First Direct Charges - Beware!!!

TNG

Queenie wrote:

Now that's interesting, newlywed! Had no idea about that facility, thanks for the tip, I hope it helps others too :T

You can get one text a week for free, I believe

TNG

A mini-balance text, that is

ckerrd

I get a free text every Friday from them, great for keeping on top of things.
I think FD are very good, in as much as I hate banks

GSD4ME

"Isn't he responsible for keeping track of his own expenditure though? Or, do you think that it's the banks responsibility to contact the customer if they are in danger of going over their limit? The blue highlighted point indicates that even now there is no clarity on your part over the financial situation. Surely someone in control of their financial status wouldn't be using a phrase such as "something like that" ?

Did either of you contact the bank as soon as you realised that you were in danger of going over *your* agreed limits? "" QUOTE FROM QUEENIE

Oh dear some people on here are SO smug, holier than thou and high and mighty. I only said "or something like that" as I couldn't be bothered to look at the statement to see if it was £25 for the first day followed by £30 or the other way around. If I had realised that my every word would be used against us to show how profligate and hopeless we are I would have checked the wording with my solicitor. I am actually very much in control of our finances (most of the time)and really resent someone who knows nothing of our situation saying otherwise.

As for it being our own responsibility to know how much money we have I agree 100 per cent, BUT life is not always that easy unless you are super rich. My husband is paid by cheque, I know it is old fashioned, but that is the way it happens. If the cheque is given to him late (and this often happens) he pays it in later than he would like and as the banks take the ridiclulous time of 4 to 5 days to clear a cheque, even though this is now the 21st century, sometimes there is not enough cleared money in the account by the first banking day of the month when there are a load of DDs to come out.

I appreciate the bank has a right to charge people for going overdrawn, but £149 per month? That is highway robbery.

And yes we have tried speaking to the bank, BUT their comment is that they cannot do anything with DDs except pay them and charge him £30 a day or whatever (OOh I know I should not say that, I'll be had up for carelessness) or they can bounce them and charge him £38 to bounce them, so whatever happens we are stuffed.:mad:

If Queenie is such a know-it-all ,maybe she can suggest ways of paying the mortgage, council tax etc. etc. when the bank has not cleared a cheque presented to it almost a week beforehand. :rolleyes:

newlywed

Oh and I also get a text when my wages go in so that I'm never left wondering what day they clear!!

The mini statements once a week are free but to be honest I find the alerts have prevents lots more problems than the mini statements and so well worth the extra monthly fee (£2.50 a month standard not per text by the way)

newlywed

GSD4ME wrote:

My husband is paid by cheque, I know it is old fashioned, but that is the way it happens. If the cheque is given to him late (and this often happens) he pays it in later than he would like and as the banks take the ridiclulous time of 4 to 5 days to clear a cheque, even though this is now the 21st century, sometimes there is not enough cleared money in the account by the first banking day of the month when there are a load of DDs to come out.

I appreciate the bank has a right to charge people for going overdrawn, but £149 per month? That is highway robbery.

Know what it's like. OH is self employed and was paid by cheque. Cheques got given late, he was leaving for work at 6 am not getting back till 6 pm so no chance of visiting a bank, so everything used to bounce all the time. Now I pay it in for him as soon as he gets it and things have been better. Dread to think how much he's paid in charges over the past few years though. Not sure I can get my head round the process to claim it all back either! He's not with FD either, so it's not just them but most of em as far as I can see. Kick someone when they're down and broke and can't pay their bills.

Queenie

GSD4ME wrote:

...
Oh dear some people on here are SO smug, holier than thou and high and mighty.... If I had realised that my every word would be used against us to show how profligate and hopeless we are I would have checked the wording with my solicitor. .... I am actually very much in control of our finances (most of the time)and really resent someone who knows nothing of our situation saying otherwise. .....

I think the manner you have chosen to respond says far more about yourself than it does me

It's unfortunate you feel resentful that comments have been passed in a thread which you chose to post on a public message board and possibly didn't marry with your own perceptions on the matter.

GSD4ME wrote:

If Queenie is such a know-it-all ,maybe she can suggest ways of paying the mortgage, council tax etc. etc. when the bank has not cleared a cheque presented to it almost a week beforehand. :rolleyes:

I do not claim to be a "know-it-all" but I do hope that I'm not prone to resorting to petty put-downs or childish name calling in order to express my opinion. Martin Lewis holds the title of MoneySavingExpert and perhaps reading his book: The Money Diet would offer you some very practical and practicable solutions to your dilema?
There is sage advice in the suggestion that people should strive to have the equivalent of 3 months wages put aside in a savings account. Not an easy task by any means, but, it is do-able and in the circumstances you describe would most definately be beneficial for those occasions where there is a delay in a cheque being paid late or taking longer than expected to clear.

Ultimately though, you are free to choose who you bank with and if you feel that you are being subjected to "highway robbery" by your current bank, then perhaps you should rethink which company you bank with?

The OP was referring specifically to FD and, unlike yourself, I haven't had a bad or poor experience with them. *All* banks operate a charge system when accounts exceed their limits, not simply FD. Whether they should and how they should is another issue and not solely applicable to FD.

Yes, life happens and it's not possible to predict the unexpected. The way you have described your circumstances it appears that income can be quite unpredictable much of the time. That isn't the fault of the bank though. If cheques bounce, that isn't FD's fault, but the person who wrote the cheque. If cheques are late in being given to your husband that isn't the banks fault either.

CopperPlate_2

Hmmm. Perhaps everyone should take some time out and chill. This subject has been done to death on other threads and the same result has been got - there are two differing and opposing views on charges. Let's just agree to differ on this or it'll start to get personal (and already has in some cases).

If you need any evidence see the threads:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=236424&page=12

and

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=226699&page=12

and see how futile it is to keep going on about this subject.

CP

dougk_2

Everyone has to take responsibility for there own finances thats the bottom line.

The way not to pay charges is not to go overdrawn. If you are going to go overdrawn speak to the bank and get an overdraft agreeded to cut the charges and then try and work out some ways of stopping it happening (i.e. sell some stuff on ebay or at a car boot, cancel the holiday etc) - Simple isn't it?

Voyager2002

[/I]"" QUOTE FROM QUEENIE
As for it being our own responsibility to know how much money we have I agree 100 per cent, BUT life is not always that easy unless you are super rich. My husband is paid by cheque, I know it is old fashioned, but that is the way it happens. If the cheque is given to him late (and this often happens) he pays it in later than he would like and as the banks take the ridiclulous time of 4 to 5 days to clear a cheque, even though this is now the 21st century, sometimes there is not enough cleared money in the account by the first banking day of the month when there are a load of DDs to come out.

I appreciate the bank has a right to charge people for going overdrawn, but £149 per month? That is highway robbery.

And yes we have tried speaking to the bank, BUT their comment is that they cannot do anything with DDs except pay them and charge him £30 a day or whatever (OOh I know I should not say that, I'll be had up for carelessness) or they can bounce them and charge him £38 to bounce them, so whatever happens we are stuffed.:mad:
[/QUOTE]

I would suggest that you let the bank know about how he is paid, and that sometimes you will need a large overdraft for a few days. That is the kind of thing that banks can arrange: they would certainly charge you for an above-average overdraft limit, but it would cost much less than paying penalties.