Warning: Alliance & Leicester account under funding charge

phantomwhale

ses6jwg wrote: »

This has always been a feature of the Premier and Premier Direct Current accounts in that you must fund with £500 per month or be charged £5. This was always well advertised in the account literature and online.

Thanks for this post and confirmation of what I believed my terms and conditions were - I've just looked from overseas at my dormant A&L Premier Current Account and found a similar £5 pound fee on it... except my balance is £718.20 and has never been lower

Can't recall any bank making as many errors as Santander in the past (it's not the first time) - suspect it's not the bank to be with whilst I'm abroad long-term !

At least there support lines are open beyond 9-5 (which at +10GMT is always a challenge).

noh

phantomwhale wrote: »

Thanks for this post and confirmation of what I believed my terms and conditions were - I've just looked from overseas at my dormant A&L Premier Current Account and found a similar £5 pound fee on it... except my balance is £718.20 and has never been lower

Can't recall any bank making as many errors as Santander in the past (it's not the first time) - suspect it's not the bank to be with whilst I'm abroad long-term !

At least there support lines are open beyond 9-5 (which at +10GMT is always a challenge).

You will be charged £5 for every month you do not pay in £500 or more.
Therefore the charge has been correctly applied. (I'm assuming you haven't paid any money in as you describe the account as dormant)

tobiascurious

Can anyone confirm that the required monthly funding for these legacy accounts has increased to £1,000?

agrinnall

tobiascurious wrote: »

Can anyone confirm that the required monthly funding for these legacy accounts has increased to £1,000?

No, the T&C's issued on 01 July 2012 state:

"Premier Current Account and Premier Direct Current Account (minimum monthly payment £500)"

See Your Guide to our Interest Rates and Fees, page 11.

tobiascurious

agrinnall wrote: »

No, the T&C's issued on 01 July 2012 state:

"Premier Current Account and Premier Direct Current Account (minimum monthly payment £500)"

See Your Guide to our Interest Rates and Fees, page 11.

Thanks. My friend's account (who I referred back in the A&L referral days) has been charged for underfunding despite there being a £500 credit. The account shows as "Santander Account" and the statement makes no mention of being a legacy account.

Does anyone's else legacy account show as "Santander Account" rather than "Premier" on their statement?

LittleVoice

When there was the original switch to the Santander branding, some people did get charged the £5 for funding between £500 and £1000. As long as one pointed it out, Santander did correct it - and may even have realised the error and corrected it on all relevant accounts.

The £5 was debited to my account in the first month but was reversed when I pointed out their error and it was not charged again.

I closed my A&L/Santander accounts but OH still has some. He tells me he logs in through Santander but the name of the current account is Premier Direct.

Peter999_2

I had this charge and this caused me to go overdrawn so they charged me £20 in all. I read the terms and conditions and found a clause stating that they have to advise me in writing before they charged me this and therefore I wrote them the following message on Internet banking and they refunded them.




I have just checked my Premier Direct Current Account and can see that you have charged me an underfunding fee of £5. As per the terms of conditions for the account, clause 27.2 clearly states that you will give me at least 14 days written notice that you intend to charge me. As you have not written to me to advise me of this charge, can you please refund the £5 to my account. Thanks



Don't know if the T&C's have changed but it's probably worth checking.

societys_child

I had this underfunding problem over 40 years ago . . with Barclays, so nothing new and not peculiar to A&L/ Santander

YorkshireBoy

Peter999 wrote: »

I have just checked my Premier Direct Current Account and can see that you have charged me an underfunding fee of £5. As per the terms of conditions for the account, clause 27.2 clearly states that you will give me at least 14 days written notice that you intend to charge me. As you have not written to me to advise me of this charge, can you please refund the £5 to my account. Thanks

I thought notification of charges for this account (which I have myself) was via email...probably in a message entitled "please view your statement/charges due to be applied"?

Peter999_2

Nope.

Fortunately, as I never delete any emails (and have over 40,000 of them) I have just looked back through everything I've ever received from A&L.

All I get every month is the "please check your statement" email and it always says the following :



This is a reminder for you to view your latest monthly account transactions, including any credit interest you may have earned, on your Premier Direct Current Account and PlusSaver Account through the internet banking service.
!
Remember, you will not receive a separate bank statement in the post.
!
If you have gone overdrawn without an Arranged Overdraft or exceeded your Arranged Overdraft limit, a Daily Unarranged Overdraft Fee of £5 per day for Premier Direct and £5 per day for Premier 21 will be charged to your account. Total fees that have been incurred on your overdraft during the month are detailed on your on-line statement.
!
These transaction details are only available online.



It has never mentioned any charges ever. Unfortunately they just refunded the money but didn't confirm or deny that they never sent me notification about the charge.