinking.

It turns out that he has already started the reclaim process by adding up the charges from the time he moved the £1,000 to his savings account, to the point where they reminded him that he had done this. (Yes they did point it out in the end!)

Am I at the "threatening them with the ombudsman" stage of the process, or should I apply for a list of charges, even though he's already complained?

Thanks
Dan

orc_2

Hello again Dan

You need the list of charges first, dates and amounts of reclaimable charges. In writing with £10, giving them the statutory time for return.

Later though when reclaiming, use template, personalised, outlining relevant personal circumstances. Remember to add 8% interest.

Check through all statements for other accounts that may have charges on them eg credit card, mortgages etc. Claim those.

Check for any PPI on any loans, cards etc. Claim that back if missold.

If that fails, you then move to Ombudsman, that step needs to be before possible court action.

Court action- research and await further guidance.

Best of luck!:T

pasti

I thought I would comment on this as I work for Barclays customer relations which will the the area dealing with his complaint.
Basically the response will be as follows. He should have made sure that the funds were in the correct account to cover payments made from it. Customers are made fully aware of how their accounts work and the fees associated with using their various limits i.e. overdraft and Reserve. It is not Barclays responsibility to move funds from other accounts and will not do that unless the account is over the Reserve limit.
As far as the refund policy of Reserve fees and overdraft fees the bank will only refund in the case of a bank error causing the account to go into those limits, at which point all fees and other expenses incurred will be covered.

Hope that explains it.

hicskis

I would just like to furthr add - if your friend had an "off-set" clause in the contract i.e. the bank reserves the right to take money from another account if you're are in arrears then your friend may be able to argue that his loss was not mitigated when the Bank failed to off-set and take money from the savings account and therefore the losses he incurred are unreasonable.

C_Mababejive

pasti wrote: »

I thought I would comment on this as I work for Barclays customer relations which will the the area dealing with his complaint.
Basically the response will be as follows. He should have made sure that the funds were in the correct account to cover payments made from it. Customers are made fully aware of how their accounts work and the fees associated with using their various limits i.e. overdraft and Reserve. It is not Barclays responsibility to move funds from other accounts and will not do that unless the account is over the Reserve limit.
As far as the refund policy of Reserve fees and overdraft fees the bank will only refund in the case of a bank error causing the account to go into those limits, at which point all fees and other expenses incurred will be covered.

Hope that explains it.

Yes...thats exactly how i would expect a bank to respond these days and according to the letter of the law,t&c s etc,,,its perfectly correct.

There is no room for individual judgement and customer service these days. How foolish would it be to levy a charge on a customers current account if they were lucky enough to have £1m in another account? Surely the customer would feel hard done by and simply go elsewhere.