A&L Underfunding & OD Charges

surcha

Hello,

I would appreciate some help and guidance with an issue I have with A&L.

I opened a premier direct account in 2006 and been regularly funding since early 2009 when I opened a new account with Abbey National. My stupidity, I forgot that I am liable to pay the under funding charge for A&L account and left the account dormant.

In Oct 2010, A&L charged me £5 for under-funding and I was unaware of this. This made the account to go overdrawn and subsequently £5 a day (maxmimum 20 days a month) was applied, taking the balance to -£105. In November, the same thing happened and OD charge of £100 was applied taking the balance to around -£200.

I wasn't aware of this at all until I got a letter from their collections team that I need to pay this in 14 days else warning me of the consequences.

I did accept my part in this mistake but if I was notified of the charge when it happened first or when I went overdrawn, I would have paid this and closed the account.

Am I wrong to expect that they notify me when a charge is applied or should I just pay the money and take the blame?

Please help.

Thanks

molerat

You would have been notified on the on-line statement, being an on-line account, which you will see once a month when you log into your account which you must do according to the account t&c's. The e-mail they send every month would have reminded you of this.

surcha

Thanks molerat. Since I have not used the account for more than a year, I forgot to check the statements. As I said before, I accept that is a mistake but I would have expected a letter in post saying I am overdrawn...and give me a chance to get the account back to normal.

ses6jwg

When the account was opened the T&Cs mention the underfunding fee and the fact that A&L Current accounts are "primarily serviced online with branch use being limited to the deposit and withdrawal of funds"

thatsean

You need to swallow it, in essence you're cross because the bank haven't done your due diligence for you. You could use their complaints channel, but what do you have to complain about - that they acted in accordance with their own ts and cs? I'd chalk this one up to experience.

ses6jwg

This is why you should make sure you close accounts when you no longer intend to use them

surcha

Thanks guys for the advice. Lesson learnt.

AnonymousForObviousReason

Still worth while phoning up and see if they will reduce the bill.

surcha

Cheers, will do.

surcha

A&L agreed to refund me £100 OD charges for 1 month. Better than nothing, I am happy and learnt valuable lesson. Thanks to AnonymousForObviousReason and everyone for the advice.