A & L Premier Direct Current Account

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Essenchill wrote:

Another quick (maybe stupid) query - if you need to give the address of the bank your account is set up at for direct debits and so on, but the account was set up online, what address do you give?!

I always use the address shown on my cheques and haver had any problems.

masonic

Essenchill wrote:

Another quick (maybe stupid) query - if you need to give the address of the bank your account is set up at for direct debits and so on, but the account was set up online, what address do you give?!

Use the address your bank asks you to use when writing to them.

masonic

lynzpower wrote:

Sorry yes your right. It shows an available balance which is not "available" to be used this is what I didnt understand

This is the definition of available balance from the online banking website:

Your available balance is your cleared balance taken at the start of the day and includes any overdraft facility. Your available balance may change throughout the day to include any recent transactions you have made including cash machine withdrawals, any Debit card authorised payments, branch and automated Post Office transactions. Any uncleared debit (e.g. standing order from your account) or credit (e.g. cheque paid in to your account) transaction is not included in your available balance.

(my emphasis)
So, the balance of the credit to your account should not have shown up in your available balance if it had not cleared.

Without knowing the relevant dates it's hard to say exactly what happened, but I would be inclined to take anything said to me over the phone with a pinch of salt. If the funds were showing up in your available balance the night before the cheque bounced and there were no other transactions to take you over your limit, then it sounds like A&L are at fault here.

MarkyMarkD

Having re-read Lynzpower's OP, I am finding it hard to understand the story at all.

She states that having found out that the deposit had cleared, she then wrote a cheque.

This cheque wouldn't have hit her A&L account until at least 2 working days after she wrote it, by which time any deposited cheque would have cleared even if it hadn't done already.

The only reason this wouldn't have been true is if the original deposited cheque actually bounced - and "available" (or in many banks' terminology "cleared") doesn't mean it's guaranteed not to bounce subsequently.

lynzpower

masonic wrote:

This is the definition of available balance from the online banking website:

(my emphasis)
So, the balance of the credit to your account should not have shown up in your available balance if it had not cleared.

Without knowing the relevant dates it's hard to say exactly what happened, but I would be inclined to take anything said to me over the phone with a pinch of salt. If the funds were showing up in your available balance the night before the cheque bounced and there were no other transactions to take you over your limit, then it sounds like A&L are at fault here.

but this is the point - It WAS showing as available balance.

I would have expected if the deposit hadnt cleared to show that I had about 30 quid "available" however, it was showing as 2k available.
Cheque wrote, cheque bounced, I called them said, its showing as available now, wehats the problem, they said, Oh it WONT be available till tomorrow it hasnt cleared (dad got a drafted cheque and not a bankers cash draft, I later learned) so It wouldnt be beyond the realms of possibility that I would ahve thought the balance would be cleared - or in A&L terms AVAILABLE, but it wasnt- especially as it was showing as AVAILABLE from the day of deposit- yet the cheque I wrote bounced.

when I called on monday they said it wouldnt actually "become available" till the following day, last tuesday- despite showing as AVAILABLE on Monday itself.

thats why Im so pi55ed off. they show an available balqance thats not available then have a go at me for not budgeting properly. Im like :wall: I got this account to budget properly- an internet account.

Incidentally my OH moved 30 out of his saver last tuesday and it still hasnt "cleared" is showing as AVAILABLE, but its not.

Dont say you werent warned

moneyandmountains

MarkyMarkD wrote:

You can't get Experian to correct your record; you would need your lender to do so. But they won't, because as far as they are concerned you missed a payment.

You can dispute the mark on your credit record. Even when lenders make a mistake they can often 'forget' to update the details on your credit record

For a dispute, the credit reference agency will contact the lender to get them to resolve the issue. If they don't respond within a reasonable time the agency will remove the mark from your record.

masonic

lynzpower wrote:

Dont say you werent warned

To be honest, I really can't get my head around this. I've paid in numerous cheques, done all sorts of transfers and never seen anything become available before it was supposed to have cleared. I was thinking it might be an isolated mistake, but now you are saying it happens to your OH as well?

When I pay in a cheque, it shows in my running balance the following day, but not in my available balance for another 4-5 days after that. When I transfer money into my account, it does not show up for 3 working days, at which point it should have cleared and indeed shows as available.

In several instances I have transferred funds elsewhere the moment they have become available, as I do tend to shunt money between different savings accounts from time to time, and I've never run into this problem you are describing.

masonic

lynzpower wrote:

when I called on monday they said it wouldnt actually "become available" till the following day, last tuesday- despite showing as AVAILABLE on Monday itself.

Hang on a minute! If the money was showing as available last Monday and the cheque had time to bounce before Tuesday (when you were told the funds 'really' cleared), are you saying you wrote your cheque on Monday and it was paid in, processed, and bounced all on the same day?

Or did you write the cheque before last Monday, and it bounced during processing in the small hours of Monday morning, because the money you were drawing against was not available on Sunday night?

lynzpower

no what Im saying is, dad put the funds in from up north on the tuesday. It showed as available immiediately, hence me presuming that he had deposited cash and not a cheque- so I thought nothing more of it as he usually deals in cash and he said "ive put the cash in your bank" however, he had meant ( turn of phrase) that he had deposited a cheque.

I wrote a cheque on the thursday, after seeing the balance was available.

I checked my account on Sunday night to see that the payment had bounced. And I was charged 35. So I called on monday morning to kick off, she said the deposit my dad had put in wouldnt become available till the next day, tuesday.


the payment bounced on the sunday- or at least thats when it was charged from.

Im not lying here you know

MarkyMarkD

If he paid in a cheque at an A&L branch on a Tuesday, there is absolutely, 100%, no way it would have shown as "available" in your current account on the same day. It wouldn't have even reached the processing centre until Wednesday and would have appeared on your account (but not available) until sometime around mid-day on Wednesday.

If you wrote the cheque on the Thursday, it wouldn't have been cleared against your account until Monday at the very earliest unless it was paid into another A&L account in which case it could, just, have cleared against your account on the Friday and it would then have bounced because the funds deposited by cheque on Tuesday wouldn't have been available for a cheque to clear against until the Monday.

Cheques don't bounce on a Sunday - it's not a banking day.