Argh!!! Freaking Bank Charges (rant)

saubryn

Warning - this is just a vent, had a bad couple of months.

I've been living on a very tight budget for ages - I'm on benefit, and two months ago my benefit got cancelled because of a mistake, so I ended up overdrawn, and got hit by 90 quid worth of charges. The bank wouldn't waive them because they'd already waived a set of charges ages ago when I got billed for an overseas transaction twice. They only do one goodwill gesture per year, apparently.

(Yes, I do intend to claim charges back - I'm setting up a second account elsewhere in case it goes badly first).

Anyways, when you're on 200 quid a fortnight, losing 90 hurts, especially when you're paying back 35 pounds rent fortnightly and 10 council tax... I tried to cut down on all but the bare essentials - cancelled everything due to go out of the account, and sold a ton of stuff to try to pay certain bills in cash, but I missed one thing (Tmobile took some money a few days sooner than I expected) and ended up overdrawn again - Tmobile was for me and my husband, so thats two transactions, and another hefty overdraft charge.

So, this month, once again, I have next to no money, and I'm perilously close to ending up overdrawn again - I think I've covered everything this time (TMobile cancelled for good too) but this no money thing is wearing thin - we were already on a tight budget, and now we've sold books, CDs, DVDs and computer games to get out of one hole and end up in another.

Sorry, just had to have a bit of a rant. I'm hoping this month will break the cycle, but seriously - how can banks expect people to survive when they do this kind of thing?

Rant over

If anyone has claimed charges back from Lloyds I'd appreciate your comments on how it went!

MCBIRNIE25

Hi Saubryn, i do hate banks with a passion, for all they stand for.
I hope things work out for you. I have reclaimed charges from Lloyds, found them more stubborn than other banks, but got there in the end. There is a whole thread for lloyds customers on https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk go to the forum and read how other lloyds customers are getting on for inspiration.

saubryn

Thanks, I'll get over there and have a look!

cattie1

just wanted to say i know exactly how you feel, when i was pregnant and already had a toddler my tax credits where stopped over christmas (of all times!) my baby was due in jan and my partner was made redunant, council wouldn't give us any benefits cos we had no information from tax credits! but it gets sorted eventually, get your letter sent away to bank and claim every penny you can-DO NOT ACCEPT FIRST CRAPPY OFFER! and you should be able to claim interest o the charges 2 i think! i have just sent my letter to llyods-i'll let you know how it goes! good luck,

saubryn

Thanks Glad you got sorted out eventually. The council and benefit people can be worse than the banks sometimes :fume:

basketcase

When my son's benefit was accidentally stopped a while ago, he got in touch with the benefits people and they paid the charges for him, since it was their clerical error.

Have you tried asking them?

nickyhutch

When asda messed up my online order and sent me overdrawn (again), the Halifax wouldn't waive the £30 charge, even though I was literally 2p overdrawn for a matter of minutes. They said to me "we only do goodwill once per year" too - I laughed my head off - you can say that again. I had to get her to repeat it it was so funny. Claiming back from asda, hopefully.

isgman

It's good to get it off your chest and out in the open,., it does you good to have a rant now and then....good luck