new bank charges..can they do this?

tuk

hope this is the right section...

I have an agreed overdraft limit of £1500 with llyods tsb which is usually maxed out ...I pay on average £25pm interest..this arrangement has been going on for 5-6 yrs

this month I get my usual 'notification of charges' letter and notice they have added a new charge called:

O/D USAGE FEE £5.00

this effectively means they have increased my monthly interest payment from £25 to £30 an increase of around 16.66%

I'm paying this from my jobseekers allowance so Im wondering if they can do this?

PNPSUKNET

it was a new term bought in not long ago, so yes they can unless you pay the o/d in full

CLAPTON

for an OD of 1500 you have paid about over 1,500 in charges/interest

must be a lesson to be learnt here

tuk

PNPSUKNET wrote: »

it was a new term bought in not long ago, so yes they can unless you pay the o/d in full

seems odd they can just change the terms when they feel like it..what if the new charge was £50 or £500pm

for an OD of 1500 you have paid about over 1,500 in charges/interest

must be a lesson to be learnt here

yeh, don't go to university

opinions4u

tuk wrote: »

seems odd they can just change the terms when they feel like it..what if the new charge was £50 or £500pm

They give you 60+ days written notice of any change.

If you don't wish to agree to it, simply pay off the debt and close the account.

yeh, don't go to university

The Great British education system. Has it crossed your mind to try and reduce the debt bit by bit to help reduce the interest charges?

alwaystryyourbest

As someone else has said they should of let you know 60 days before...
£30 is alot to pay the banks a month so if you can try to get a 0 % credit card and spend on that .and then your overgraph will be less to pay...but if you do this please remember to pay of your 0 % credit card off before it starts paying intrest...
Good luck...

alwaystryyourbest

sorry to be noisy but have you been paying overgraph fees for 5 to 6 years,,:eek:,if you have thats alot of money wasted...

kitschkitty

This was implemented in December and Llloyds did send out letters about it. I know as I had to sort out a lot of stuff myself to payoff my overdraft as I wasn't willing to pay this extortionate fee to them every month, no matter how small (or large) an overdraft I might have.

kitschkitty

alwaystryyourbest wrote: »

As someone else has said they should of let you know 60 days before...
£30 is alot to pay the banks a month so if you can try to get a 0 % credit card and spend on that .and then your overgraph will be less to pay...but if you do this please remember to pay of your 0 % credit card off before it starts paying intrest...
Good luck...

OP said they are on JSA so won't be able to get a 0% credit card, but I agree 5 to 6 years is a very long time to be paying so much in overdraft fees and they need to see if they can find a better way to manage their debt.

tuk

They give you 60+ days written notice of any change.

If you don't wish to agree to it, simply pay off the debt and close the account.

I got a 'general letter' ...but it was worded in such a way it wasn't clear at all that it would apply to me, taking the letter on face value they seemed to be saying I would stop paying the £25pm interest and only pay £5pm instead...which I knew wouldn't be right so I assumed they meant it would only apply to new overdrafts...say if you have no OD..then become overdrawn

now Im thinking they worded the letter intentionally, cos if they had stated clearly that the monthly interest payment was going up by 16% a lot of people would have complained..now they can say 'We told you'

sorry to be noisy but have you been paying overgraph fees for 5 to 6 years,,:eek:,if you have thats alot of money wasted...

to cut a long story short, I spent most of my life doing a physical job..until I had back problems and was told I had to do something else..at the time there was supposed to be a skills shortage in IT..went to uni to do a degree in computer science ...got the overdraft...left uni 5 years ago and haven't been able to find work...ergo I haven't been in a position to either pay off the overdraft..or reduce the debt by paying anything more than the monthly interest payments....not much wiggle room when living on £60pw

jonesMUFCforever

Tell the bank that you are financial difficulties - they have a specialist department who may be able to help you with interest and charges.