Bank made me overdrawn

noizeuk

Malory wrote: »

This is what good customer service is all about. You don't only do things when the rules tell you that you have to do things; you do something when it makes sense and will make things better for you and for the customer.

Customer has been putting money into the account regularly and not going overdrawn. A couple of months go by, customer has stopped putting money into the account. Customer is now constantly overdrawn.

How hard is it to try to contact the customer and find out what is going on? I bet if the OP suddenly came into a lot of money and put it in the account, someone at the bank would find the time to call them and try to sell other financial products to them.

It would be somewhat difficult for the banks to contact the customer, i mean if they were to generate a automated call prompting the customer to call the bank i'd say this was possible. Also, if no response was made, a letter then follow on to below which masonic suggested;

masonic wrote: »

What I'd like to see is banks freezing people's accounts after a month or so of continuous unauthorised/unplanned/unarranged overdraft usage, writing to them with a final demand, which they can either pay or convert into a personal loan. Their current account, upon reactivation would become a basic bank account. If they don't hear from the customer in a reasonable timeframe, the account gets closed permanently and the debt gets chased.

The latter part I think is good. There is already something in Natwests' system that identifies where Direct Debits haven't been paid for 2 or more, it stops the direct debit and calls for a new one to be set up. 3 charges in a row would prompt such suggested action to take place.

I will take these suggestions to my manager and see what response I can get. If it helps the customer, its helping the bank.

anna42hmr

noizeuk wrote: »

It would be somewhat difficult for the banks to contact the customer, i mean if they were to generate a automated call prompting the customer to call the bank i'd say this was possible. Also, if no response was made, a letter then follow on to below which masonic suggested;



The latter part I think is good. There is already something in Natwests' system that identifies where Direct Debits haven't been paid for 2 or more, it stops the direct debit and calls for a new one to be set up. 3 charges in a row would prompt such suggested action to take place.

I will take these suggestions to my manager and see what response I can get. If it helps the customer, its helping the bank.

There are letters which are sent out to customers from lloyds that are automatically sent if direct debits are not paid due to lack of funds (i saw one my brother had when he had a failed dd when he was out of work)

Customers also get letters each time they go into unauthorised overdraft and not to mention on statements every month if they have overdraft, dd rejection charges etc.

If customers ignore these letters, what makes any others less ignoreable.

At the end of the day lloyds lately have put in that many tools for customers to assist with managing their accounts, they cant make people act sensibly.

Customers of lloyds can sign up for free online banking, free telephone banking, free mobile banking ( with the free phone application) not to mention the number of branches on the door step..

Also customers can opt into free low balence texts which sends a text that cost the customer nothing when their account hits a pre set balence, and also the free weekly balence text that also shows last 6 transactions that they can opt into. Given that lloyds have a huge ad campaign at the moment about these money management tools etc people cant say they dont know about them.

pmduk

Won't the OP have received a bank statement during this period? Surely that would be the time to raise any questions?

Malory

noizeuk wrote: »

It would be somewhat difficult for the banks to contact the customer, i mean if they were to generate a automated call prompting the customer to call the bank i'd say this was possible.

When I've deposited large sums of money at once into an account, I've received unsolicited phone calls from a person (not a machine) at the bank trying to get me to open a new savings account or ISA.

If the bank can keep an eye out for unusually large sums of money going in (much more than normal monthly income), it can keep an eye out for a change in the opposite direction. And if it can pay someone to make sales calls, it can pay someone to make calls to people who appear to be having problems.

anna42hmr wrote: »

There are letters which are sent out to customers from lloyds that are automatically sent if direct debits are not paid due to lack of funds (i saw one my brother had when he had a failed dd when he was out of work)

Customers also get letters each time they go into unauthorised overdraft and not to mention on statements every month if they have overdraft, dd rejection charges etc.

If customers ignore these letters, what makes any others less ignoreable.

At the end of the day lloyds lately have put in that many tools for customers to assist with managing their accounts, they cant make people act sensibly.

Customers of lloyds can sign up for free online banking, free telephone banking, free mobile banking ( with the free phone application) not to mention the number of branches on the door step..

Also customers can opt into free low balence texts which sends a text that cost the customer nothing when their account hits a pre set balence, and also the free weekly balence text that also shows last 6 transactions that they can opt into. Given that lloyds have a huge ad campaign at the moment about these money management tools etc people cant say they dont know about them.

All true. I have a Lloyds account and signed up for the low balance texts.

I'm getting the impression that the OP didn't understand the account he signed up for and the options that are available, or that they chose not to make the effort of trying to understand.

noizeuk

Malory wrote: »

When I've deposited large sums of money at once into an account, I've received unsolicited phone calls from a person (not a machine) at the bank trying to get me to open a new savings account or ISA.

If the bank can keep an eye out for unusually large sums of money going in (much more than normal monthly income), it can keep an eye out for a change in the opposite direction. And if it can pay someone to make sales calls, it can pay someone to make calls to people who appear to be having problems.

The calls are mainly there to ensure your money is safe and working its hardest with the little interest you get on current accounts. They're doing you a favour really. But yes, regardless if they employ a squadron of charge-chasers or have an automated system, they should do something about this so that it doesn't create a snowball affect with the customers debts.

At Natwest, they're introducing more and more services to help maintain control over finances. Upper and lower bands (text alerts been around for yonks now), changes in security and instructions on your account. The act now alerts are very useful for when you are possibly in the OP's position. i.e. "Your direct debit is due however there is not enough money in the account to cover this, please visit a branch or credit your account by 12 noon." etc.

masonic

noizeuk wrote: »

The calls are mainly there to ensure your money is safe and working its hardest with the little interest you get on current accounts.

Actually, my current account pays a better rate of interest than any savings account that's available. Sometimes people who keep large sums of money in their current account actually know what they are doing.

Tally-Ho_2

I wonder if the OP had thought he had Lloyds 'Control' on his/her account, which stops the overdraft fees for going overdrawn by not paying most things like SO, DD's etc. It also puts a stop on ones debit card.

Details here: http://www.lloydstsb.com/current_accounts/control.asp

It seems like a good idea for those who may exceed the already generous free £10 buffer that Lloyds TSB already give to classic a/c holders.

Tally

ironlady2022

£10 buffer applies to all banks not just TSB.

zppp

mayling03 wrote: »

£10 buffer applies to all banks not just TSB.

Not correct. Natwest/RBS don't have a buffer presently, and are introducing a £6 buffer from February.

opinions4u

mayling03 wrote: »

£10 buffer applies to all banks not just TSB.

Care to back that up with some facts?