Lloyds-TSB - cheeky blighters!

GeoffL

Here's one reason why you should always go over your bank statements and charges with a fine-toothed comb. Bottom line is that if you get your bank to refund wrongful charges, make sure they don't charge you for crediting the refund to your account:

I have both personal and business bank accounts with Lloyds-TSB. Transfers between my accounts are free, so I normally pay my own wages by phoning the business banking centre to transfer the net amount into my personal account. However, I had other business to attend to at the branch a few months ago and so I did the transfer in-branch instead. To make the transfer, the cashier asked me to insert my business debit card and then my personal debit card. The following statement showed that I'd been charged for a 'cash withdrawal' at 62p per £100 or part thereof.

I phoned the business banking centre and queried this. They insisted that the transaction from my business account was a cash withdrawal and the corresponding one into my personal account was a cash deposit. I said that no cash had crossed the counter and that I'd asked for a transfer from one account to the other and that I shouldn't be liable for their cashier getting it wrong. The adviser held firm and so I asked to speak with a supervisor, who agreed that on the balance of probability their cashier had got it wrong and 'as a goodwill gesture' they'd refund the charge.

So, as promised, the refund appeared on the next statement. However, on the statement after that, charges included 70p for a 'credit paid in' that could only have been their refund of the wrongful charge. I complained and they've agreed to refund the 70p - but I won't know whether they've finally got it right until the second statement after they refund the 70p, when I'll find out whether they've charged me another 70p for that 'credit paid in'!

I have to wonder how many people actually check their bank charges in enough detail to pick up something like this, and so just how much money the banks make from this sort of thing...

dunstonh

That isn't a case of them being cheeky. Its more a case of an inexperienced cashier getting it wrong.

The transaction you did was clearly a cash withdrawal with the cash being immediately paid in to the other account. However, an in house transfer should have been the forms filled in and not a cash withdrawal.

Unfortunately, the banks cant afford to train the staff up like they used to. So, a refund of the charge is the common sense response in this case. It's just a shame that you had to go through a couple of people to get to that response. I havent worked for Lloyds for nearly 20 years yet I remember the difference in the transaction type.

GeoffL

You've missed the point. The problem I have isn't so much with the initial wrongful charge but with them charging me to put it right!

It might only be 70p. However, if they charge that each time they reimburse a customer and credit their account with the amount of a previous wrongful charge, it's my guess that they're getting rather a lot that's not rightly theirs.