Alliance & Leicester (merged)

borgbaiter

Hi
A&L overdraft usage works out a huge APR if you have a small overdraft. The $ sign is on a fee notification for exceeding my overdraft too. doesnt inspire confidence when a bank doesnt know what currency they use :-(.


Borgbaiter

pault123

borgbaiter wrote: »

Hi
A&L overdraft usage works out a huge APR if you have a small overdraft. The $ sign is on a fee notification for exceeding my overdraft too. doesnt inspire confidence when a bank doesnt know what currency they use :-(.


Borgbaiter

Thanks borgbaiter!

Have you been charged the £5 max too? or a partial amount?

The way I see it if i'm going to be overdrawn for 10 days which is £5 anyway, I can then stay overdrawn for the full month.

Its still a bit underhanded of them, I didn't even receieve notification of this change :mad:

borgbaiter

hi

yes 10 days (£5) is the maximum for using an agreed overdraft, not sure were the month cut off is or if its based on calander month. however the fee for exceeding your agreed overdraft is £5 per day. cant recall if there is a 10 day limit on unauthorised overdraft but even if there is its a huge APR way over the top.

Borgbaiter

tom0407

I've been a customer with Alliance and Leicester for about 3 years now. I even have a mortgage with them. I have a number of accounts and pride myself by the fact I have never gone overdrawn on any of them.... Until now.

I received notification of their new fee structure in the post a couple of months ago and was quite shocked at what I read, but as I've always been very careful with my money, though at-least it wouldn't apply to me.

I withdrew £2k from one of my current accounts and transfered this money into my Alliance and Leicester savings account as this particular current account gets a pathetic 0.01% interest.

Unfortunately I had forgotten a direct debit for a new credit card was about to come out of this account, and this caused this particular account to go overdrawn by about £120.

As the Alliance and Leicester online banking hasn't been working reliably lately, I wasn't aware of the situation until the 8th when I finally managed to login. I immediately transfered £300 over to the account to bring my balance back into the black. So I was overdrawn for just one day, however as my account was already overdrawn another direct debit of £25 had already failed and I'd been charged ANOTHER payment review!

I've just checked my online banking again and they also want to charge me another £5 fee for being overdrawn, so in summary.

Overdrawn for about 12 hours = £55 fees!

After calling them now to ask for an explanation, the girl on the phone had a very apologetic tone in her voice and said they might be able to refund one of the £25 charges for me as I've been a good customer. But on reflection I don't think this is good enough.

I accept bank charges are a fact of life, but to me this tactic seems extortionate and complete day light robbery! I honestly can't understand how they can possibly get away with this.

I will write a letter to Alliance and Leicester and post on every forum I can find about this to raise public awareness of the big AL scam!

gryphon2

HI,

My first posting here!

I have applied to A&L to refund my charges (£936 inc interest) and finally received a reply (2 page letter and 2 page FAQ) from them acknowledging receipt of my complaint.

However, thay are stating that despite not being one of the banks in the test case they have asked the FSA to suspend the normal timetable for dealing with such complaints who have agreed subject to conditions that protect my rights. A&L have also asked the FOS and he courts not to proceed with any cases until the test case is resolved.

They do state that if Scotland is the most likely jurisdiction (which it is for me living in Edinburgh) then it is still possible to take my claim to the FOS or to the Scottish Courts although A&L say they will immediately apply to the court to put any action on hold. (I know that the maximum claim in the Scottish Small Claims court is £750)

So, my question is this. Do I sit back and wait for the test ruling to conclude whenever that maybe or do I try to pursue this? The way I read the letter it seems things will be put on hold either way!

Many thanks for reading this!

Colin

melissa'smoney

gryphon2 wrote: »

HI,

My first posting here!

I have applied to A&L to refund my charges (£936 inc interest) and finally received a reply (2 page letter and 2 page FAQ) from them acknowledging receipt of my complaint.

However, thay are stating that despite not being one of the banks in the test case they have asked the FSA to suspend the normal timetable for dealing with such complaints who have agreed subject to conditions that protect my rights. A&L have also asked the FOS and he courts not to proceed with any cases until the test case is resolved.

They do state that if Scotland is the most likely jurisdiction (which it is for me living in Edinburgh) then it is still possible to take my claim to the FOS or to the Scottish Courts although A&L say they will immediately apply to the court to put any action on hold. (I know that the maximum claim in the Scottish Small Claims court is £750)

So, my question is this. Do I sit back and wait for the test ruling to conclude whenever that maybe or do I try to pursue this? The way I read the letter it seems things will be put on hold either way!

Many thanks for reading this!

Colin

I've out mine in anyway so they are loged in the system....i doubt anything will happen and ive had the standards letters etc etc

Greg1974

I had put this on hold for a while, but I had another recent £30 charge for an unauthorised
overdraft calculated under A+L's new charging structure of £5 for each day overdrawn.
This charge took my account almost £30 overdrawn

Then last Friday, I received a letter from A+L that reads as follows . . .
(I've put the most pertinent part of the letter in italics.)

Our records have today highlighted that whilst you do not have an overdraft
facility, your account is currently overdrawn by £29.64.

Please note that when the overdrawn figure does not include any administration
or overdraft fees for which you are now liable. These will be notified to you
on your next statement. Full details of our existing fees are shown on the
back of your statement and on our website.

Please repay the overdrawn balance by 19th January 2008. You should not use
your card(s) or stationer until the overdrawn amount has been cleared.

They're demanding repayment of money they've already taken from my account balance!
That letter was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back. I'm now resuming my
efforts to reclaim all of the money A+L have effectively stolen from me.

I already received the full details of all my bank charges in form of reprinted statements
a few months ago, and I'm now in the process of writing a letter to A+L, based upon
one of the template letters from this website, to get all my money back, with edits
to reflect my current financial situation, and the Social Security Admin Act.


Here's what I've written so far . . .

I am writing to request that you kindly repay all the default charges that have
been applied to my account. I do not believe these charges reflect the true
overall cost to Alliance + Leicester Bank. The charges total £534.

Aside from the the more commonly used reasons about whether excessive
bank charges are unlawful or not, because I use my account with A+L to
receive my JSA benefit payments from the DWP, it is therefore a breach
of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 to apply charges that
deprive benefit claimants of money they’re entitled to by law

I therefore ask that you repay me the full amount mentioned above.
Please find a full schedule of the charges enclosed with this document.

I look forward for a full response to this letter within 14 days.


Does that sound OK?


I contacted the FOS by phone last Friday as well. Although they're sending out a letter
to A+L on my behalf, it was also suggested that I continue my own ongoing efforts.

Greg1974

In addition to my post above, which Alliance + Leicester address should my next letter be
better off being sent going to. My first letter was addressed to my local branch in Bury.

Alliance + Leicester Bank, 27, The Rock, Bury, Lancs, BL9 0JP.


Or would it be better off being sent to . . .

Alliance + Leicester, Customer Contact Centre
Bootle, Merseyside, GIR 0AA


Or the registered office . . .

Alliance + Leicester PLC
Carlton Park, Narborough, Leicester, LE19 0AL.

I want to make sure it gets to the most appropriate department to deal with it.

JanetM_2

In June last year I inadvertantly failed to make the numerical change required by the Alliance & Leicester whilst making a transfer from one bank account to another. I forgot to substitute the last digit of my account number with the first digit of my sort code when transferring by phone funds from my National Savings and Investment account to my A&L current account. It was not a deliberate act or one of negligence, just a pure accident, an admin error perhaps.

As a result, my A&L current account went overdrawn by £17.81 over two days then the funds arrived on the initiative of the NS&I. This was all without my knowledge.

On realizing my error I immediately contacted the A&L and informed them of what had happened and how. This was supported by a follow up letter.

The A&L failed to take into account the circumstances and added a £25 charge to the account which was up until then in credit. As a result of this action, the account went into the red and and now stands at £365.44. They have never responded to any of my several letters to them.

It's a long sordid tale which includes several admin errors by the Alliance & Leicester including sending letters of demand after the expiry of the demand dates, sending a letter meant for another customer exposing their account number, etc. etc.

Banking facilities have been withdrawn and at their request I have surrended my bank card and cheque book.

Their latest communication dated 27th December, received 19 days afterwards, demanded payment of the amount outstanding within 7 days of the date of the letter! They tell me the matter has now been put into the hands of their Debt Recovery Agency and that a County Court Judgement will be sought.

I have never previously transgressed in relation to any banking or financial matter. I would have been happy to settle the £17.81 debt with the bank but I fail to see why I should have to pay them the £365.44 debt that they themselves created.

I should add that this matter is now with the Financial Ombudsman Service but I'm not expecting a quick result. In the meantime the A&L continue with their bullying tactics.

Can anyone advise me please? What should I do? Should I be seeking professional help? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

JanetM (depressed)

tilly0212

Well i think alliance and leicester beat them all. I opened and account last june on reccommendation from this site and was very impressed to begin with, up until I made a mistake with a direct debit and was left £26.50 overdrawn only to be charge £25 for the two items that they paid calling them "payment review fees" and then to add insult to injury they have charge me £80 for going overdrawn for 16 days ie £5 per day, so for a slight oversight i have been charge £130!!! day light robbery. I have written to them and received a reply basically saying "tough" until the court case is over. It was my first offence with a new bank account you would of though as a gesture of good will they could of looked at it. Guess whose going to be looking for a new bank account!!! (or a thicker matress):eek: