Alliance & Leicester (merged)

kcmatt79

I'll be very interested to see what happens to your charge. We've tried and tried (in vain) to get our charges refunded but A&L are hiding behind the test case. All been point blank refusals so far! Good luck and let us know how you get on.

P.S. have a look at the A&L thread for more info on how they are truly screwing people!

borgbaiter

hi

Ive notice that A&L Change the order of transactions when ever it suits them. I had a similar thing last month, following checking my statement there was enough to pay a cheque out of the account, they still charged £25 fee and refused to refund saying cash i had paid in hadnt cleared(!!!). they refuse to refund and added £5 for being over drawn for a day. The statement clearly shows at no point was the account overdrawn.

dont hold your breath for a quick refund.

A&L are the worst bank ive been with and will be leavin as soon as i find time to change it again

Roll on the test case

Borgbaiter

JanetM_2

Hello,

I live in France but have an Alliance & Leicester current account to facilitate visits to the UK. I do not have an overdraft arrangement with the A&L. In addition, I have a National Savings and Investments savings account from which I transfer funds into my A&L Account. There is a strange requirement that is not adequately explained by the A&L that when one transfers funds it is necessary to drop one digit from the current account number and use that to substitute the last digit on the sort code.

In June last year I requested the NS&I to make a transfer of funds to my A&L account but unfortunately I forgot about making the numerical change as above. This was a pure accident on my part. I started spending on the current account on my arrival in the UK unaware that the transfer had failed. As a result, I went overdrawn by £17.81 for two days. On the third day the NS&I attempted the transfer again and this time it succeeded. This was all without my knowledge.

On my way home to France I checked on the status of my current account and saw that there was some sort of discrepancy although the account was in credit when I stopped spending on it. I contacted the A&L immediately on my arrival home and was informed that I went overdrawn at above. I offered my explanation verbally which was supported by a follow up letter. I had hoped the A&L would accept what had happened and allow me to come to some arrangement. Instead they commenced imposing charges to my account which swallowed up the £15.58 I had in credit and put it into arrears. The charges currently stand at £365.44 and are increasing despite my many letters to them. The A&L have never responded to any of my correspondence. They just continue to add their charges.

I have now lodged a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service but I gather that their decision may take a long time pending the outcome of the case involving the OfT.

In the meantime the A&L are demanding my bank card and cheque book and are about to advise the Credit Referece Bureau. They are also threatenting me with further action.

I just wondered where I stood and what to do as in this case I am not trying to reclaim charges, just trying to stop the A&L from what they are doing to me. As I said, when I left England my account was in credit and only went into arrears again when the A&L imposed their charges. What can I do?

Sorry this is so long. I've tried to abbreviate it. Thanks in advance.

JanetM

Meow

I spoke to Alliance & Leicester today, I have had an account with them for nearly a year and with the help of this site have worked hard to keep it in the black. I moved house a few days before christmas and the money for the move did not come through in time. As a result I have had two cheques and 3 direct debits bounce resulting in £150 of charges. These charges have taken me over my overdraft limit and I could now be looking at £3-400 pounds worth of charges over the next 4 days, which will put me in a right mess.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
It will be another 4 days before I can get the cash into my account so I called Alliance & Leicester to explain the problem to them, hoping they may be able to help. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
A manager called me today to inform me, almost aggressively, that there was nothing they could do. Despite NOT asking for a refund on bank charges she was only interested in telling me that it is impossible to refund charges due to the pending court case and as it was my error and not the banks there was nothing else they could do. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
I held my hands up to making a mistake and called for help from my bank, silly me. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
I can’t believe how rude she was, her directive seemed to be to ‘scare me off’ reclaiming bank charges. Telling me that she would have to fill in forms and I would have to pay £10 etc etc. I thought her job was to find ways to help the customer?? She really upset me.:mad: <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
I then noticed on the forum that Alliance & Leicester refunded a charge for another member. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
I want to write to complain, any advice before I do? Is it worth starting the reclaiming process while everything is on hold?<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Would appreciate any advice, thanks. :rolleyes:

AngryJo_2

Hi - I'm so angry I could weep. I phoned today as well and although I wasn't abused as you were, I feel as if I'm being mugged!

Briefly - I wrote a cheque in Oct for £13 which the person held on to and I forgot about. When it presented it took me overdrawn by £7.67, which I repaid immediately. Cue the £100 worth of bank charges, so I paid, then wrote and politely asked for a refund. I was sent a letter saying that all queries of this nature were on hold until the outcome of the court case was known.

I tried to close my account. Not possible apparantly because another £50 of charges were pending relating to the time between being notified of the original charges and paying it. Fast forward to this morning when I received a letter (dated yesterday) saying I owe £250.13. I phoned - I now owe £355.13, (£105 overnight!) increasing at a rate of £5 per day. Imight as well set up a standing order for £50 a month since this is a vicious circle! The only way out, I was advised, is to take cash into the branch and close the account then and there. (But don't worry, this doesn't mean I can't claim it back if the court case goes in the customers' favour!!)

That wasn't so brief, was it? Sorry - it's just that I've worked so hard to reduce my debts and clean up my credit rating and the A&L have swiped £450 odd. :mad: Not to mention blotted my credit rating.

So what do I do? I can't see any alternative than to pay up and hope I'll get it back...eventually...?

Meow

Angryjo - that's awful! I sympathise completely, I have worked hard as well and was so proud that I had managed to keep my accounts straight for 8 months, just to have it ruined by one mistake.

I can't believe how much that £7.67 is costing you!!!! They really do have a lot to answer for, for the majority of people £25-30 is a lot of money and it means nothing to the banks.

Halifax nearly left us homeless at christmas after making an error which would cost them a couple of thousand but us our home!

I am starting to think that all of the banks are the same and am considering keeping my money in an old mattress as it will be safer there. Before that though I will try Nationwide, have been told their customer services are good....

AngryJo_2

Thanks, meow.
In my experience, Nationwide are good - but only if you're careful to stay in the black. They aren't much better if things go wrong.

Re: your housing problems - we were almost repossessed in 1991. Our position was much worse then than now, so I know there's always a light at the end of the tunnel! At least I can pay my "fines" now - but having to deal with this has brought back some bad memories. We mustn't let them get away with it.

All the best

pault123

<table xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><tbody><tr><td headers="Description">"OVERDRAFT USAGE FEE 19NOV-18DEC 26 DAYS AT $0.50 SUBJECT TO A MAXIMUM FEE"

£5.00 charge.

First time i've seen this before on my statement, its todays date.

In $'s as well?

Tricky wording to get round the new banking code perhaps?

Maximum incinuating I could be charged more again tomorrow for example?
</td><td headers="Moneyin">
</td><td headers="Moneyout">
</td><td headers="RunningBalance">
</td></tr></tbody></table>

Lavendyr

A&L changed their overdraft policy recently. Instead of charging interest on any authorised overdraft, they will charge you 50p for every day you are overdrawn, to a maximum monthly charge of £5. Weird that it's a $ sign, seems like a typo on their part.

pault123

Ah fantastic that explains the £5 for a month of being overdrawn then, and the maximum fee bit I thought it was based on the dollar and they converted it to get the £5! :rotfl:

This is very sneaky of them usually I only pay about £1.40 for being overdrawn in my authorised amount. Another way to squeeze a bit more money out of us. :mad: