£1.08 Overdrawn - First Time Offense in 10 Years - Barclays Refuses to Waive £22 Fee

chambta

NorthernStudent wrote: »

The reserve fee is not a penalty charge, it's a fee for a service (hence the name). OP's mother made use of the reserve service on her account and was charged accordingly. The Ts and Cs of the service clearly state this. They also state that OP's mother has 5 working days to get herself out of the reserve part of her account or she will be charged another £22 (for further use of the service.

It should also be noted that the fees are applied 14 days after her next statement date (so she has plenty of time to get her accounts in order, so the fee will not cause her to go back into reserve). If the OP's mother is on JSA, then Barclays (or any other bank for that matter) will not enter into any further lending arrangements with her (such as an overdraft).

If you do not want the reserve, go into a branch and ask them to take it off, but please, don't hassle the staff there over it. It's not their fault that your mother went into her reserve, and nor is it their fault that the fee is £22 and will be charged as a fee for a service.

Also, re: the ATM balance. ATMs commonly show two balances.

The cleared balance is the balance at the close of business the working day before, but the available balance is the amount you can draw from your account right that minute. Make sure she knows the difference and doesn't make the mistake again.

HTH!

This isn't actually true.

Paul_Herring

dori2o wrote: »

legally they cannot issue a charge on a debt that is the result of an existing charge.

I doubt the 'legal' side of that argument, and further contend that they'll do it anyway until they're slapped and told to stop it.

Clear any debts up front, then claim back later. Don't rely on some case some months/years hence that they weren't originlly allowed to do it when the charges have been racked up to thousands.

jambosans

NorthernStudent wrote: »

The cleared balance is the balance at the close of business the working day before, but the available balance is the amount you can draw from your account right that minute. Make sure she knows the difference and doesn't make the mistake again.

The balance reflects same day debits and credits regardless of "status". By status, I mean, cleared, uncleared, pending, authorised, etc. The available (or sometimes referred to as the cleared balance) reflects the (possible) future balance, and is therefore, the more accurate of the two.

For example, cheques are generally displayed on the balance, but only the cleared and available balances demonstrate a cheques availability to withdraw. Similarly, pending/ authorised debit card payments are deducted from the cleared and available balances, but are not shown against the balance. The available balance will also include any arranged overdraft limit.

It is confusing terminology, in the simplest terms:-

• When anything "physically hits" the account, the balance is updated e.g. ATM withdrawal, cheque paid-in, etc.
• The cleared and available balances take into account items that have not cleared, and the latter (the available) includes any arranged overdraft.

My understanding of ATM's is they generally display "Available to Withdraw", which is deduced from your available balance. An ATM will not allow you to withdraw on the balance, which may, for example, include an uncleared cheque.

In cases such as the OP's mother, I would imagine, it was actually the debit card payment which caused the reserve. If there was a delay between the transaction and the available balance being updated, the ATM, would have not "seen" the transaction reflected in the available, hence provided an incorrect available and allowed withdrawal.

Adams1

NorthernStudent wrote: »

The cleared balance is the balance at the close of business the working day before, but the available balance is the amount you can draw from your account right that minute. Make sure she knows the difference and doesn't make the mistake again.

She knows how to use an ATM you know... I never said she didn't. The fact of the matter is the money shown as AVALIBLE balance was showing just over £10. So technically, she never made a mistake.

Adams1

jambosans wrote: »

In cases such as the OP's mother, I would imagine, it was actually the debit card payment which caused the reserve. If there was a delay between the transaction and the available balance being updated, the ATM, would have not "seen" the transaction reflected in the available, hence provided an incorrect available and allowed withdrawal.

Is this something she could use to her advantage? Some odd reason everyone here never really read the thread and just went on saying it was HER fault. Fact of the matter is, it showed she had just over £10 available, so she withdrew it.

noh

Adams1 wrote: »

Is this something she could use to her advantage? Some odd reason everyone here never really read the thread and just went on saying it was HER fault. Fact of the matter is, it showed she had just over £10 available, so she withdrew it.

It is her fault for not keeping track of her spending.
The balance shown at the ATM cannot take into account amounts that haven't yet been presented to the system.
She did have £10.xx available to withdraw when she went to the ATM. It was the debit card spend of £1.00 that caused the overdraft.

pmduk

The OP should make a formal complaint. This will cost the bank a great deal more than the original charge. Ensure that the complaint mentions that the manager refused to cancel the charge when asked. Eventually I hope that banks will realise that they are the cause of many of their own problems.

stclair

The bank has not made a mistake so why should they refund the charge?

Customer loyality dont mean anything in the banking world now adays your just a number !

izools

Something sounds highly amiss here given that Barclays offer a ten pound buffer across all of their accounts - both cash and current.

zppp

pmduk wrote: »

The OP should make a formal complaint. This will cost the bank a great deal more than the original charge. Ensure that the complaint mentions that the manager refused to cancel the charge when asked. Eventually I hope that banks will realise that they are the cause of many of their own problems.

Sometimes customers can cause their own problems too.