First Direct Charges - Beware!!!

TNG

CopperPlate wrote:

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

Blimey! See what you mean!

{quietly backs out of thread and slowly closes door behind him}

westernpromise

Queenie wrote:

No one forces you to choose a particular bank and when making the decision which bank to entrust your finances to, it's prudent surely to check the finer print...Yes of course there is a limit where I would find the level of charges unreasonable, just as I find the amount charged for certain items in certain retail stores 'unreasonable' and I then vote with my feet and my wallet!

How would voting with your feet help you when the banks all charge the same? Bank A charges you £25, so you vote with your feet and go to bank B who charges you....er...£25....how are you better off??

The issue is that some of us (including the OFT) think £25 is too much, and that we are prevented from gaining by voting with our feet by the fact that all banks charge the same.

Several banks who have been sued for the refund of such charges have actually advanced this in justification - "we only charge what other banks charge, so it's justified," in effect.

So what if the market decided to charge ten times as much? How would voting with your feet help you?

The correct level for these charges, morally, legally and economically, is whatever the transgressions actually cost the bank.

Queenie

Go back to using cash?

The title of this thread was referring to First Direct and the charges they received as a result of going overdrawn on their accounts.

I state again: I am very happy with the service I receive from FD. I do *not* incur huge fee's/charges because I don't go overdrawn. Simple. If that means that I have to go without one week/month or tighten our belts to avoid going overdrawn, that is what I do. Been there, learned my lesson the hard way. I wouldn't go overdrawn if the charge was £1 or £1000.

Banks are a business, not a charity. I understand the rules, adhere to them and as a consequence am not hammered by charges. If all banks charge the same fee's then clearly, FD remains my best bet for the services I use so there's no point in me changing.

vet8

I think Queenie needs to have a sense of humour transplant!

I agree with GSD4me. It is very hard to get out of debt when the banks charge you so much. Just when you think you have broken even they slap on a huge charge for th previous month's problem and you are back at square one again.

I have conducted an informal poll among those I work with and none of them admits to going overdrawn for the sake of it, they all say they do not want to get in the red but circumstances sometimes get in the way. Some posters here seem to think that others go into the red for the fun of it. No-one would pay these charges willinginly, they get into trouble and when the banks charge so much it is very hard to get out.

On a separate pont these boards are odd. Some of them are full of really helpful, sympthetic posters - the DFW one for example, others seem to be full of posters who support the banks and will never admit the banks are wrong.:D

Queenie

vet8 wrote:

I think Queenie needs to have a sense of humour transplant!

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

vet8 wrote:

On a separate pont these boards are odd. Some of them are full of really helpful, sympthetic posters - the DFW one for example, others seem to be full of posters who support the banks and will never admit the banks are wrong.:D

But the post wasn't about banks per se :rolleyes: it was referring to FD

Perhaps you would like to visit other boards because I've also been credited with being helpful, supportive, sympathetic and ... (this may shock you!) .. having a sense of humour :laugh: :rotfl:

Actually, what has amused me most about this particular thread is, originally, it was directed at FD .. yet, because I don't agree and have had a different experience of FD, now the posts are being directed personally at myself. Take it up with your banks if you have a problem, I did, and I wasn't charged :rotfl:

vet8

I don't feel the threads are being personally directed at yourself Queenie. My comment was based on your reply to what I thought were some very funny remarks by GSD4me.

Also if First Direct are charging these huge charges I think it is right for posters to say this. I don't think my bank charges that much, I can certainly find nothing in their T and Cs which state they charge so much a day. If First Direct is doing this it needs to be pointed out so posters lilely to go in the red can avoid them.;)

GSD4ME

I agree with vet8 that some posters on this board have the “If you are in the red it damn well serves you right. I am so perfect I never go overdrawn” attitude. I don’t think people go overdrawn for the fun of it either. Circumstances usually dictate it.

I appreciate the advice about working extra hours (we do that already), tightening our belts (we have already done that) and flogging stuff on e-bay (what I have got left is not worth flogging!!!) but for a lot of people it is not that easy to get out of financial trouble. And as for having three months worth of salary saved up!!! How I wish. !!! If I saved my spare cash every month it would probably take me about 15 years to save that and I shall be retired by then and still penniless.

I don’t want this to sound like a pathetic sob-story, :eek: but just to briefly outline our position. Due to an enforced job change for my husband we are not as well off as we were a few years ago, but as we both work very long hours and we do any extra jobs we can find, we can just about meet the essential expenditure every month. And I do mean ESSENTIAL. We have no mobile phones, no Sky T.V., have no holidays, I never buy clothes, we never go out (my husband works every evening anyway) and I only buy anything for the house if it is vital e.g. a new fridge when the old one breaks down.

I don’t expect any sympathy or help, this is our mess and we can get ourselves out of it as long as no-one screws us. :rotfl: We can just about keep our heads above water, but then the bank shafts us. If a cheque arrives late and they clap on a charge of £149 we don’t have that and have no way of finding that, so the next month we get charged that again and again and again. I realise that if a cheque bounces or is paid late that is not the bank’s fault and I have no complaint about paying a “reasonable” charge which covers the banks expenses. But if they pay the mortgage, which takes my husband’s account over his limit they charge an extortionate rate of interest anyway so how they can justify charging £30 per day is a mystery to me.

We recently took on a casual job, which involved the pair of us working every spare hour we had for 2 weeks delivering things. When we got paid for what was about 20 or so hours of work each that just covered one and a half month’s worth of First Direct’s charges.:mad:

The joke is that my husband only has an overdraft because of his charges, if I can manage to get them back he shall pay off his overdraft and have masses of money in the bank. We can then afford to pay a few other bills and maybe even treat ourselves to a (cheap) night out.:beer:

What really compounds First Direct’s crime in my eyes is that they telephone my husband every week or so and try to persuade him to take out a loan with them to stop these charges. Great in theory, but he would then be even more in debt to them which is the last thing we want. They also offer really high interest rates, it was 13.5% last time.

Excuse my long rant, but I do get very annoyed at some of the smug comments on here. Basically the cost of essential things like fuel is going up, salaries in general are rising only very, very slowly and a lot of people are going to struggle in the near future. The banks are just cashing in and trying to increase their already huge profits.

Queenie

GSD4ME wrote:

I agree with vet8 that some posters on this board have the “If you are in the red it damn well serves you right. I am so perfect I never go overdrawn” attitude. I don’t think people go overdrawn for the fun of it either. .... I do get very annoyed at some of the smug comments on here.

I've looked back over the thread and I truly can't find anyone who has the attitude "I'm so perfect .... blah blah blah" Nor do I read any that are being "smug"

If those remarks are in any way aimed at my own comments on this thread then let me clear that up.

At no time have I suggested that anyone goes overdrawn "for the fun of it" :rolleyes:

At no time have I suggested that "I'm so perfect ... " but yes I have stated that I've managed to pull my finances round and prevent getting into a financial merry-go-round of debt. I'm rather proud of that and rightly so. Until I took over the harness of the finances, we would have spiralled out of control. Of course I'm proud :laugh: deservedly so, being married to Mr Credit Will See Us Through Everything Don't Worry About it, means that I've done incredibly well. It's not through being "perfect" that I don't go overdrawn, it's because I commit time and energy into making it so.

Clearly you are angry about the charges you've incurred and the way it is dominating your circumstances. Hopefully, you'll channel that energy into finding the solution to your current dilema. I wish you well

oldandhappy

I would add here that I know my youngest Son pays around £20.00 each month to his Bank for managing his account...purley because of his debts and most of all to keep the excessive bank charges at bay..that have really helped to keep him in debt from the moment he became a bad manager....
Certainly I am not trying to sound perfect but after a few lessons with bank charges many moons ago and paid back to us after a few 'fights' we have kept enough in one account to feed the bills account with auto transfer when it goes to £20.00...If only our Son could sort his finances..maybe one day

GSD4ME

Queenie, I am not having a go at you, even if it sounds that way in my anger at the banks. But over the weeks I have looked at this board there have been a lot of posters who fit into the "smug-holier-than-thou" brigade.

I was just trying to say that most people in debt are there through their own fault yes, but they need advice and sympathy not b*tchiness. I was not accusing you personally of b*tchiness, but there have been a lot of others on previous posts who have made me abosutely mad with rage.