First Direct - (merged)

Len_Beach

I have trawled the site and google but can't find an answer to my question.

I have been running through my dads bank statements and there have been recurring 'Overdraft Fee' debits ranging from £15 up to £30.

As I understand it, these are service charges for the arrangement of/use of the overdraft and are 1.5% of the overdraft limit with a minimum of £20 which has been introduced recently.

Would these be charged if an overdraft was arranged due to an excess or are they purely a charge for useage and unclaimable?

FunkyCEO

hello all,

I claimed a total of about £2k with First Direct (over 2 accounts) which i posted to them on 26th July.

Then of course a few days later the OFT announcement came and FD posted on their website how they would be putting all claims on hold.....

so imagine my surprise to pick my post up this morning and find an offer letter for the full amount (less the 8% interest - about £1650)!

So i guess you should keep trying! :beer:

Len_Beach

Any ideas?

These are not unauthorised overdraft charges but look more like arrangement fees.

Elsie2_2

Well, i should have gone to court on 3rd august, last friday and had the day booked off. They wrote to me on the monday prior to the court case and offered full payment as long as i agreed to have the money paid direct to my account which i still have with a debt management company. I wrote back to them and said i'd accept the payment, but thy had to pay me directly and not through any third party company and on Thursday, i rec'd my cheque for the full amount i was claiming. Yey!!!!

Hobsch

Good Afternoon All,

Anyone had success - or indeed hassle claiming charges from First Direct? I have successfully reclaimed MBNA and Lloyds so about to embark on FD.

Many thanks

macymoo

Yes, I have rclaimed from First Direct 3 times, the 1st time I had to go through the whole process, didn't get to court though, 2nd and 3rd time I just emailed them and they sent out a full offer within days. Easy Peasy !!! Good Luck

Dave_Richardson

Yeah no probs what so ever, they offered ful amount without interest in days.

Claimed £1441 +int they offered £1440, I took it LOL:beer: :beer:
Dave

finrodfelagund

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to share the latest from my 'lovely' bank. They've sent a message detailing changes to the way accounts (specifically overdrafts) are run. Basically, if you go over your overdraft limit from 1st October, they will now consider this to be an informal request for an overdraft extension. Guess what? This will be approved as standard, for which they will charge an 'arrangement fee' of £25...tada!! They have managed to disappear the 'penalty charges' and transform them into 'arrangement fees' - for which, of course, we have no comeback.

Clever gits! Having had £1345 back from them out of £1535 and already opened another account elsewhere, I shall be closing my account shortly and telling them exactly what I think of them.

Anyone else had similar from First Direct? Anyone banking with anyone else had anything similar? If not, I bet it won't be long...:mad:

Rafter

Sounds reasonable.

If you don't want the overdraft extension but would rather you got stranded at a petrol station or restaurant with no means of paying you can always open a basic bank account with no overdraft facility somewhere else.

Fact is that the public don't want to pay the cost of operating a current account so have to be subsidised either by poor interest rates or high fees and charges for non-standard services or breaching account conditions.

Personally I'll stick with first direct. Great service, good rates and as I manage my account properly and have an overdraft facility just in case I'll never get charged the £25 hopefully.

Good luck with your studies.

R.

spacehopper_2

Hello,

I recently received less than:eek: £300 from the USA, I know the sender was charged at their end and First Direct sent me a letter today to say they were charging me £8 for receiving it. £8 seems a bit steep for sending out one letter which I didn't request them to do as I use internet banking and do not receive my bank statements by paper anymore.

Anyone got any advise on how I should try and reclaim these charges?

Best wishes

Spacehopper