Co-op bank charges because of bank holiday?

sarah7610

I have recently had £78 in bank charges taken from my account. The charges were caused because my money was delayed going into my bank due to the easter bank holidays (good friday and easter monday). I phoned the bank to complain as I don't think these charges were fair due to the banks being closed and was a bit taken aback by the response.

They told me that it was my fault for not managing my account properly and that with the bank holidays coming up I should have changed all the dates on my standing orders and DD's or even cancelled them!!!
They also said that the payers off money going into my account should have done the same!

Is it just me or does this sound completely ridiculous? I have debts to pay and the agreements state the date of monthly payments. I can't go cahanging the dates as this would default the agreements!

Any advise would be helpful

Thanks

fozmcfc

Whilst it does seem a little harsh, ultimately it is our responsibility to manage our finances.

It does affect all of us even if we have the money. If it is something like a direct debit for a minimum payment to a credit card for instance, the payment is usually taken early to ensure it reaches the account in time because of the bank holiday.

I have had mates, who upon realising a situation like this is going to arise, have rung the companies who are going to take out direct debits and standing orders and asked them to take payment a couple of days later. Again though the companies who you ask can refuse.

Normally if it is something like an insurance payment or a utility company or mobile phone company they won't mind too much and usually do agree, but if it is financial companies such as for loans/credit card payments they will not.

I appreciate it isn't always easy to work out and I have had a couple of direct debits come out a couple of days earlier or later than expected. Once bitten twice shy as they say and now I always make sure that I have enough to cover debits which might come out very near to when I'm expect money to go into the bank.

UnderPressure

I an sympathise with this, and if Co-Op could see you had a "pending" credit maybe they too are being a little harsh.......

Generally speaking the only thing that should delay a credit is money being due to be paid into your account actually on a bank holiday, so in this case the Friday or the Monday, my experience with both direct debits due on these day and also credits is they are generally paid both in and out of your account the day before the bank holiday so in this case the Thursday, it would seem that wherever your credit was coming from was not all that prganised and had not taken the bank holiday on the Friday into account.

If this was an employer who should really know better you could try having a chat with whoever does your payroll and explain you have had these bank charges essentally due to their mistake, however I dont think the day before thing is an actual rul I think it is more of a courtesy from those that realise bank holidays mean banks are shut so not transaction on that day.

Saldy there is probably not too much you can do apart from pay the charges and then try your best to get 1 month in front with your diret debits and standing orders so that you are covered if this ever happens again, easier than it sounds I know my bank account very rarely has anything in it anywhere near payday but in an ideal world we would all have a little emergency fund sat there for such instances.

You could maybe try popping into your local branch if you have one near and explaining the situation to a CS that you had a pending transaction due on the Friday and this really is not your fault (in a way anyhow) is there anything they can do as a goodwill gesture? I would not hold your breath though, but you dont know unless you try.

£78 to a lot of people me included is a big blow in 1 go, another suggestion is Co-Op's fees seem a little ridiculous still, have a look at a Barclays Basic account, you need to try and make sure you never have any bounced direct debits but if you do with Barclays they now only charge £8 per DD.

Hope that helps..........

onlypaddy

Unfortunately its a condition of most accounts that credits are in the account by the end of the working day before direct debits are due. Unfortunately this can catch a lot of people out on bank holidays. Hopefully you can pleade for forgiveness if this is a first offence?

pmduk

sarah7610 wrote: »

I have debts to pay and the agreements state the date of monthly payments.
Thanks

You knew in advance when the payments were due. It is up to you to arrange your finances adequately. Sorry, but I reckon the charges will stick unless you can persuade the bank to cancel them out of goodwill.

pimento

I binned my Smile account because of their apply debits before credits process which took me overdrawn every month (with resultant charges) for ages before I woke up to what was happening. My fault, I know, but it really rankled when I was just pointed at their T&Cs when I enquired. It just seemed a bit like sharp practice.

I moved to First Direct and changed my mortgage payment date by one day.

opinions4u

sarah7610 wrote: »

I have recently had £78 in bank charges taken from my account. The charges were caused because my money was delayed going into my bank due to the easter bank holidays (good friday and easter monday).

It took the same number of working days, so it wasn't really delayed.

I phoned the bank to complain as I don't think these charges were fair due to the banks being closed and was a bit taken aback by the response.

They told me that it was my fault for not managing my account properly and that with the bank holidays coming up I should have changed all the dates on my standing orders and DD's or even cancelled them!!!

This nation does tend to have additional bank holidays at Easter and Christmas. It's not unusual! Perhaps shifting your payments out of your Co-op account back a couple of days or so would be prudent.

They are right to suggest that it's up to you to manage your account properly.

Is it just me or does this sound completely ridiculous? I have debts to pay and the agreements state the date of monthly payments. I can't go cahanging the dates as this would default the agreements!

In which case you need to fund your account earlier.

realaledrinker

Maybe worth re-querying these charges.

If this is the first time in the last 12 months that you have gone into 'unauthorised' overdraft and you cleared the o/d within 6 working days, then their T&Cs state that they will waive overdraft and unpaid items charges.

See

http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/cfscombi/pdf/0530C_WEB_CFS_128867.pdf

dzug1

I've found that direct debits due over a weekend or on a public holiday have invariably been taken the working day after, and that credits due in the same period (wages, pension etc) have been made the working day before.

Was this a matter of your employer paying wages late? If so it might be worth taking it up with him. Some wil certainly pay up if they are at fault.

davethorp

Regrettably all that seems to be able to be done with charges now is asking the bank very nicely for them back.

You could look at alternative banks that charge less. Someone else has already mentioned Barclays. Natwest/RBS only charge £5 for bouncing DD.

In addition Natwest/RBS handle bank holidays, weekends and payments different to several other banks. If a transaction is due to go in or out on a weekend or on the day following the weekend (monday normally, Tuesday or later in case of bank hols) it will show up on the first day of the weekend so in the example of the OP, their wages would have been showing as soon as the bank holiday weekend started and would have been there for the direct debits to be debited from. In the case of the forthcoming bank holiday weekend, our child benefit goes in on a Tuesday. Due to the bank holiday it will show up and be available to draw on from tomorrow.

Even better if you don't manage your finances like a robot and a direct debit slips the net and takes you overdrawn, you have until about 2PM on the day it is going out to correct the situation and the DD will still clear. Again taking the bank holiday as an example, our BT bill is due to go out over the weekend. Due to the bank holiday the transaction will show as going out on Tuesday but will show up and be debited from any balance tomorrow. If the transaction had taken us overdrawn (though in this case the child benefit payment will cover it) we would have until Tuesday at about 2pm to fix the overdrawn balance and the DD will still clear

Much more sensible way of doing things IMO (a couple of other banks do work in the same way but I only know about RBS and Natwest off the top of my head) and one that not only has cheaper charges than most banks but also allows you to correct mistakes if you make them (and unless you are a robot most people tend to make the odd mistake now and again) and avoid being charged