Can the banks do this to me?

Agent_Smirnoff

I was surfing another forum ,called the student room , but the money and finance subforum there is nothing compared to the MSE forums from what I can see.

I am only 17 years old and I have a current account with Nationwide. It is the FlexAccount. I only went into the minus areas by a few pence and got hit with a Paid item fee.

I can understand charging these fees to people over 18 but are banks allowed to charge a minor (such as myself) who :

• Cannot be reasonably expected to have so much money to pay about £15 a pop
• Is only a student on EMA. Therefore I would obviouly have barely a penny to my name
• Cannot be held accountable to a contract as I am under 18
• Has a CashCard+ (Scaled down version of a Visa Debit) Meaning that they should not allow any money to be taken out at the first place if there isn't enough funds , unlike a normal Visa Debit
• They didn't even debit the money on the day I authorised the transaction
  
  
  
  
  

I mean : Come on! :mad: For one thing..... If I bought something from Sainsbury's on Tuesday evening why do you debit the money for the purchase on Thursday or even Friday as matter of fact. It should be debited at the point of service.

I am sick of being hit with £15 paid item fees. I am seriouly considering refusing to pay and go back to one of my old banks.


I await the help of felow MoneySavers

Regards all

Jon:money:

Lokolo

Although TSR is pile of w***..... I'm sure you'll have had the same response.

It's your responsibility to keep an eye on the account. Money is earmarked when you spend it. There are 2 types of balances; Balance and Available Balance. When you spend money, it is taken out of your available balance, then after a few days it is taken out of your balance. You can see both in online banking and a cashpoint machine.

Yes they won't be able to charge you for unauthorised charges and you will be able to get refunded but at the same time you want to blame them rather than yourself. As soon as you turn 18 the charges will be valid and unless you sort yourself out you are going to get into a lot of financial trouble. Moving banks will not stop you getting charged for spending more than you have in your account once you turn 18.

noh

I am sick of being hit with £15 paid item fees. I am seriouly considering refusing to pay and go back to one of my old banks.

Then don't spend more money than you have.

themull1

If you knew that you had spent the money on Tuesday, what was the problem about it coming off your account on Thursday? if you keep a check of what you spend and know whats in your account, you won't go over your limit and be charged.

Andystriker

Agent_Smirnoff wrote: »

I can understand charging these fees to people over 18 but are banks allowed to charge a minor (such as myself) who :

Cannot be held accountable to a contract as I am under 18

"You can't touch me, I know my rights gov"

zppp

They are able to charge you, however;

1. They should be sympathetic to your age. If you have direct debits they should cancel the lot, as you are meant to be 18 years or older to set them up.
2. They cannot enforce an overdrawn balance/debt - this means that if they took loads of charges making it £100 overdrawn for example, it is unenforceable, and it would be up to you whether you pay it.

Agent_Smirnoff

Thanks.

I hope to get the recent charge quashed and the other fee refunded as I refuse to pay £15.

I am going to have to clean up my act with how I manage money. I shall admit , I am not the best money keeper

Saints2011

Speak to them depending on how many offences they may let you off. Wouldnt make a habit of it though, time to manage your money better !

callum9999

zppp wrote: »

They are able to charge you, however;

1. They should be sympathetic to your age. If you have direct debits they should cancel the lot, as you are meant to be 18 years or older to set them up.
2. They cannot enforce an overdrawn balance/debt - this means that if they took loads of charges making it £100 overdrawn for example, it is unenforceable, and it would be up to you whether you pay it.

Says who? I struggle to see how this is the case when child accounts specifically allow them to be set up.

opinions4u

Agent_Smirnoff wrote: »

I hope to get the recent charge quashed and the other fee refunded as I refuse to pay £15.

I am going to have to clean up my act with how I manage money. I shall admit , I am not the best money keeper

getting in to a situation where you 'refuse' to pay is something that will create all sorts of difficulty for an adult.

Time to grow up.

DCFC79

Agent_Smirnoff wrote: »

Thanks.

I hope to get the recent charge quashed and the other fee refunded as I refuse to pay £15.

I am going to have to clean up my act with how I manage money. I shall admit , I am not the best money keeper

the sooner you get into the habit of keeping track of the money the easier it will be