Bank charges for overdraft

debt23

Hi all,

Just a quick question to get my facts straight before ringing the bank...

Ive got a debit card with Abbey and used it - but there were not enough funds in my account so it went overdrawn (I didnt do this on purpose, there were funds but I just lost track - the OD was only £5.00 odd!)

First off - I didnt think the debit payment would go through if there were insufficient funds in my account?

Now that it has, they have been charging me £15.00 a month unauthorised OD fee and putting interest on it.

This has gone on for a few months - Ive not seen the statements because (long story short) ive been living elsewhere and only caught up on all my mail yesterday.

Myfeeling is - I never asked for an OD - infact, given my debt history, thats the last thing I wanted, and was happy that the combination of debit card and no OD facility would 'help' keep me on the straight and narrow.

Any suggestions on how I should handle this very appreciated.

All the best

Debt23

debt23

Hi again all,

Ive had a skim round the net, and it looks like ive got my answer....

As my debit card is a 'visa' card its upto the bank if they honour the payment or not - and in my cae they have - turing a 5 pound bill into a much higher sum!!!

Well, suppose Ive only got myself to blame, but still annoys.

All the best

Debt23

~evanesco~

Debt23,

Claim them back!!!

There's a link on the home page, or try consumeractiongroup.

Evans. xox

leg_end666

~evanesco~ wrote:

Debt23,

Claim them back!!!

There's a link on the home page, or try consumeractiongroup.

Evans. xox

is it possible then for this kind of thing? was about to ask the same Q, my girlfriend went over her agreed limit has she withdrew 10 pound out of the cash machine, which it let her as it not accounted for her paying for her rail ticket that day, they charged her 30 quid for 1,50 OD over the limit, she asked on the phone but they dismissed it, but i said to her that they arn't going to say otherwise!
she also been charged on another account for something similiar, wrote a cheque ages ago for her student house, they took the money, took her over her limit and she got charged twice for it, about 80 quid in the end, would it possible to get that back? help much apprieciated as she is really struggling, her house payments have to be out before her student loan which really is just stupid! She owes everyone money including me and you can tell its getting her down, i can't help as i'm skint from lending her money.

kev84

I would try ringing the bank first. If you haven't had many charges then they will most likely refund it. Maybe tell them that if they don't, you will be writing the bank reclaiming charges letter as you are not happy with the service you have recieved.

If you have lots of charges, as it says in the article on the main page of this site, send the template letter (asking for 6 years of statements) which you will find in the reclaiming bank charges forum board. Then from there you can proceed to claim back your charges with the second letter in the reclaiming bank charges board. All the addresses and everything you need are there.

A year or two ago i was in the same position - not tracking my money properly. I had a debit card and because i went over my limit so often they took it off me and give me a standard 'savings' bank card. I'm glad they did it as it sorted me and my finances out!

The banking system in the UK is archaic in my opinion. 5 days for cheques to clear. Wait weeks on end for payments to clear that you've made to shops etc... 3 days processing on direct debits. Its ridiculous. Closing early (whats that all about?!?!?) my local banks aren't open on a saturday or sunday! anyway...rant over.

Hope this helps

Kevin

JohnInDebt

Go for it, I managed to get my OH's charges refunded. Just over £500 all from a couple of bad months after last Christmas which I only found out in the summer!

I did all the leg work but it was worth it in the end!

leg_end666

kev84 wrote:

I would try ringing the bank first. If you haven't had many charges then they will most likely refund it. Maybe tell them that if they don't, you will be writing the bank reclaiming charges letter as you are not happy with the service you have recieved.

If you have lots of charges, as it says in the article on the main page of this site, send the template letter (asking for 6 years of statements) which you will find in the reclaiming bank charges forum board. Then from there you can proceed to claim back your charges with the second letter in the reclaiming bank charges board. All the addresses and everything you need are there.

A year or two ago i was in the same position - not tracking my money properly. I had a debit card and because i went over my limit so often they took it off me and give me a standard 'savings' bank card. I'm glad they did it as it sorted me and my finances out!

The banking system in the UK is archaic in my opinion. 5 days for cheques to clear. Wait weeks on end for payments to clear that you've made to shops etc... 3 days processing on direct debits. Its ridiculous. Closing early (whats that all about?!?!?) my local banks aren't open on a saturday or sunday! anyway...rant over.

Hope this helps

Kevin

not sure if its in regards to me, would i be better starting my own thread, rather than hijacking this one? (sorry thread starter) IF its in regards to my girlfriend she has already had someone on the phone asking her for payment of bank charges being really nasty to her, saying get her parents to pay, and when she said she was skint asking her how she was affording to live and stuff like that, which seems out of order to me.

I'm angry at her for getting in this situation, and want her to sort it and move on, but after the nastyness of the banks i kind of want to get the charges back out of principle and i know it would really help her out too.

kev84

leg_end666 it was regarding your girlfriends charges

didn't realize i'd hi-jacked this thread!! sorry thread starter!

Anyway - definetly claim the charges back. Dependent on what bank it is will be how easy/difficult it will be. First Direct (my bank) settled my claim in 6 days. Just be wary that some banks close accounts after paying out i.e. alliance & leicester, nationwide to name a few.

I can't believe they are being so unreasonable. My girlfriend automatically got charges refunded because it was the first time in 12 months (barclays).

A good thing to do (if possible) would be at least to try and get within the overdraft limit to prevent further charges (don't forget monthly debit interest however!). Then open a parachute account incase they decide to close the account.

Kevin

leg_end666

cheers, she's with natwest, been reading about and seems like they don't like to give in easily. She mentioned on the phone to them about claiming back the charges as they were unfair, but the ones in regards to the house payments they tried to justify the high costs as it was a cheque for over a thousand pounds, think it bounced twice as they automatically try and take it out again a week later, and cos of this im not certain but think the fees are upto about 150 pound. They said to her that she knew full well that they would bounce when she wrote them (thats the kind of stuff they were saying on the pohne, just generally being nasty) the thing is she wrote these checks in July ish when she signed for the house!

kev84

All bank charges are unfair. Even if the cheque bounced- so what! they still have to make the same decision they do on whether to cash a cheque for a £1 !

Your girlfriend was silly (hope you don't mind me saying this)to write the cheque for a thousand when she didn't have the money in her account. But its not the banks job to point that out. She will learn from her own mistakes, and yes a charge would be reasonable at say £5.00 for the cheque bouncing, but £150 for a few pieces of paper in the post is ridiculous.


Merry Christmas

Kevin

leg_end666

kev84 wrote:

All bank charges are unfair. Even if the cheque bounced- so what! they still have to make the same decision they do on whether to cash a cheque for a £1 !

Your girlfriend was silly (hope you don't mind me saying this)to write the cheque for a thousand when she didn't have the money in her account. But its not the banks job to point that out. She will learn from her own mistakes, and yes a charge would be reasonable at say £5.00 for the cheque bouncing, but £150 for a few pieces of paper in the post is ridiculous.


Merry Christmas

Kevin

yeah she is silly, she's doing law at uni and can't even sort herself out, gets on my nerves, just been on the phone, the cheque was a pre signed cheque she wrote months in advance, she got charged by accomadation place for it bouncing, she got charged by bank for it bouncing, then got charged again a week later as the bank automatically tried taking it out again even though the accomdation place didnt?! She then paid using a different account, but before forgot about her phone payment so that bounced which she got charged for, but the money went out of the account and then charged her for being overdrawn, so in essence got charged twice for that one. THen the other was the train ticket and atm one as mention. Do you think she could get all them back, I definatly think the 30 quid for 1 pound is daft and should be disputed but the other ones she gets told different things by each person she talks to and generally gets lead around in circles?!

Appreiciate the help, and have a good Christmas people.