A&L Overdraft Query

Pokey86

I recently Switched my Halifax account to Alliance& Leicester using there switching service. Which appears to be more of a pain than useful but apparently without it i am not eligible for the £100 bonus. Which is one of the reasons i am switching, the other is i do not agree with Halifax's overdraft charges & had a row with them regarding what i was promised when i signed up & what recieved.

In short, when i went to Halifax the the person i signed up with informed me i'd get 3 months free from overdraft charges. so i payed off a catalogue bill & spent a month in my overdraft, saving me the catalogue interest charge. However i recieved a bill next month, naturally complained & they refunded it. I spent about 10 days in my overdraft the next month & recieved another bill. Phoned again but this time they wouldn't refund it, they stated as i switched internally (A halifax card cash account to a halifax current account i wasn't entitled to the 3 months free) That said i did write to further complain but got a rejection for any refund. Doubt i could persue that further, it basically boiled down to my word against the branch manager as to what she said (She denied it according to the letter i recieved. how shocking)That said my switching in in part due to that, i did read my T&C's for my halifax account but sadly i didn't read them thoroughly enough.

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Never the less i've switched to Alliance & Leicester now & they stated i get £100 cashback after 3 months provided i pay in £500 in the first 3 months, which to me covers the halifax charges i've recieved. The 0% overdraft for 12 months is a bonus for me.

But have people recieved this payment? Without trouble? I'd hate to get 3 months in expecting it & finding out there is some well hidden clause in the T&C that prevents me from recieving it.

Lastly, the overdraft switching service. I've been told that the criteria they require for people to be accepted for a current account is to send them the most recent statement showing:

• You pay in £500+ for the month
• You spend no more than 15 days of the month in your overdraft. (Don't have to be consecutive)
• You have 3 Direct Debits taken out in the month shown.

Now i'm perfectly fine for the first 2 points. The problem is i don't have any Direct debits, i have charges going out of my account from things like my catalogue & paypal etc. But these arn't direct debits right?

Does anyone know if i am at all eligible for an overdraft matching? Currently i have a £100 Overdraft & that's all i really want with A&L. If not is there any way around it?

Thanks for any advice given.I did look through a few pages to see if this question had come up before. But i couldn't find anything.

SmudgeUK

paypal, is a direct debit, thats the way paypal transfer money from paypal into your account and visa versa.

SmudgeUK

From a A & L email:

However, if you use our Premier Switching Service, we may be able to consider matching an overdraft you have with your existing bank. We will send you a Welcome Guide shortly. Please read this for more details about matching an overdraft. The Welcome Guide also contains all the information you need to be able to manage your account.

Pokey86

ah, thank you for the advice.

I always thought direct debits had to be consistent monthly charges.

MoodyBlues

There are no guarantees that you will get the £100 either way, however their overdraft facility is interest free for a year.
I received £100 for switching and have actually used some of the overdraft to pay off a credit card. They have been messing up my direct debits though...
I've heard of others that won't be getting the £100 for switching though, since the bank has decided they don't meet the criteria - even if they do..