Unfair bank fees cause debt

Kevmulcock

I am looking for some advice regarding some issues I am having with Alliance and Leicester bank. I am sorry but there is a bit of a story...

I opened an A/L Premier Direct current account in Dec 06.
This account requires you to credit it with £500 per month or they charge a fee

Due to change in circumstance I wrote to them in May 07 to CLOSE THE ACCOUNT. and heard nothing back (but took no notice of this at the time)

I did not use the account (as I thought it was closed) nor did I check the ballance as I had no online access to the account because A/L changed the log in codes without informing me! (again this was not known untill later...)

I recieved a letter in November 08 informing me that "I no longer qualified for an overdraft on the account" and that "in 30 days they would remove the overdraft". I immediatly contacted them, and informed them that "the account had been closed for nearly 18 months. I was told that the account was OVERDRAWN by £124.07. This was due to their continuing fees on an underused account.

Many phone calls and complaints later, and A/L deny recieving the letter of closure and will not accept that the account hasnt been used in any way for all this time.
I was told over a phone call that they would suspend the account pending an investigation, but they were waiting for the test case about unfair bank fees to complete.

Once the case was completed, they considered that their fees were not illegal, so they wanted to collect the debt. I recieved a new letter in Feb 2010 telling me that the outstanding debt was now £237.65.
The phone call response to the letter informed me that the new amount was due to an overdraft fee charged AFTER THEY cancelled the overdraft facility. This caused caused the account to become even more overdrawn as they were norw charging me for being overdrawn due to THEIR original fees applied to the account.

At no point have I ever recieved any money or made any transactions from that account since it was "closed" but they insist that I have to pay the monies back for the debt that they have caused.

What do I do now?
Thanks for reading and for any advice:)

vaporate

Whether banks fees are legal or not is irrelevant, the bank failed to act on the request of closing the bank account.

However, the OP should have MADE SURE it was closed, not that the op should have to do anything further if bank staff did their job correctly.

I would take it further. Seek CAB advice.

usedandabused

HSBC's fees put me in the !!!!!!!!!!

they added to my debt immensely!

Lokolo

You received the original letter about the overdraft in November 2008 and you still haven't sorted it?

Kevmulcock

Lokolo wrote: »

You received the original letter about the overdraft in November 2008 and you still haven't sorted it?

Not quite as simple as that.

This is an on going saga. many phone calls and "investigations" made by complaints departments etc. also including the suspension whilst waiting for the court case.

What seems to happen is that they write to me to tell me I owe them money (caused by them); I phone them and dispute this so they investigate.... decide there is nothing illigal in what they are doing and write to me..... and so it goes on. The customer services people all state that they can not understand what is happening and they "understand my concerns". At the moment it is a bit of a stalemate situation. but I refuse to pay for a debt that I
a) Never had
b) Never caused

Lokolo

Kevmulcock wrote: »

Not quite as simple as that.

This is an on going saga. many phone calls and "investigations" made by complaints departments etc. also including the suspension whilst waiting for the court case.

What seems to happen is that they write to me to tell me I owe them money (caused by them); I phone them and dispute this so they investigate.... decide there is nothing illigal in what they are doing and write to me..... and so it goes on. The customer services people all state that they can not understand what is happening and they "understand my concerns". At the moment it is a bit of a stalemate situation. but I refuse to pay money back that I
a) Never had
b) Never caused

If you had gone by formal means this would have been sorted within 8 weeks.

If you write a written complaint to the complaints department, they have to resolve the matter within 8 weeks. If you are not happen with the decision you can then complain the FSO.

The fact you still left the account open even though you knew charges were racking makes me wonder if you did anything that's all. The debt has almost doubled since you received a letter concerning the withdrawal of your overdraft.

Kevmulcock

between may 07 and Nov 08 the account (as far as I was concerned) was closed. with £0 in it.

November I recieved the letter stating that overdraft facilities would be removed in 30 days. I phoned them asked for an explination and, told them to close the account (as they obviously hadn't). They investigated and Dec 08 told me in a letter that " no administrative error occurred that led to the fees being raised" so I still had to repay these fees. another letter in Dec 08 stated the overdraft had been removed.
Jan 09 a letter requests the money again. I phoned and refused stating the facts of closure and lack of access to account etc. 13 days later I recieved login details for internet banking for the account!
11 Feb 09 I recieved a letter stating that A/L have asked the "FSA to suspend the normal timetable for dealing with complaints about fees for unauthorised overdrafts" whilst the test case about unlawful fees took place.
NO CORRESPONDANCE was had until Feb 2010 when A/L wrote to me to tell me that the court case was over and I now owed £237.65 as the case had confirmed their position to charge.

Whilst this has been ongoing, A/L have told me that I cant close the account as there is outstanding debt!

Kevmulcock

Lokolo wrote: »

The fact you still left the account open even though you knew charges were racking makes me wonder if you did anything that's all. The debt has almost doubled since you received a letter concerning the withdrawal of your overdraft.

I see your point, But I can assure you I am writing this post looking at (and refering to) a pile of letters from A/L and hand written notes (times, dates and names) of people I have spoken to...

Lokolo

Kevmulcock wrote: »

I see your point, But I can assure you I am writing this post looking at (and refering to) a pile of letters from A/L and hand written notes (times, dates and names) of people I have spoken to...

Then use that:

Write to us at Let’s Work it Out, Alliance & Leicester plc, Carlton Park, Narborough, Leicestershire, LE19 0AL

Write a formal written complaint about it. Also stating that you wanted to close the account however they wouldn't respond until the charges case and they have added fees unfairly.

You could also state that due to the amount of times you have had to call up, write letters etc. in sorting the matter you feel as though the amount you owe is now out out of proportion given you have had to incur financial costs in dealing with this.

jambosans

Kevmulcock wrote: »

I phoned and refused stating the facts of closure and lack of access to account etc.

What are the facts of closure? If you sent a letter, was it via recorded delivery? Otherwise you have virtually no way of proving you requested closure in writing. If A&L have followed their complaints process and cannot find fault (or a letter from you requesting closure), they should issue you a letter of "Deadlock" or "Final Response", after such point you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. As, Lokolo said, this process should only take eight weeks.

Kevmulcock wrote: »

11 Feb 09 I recieved a letter stating that A/L have asked the "FSA to suspend the normal timetable for dealing with complaints about fees for unauthorised overdrafts" whilst the test case about unlawful fees took place.

You were not legally challenging the fees, so the Test Case is irrelevant, your complaint surrounds a closure which was not completed at your request, and the subsequent charges were incurred as a direct result of this request not being actioned.

Unless you can prove beyond reasonable doubt that A&L received a closure requested from yourself, and failed to act on this, then you have little recourse with the FOS, or even the Courts. You simply need to prove the former, to confirm the fault of A&L, but I get the impression you have no proof.

Kevmulcock

jambosans wrote: »

What are the facts of closure? If you sent a letter, was it via recorded delivery? Otherwise you have virtually no way of proving you requested closure in writing. If A&L have followed their complaints process and cannot find fault (or a letter from you requesting closure), they should issue you a letter of "Deadlock" or "Final Response", after such point you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. As, Lokolo said, this process should only take eight weeks.

I did not send the letter recorded:(

jambosans wrote: »

You were not legally challenging the fees, so the Test Case is irrelevant, your complaint surrounds a closure which was not completed at your request, and the subsequent charges were incurred as a direct result of this request not being actioned.

I have made this point clear to A/L but to no avail.
It does appear from the collective advice, that I don't have much of a leg to stand on.
It is somewhat frustrating that it took A/L 18months to inform me that I had been racking up these fees due to lack of account activity!
I guess a Final official letter of complaint must be worth a try:question: