has my son been miss sold a bank account

tomcatvmp

yes he got his meals. ive seen the statement a long line if 1.50 followed by a 25£ chargefor each. i am going with him tomorrow so i will find out more. You can imagine how angry i am Lokolo , red mists had decended i'm afraid. i will let you guys know how i get on if your interested. and thanks

ow p.s as said he is in the army so when on camp he hasnt got a laptop so cant check anything online he relies on statements.

blueberrypie

He needs to rely on his own records, not statements. Even on-line banking can only tell you what has already been processed - not what's about to be paid tomorrow or how much money you'll have left at the end of the week. The most basic way to do this is to get a small notebook and write down every single transaction you make - then you always know exactly how much is in your account, and exactly how much you can spend.

Lokolo

tomcatvmp wrote: »

yes he got his meals. ive seen the statement a long line if 1.50 followed by a 25£ chargefor each. i am going with him tomorrow so i will find out more. You can imagine how angry i am Lokolo , red mists had decended i'm afraid. i will let you guys know how i get on if your interested. and thanks

ow p.s as said he is in the army so when on camp he hasnt got a laptop so cant check anything online he relies on statements.

This maybe a problem, does he have a mobile whilst at camp?

Lloyds send a weekly text with your balance and latest transactions. You can also get your balance straight away by texting a number and they will reply in a text.

http://www.lloydstsb.com/mobile_services/free_text_alerts.asp

CLAPTON

best to encourage him always to leave a small buffer of say 25-50 in his account so that small spends don't cause him to go over

also is there no ATM on or near the site so he can check his balance?

noh

i have visited a few army camps over the years for work purposes and there has always been an internet connected computer available for use and that was ten years ago. I expect it is even more common now.

tomcatvmp

noh wrote: »

i have visited a few army camps over the years for work purposes and there has always been an internet connected computer available for use and that was ten years ago. I expect it is even more common now.

he dosent have a laptop and his phone is old. there is apparently a good net connection on the camp. not everyone wants a all singing dancing phone.

IrishGypsy

Sounds to me like he had a regular adult bank account (simply with no overdraft) as the ability to upgrade other 'lesser' accounts (such as Basic Accounts or Instant Plus accounts) were removed several months ago. I'd certainly go and get your son to downgrade the Reward account to an Everyday account (no underfunding fee) if he believes he wouldn't ever use the benefits on the Reward Account (and seeing as he can't afford £1.50 meals without going overdrawn, I fail to see how he could justify spending £10 per month on benefits he may or may not ever use). If he's been Overdrawn in the last year, he'll stand practically zero chance of getting an overdraft as it absolutely crucifies the banks internal behavioral score (which stays on the file for 12 months).

agrinnall

It does seem that Santander have simply used this as an opportunity to sell a fee-paying account which is unsuitable, maybe take this as a good opportunity for your son to move to a decent bank.

However, the real issue is that he hasn't kept close enough track of his money - many people don't and get away with it but he's been hit with a bunch of charges which is a harsh lesson. He doesn't need an all-singing-dancing phone to make use of the type of facility Lokolo has mentioned, it's just text messages and I'm sure his phone can cope with those - other banks also provide this as well as Lloyds. Or just do what I did in the pre-computer days and keep a record in a notebook which can be reconciled against the statement every month. It requires a bit of discipline but as a soldier he should be used to that.

ses6jwg

If he is getting a lot of bank charges, such as unpaid or paid item fees - these are £25 each on the normal bank accounts.

With the Reward they are £5/10 each, so even if he is paying the £10, depending on how much he is getting charged he may be financially better off with the fee-paying account.

e.g. Normal bank account he is regularly getting charged 3x unpaid item fees = £75pcm in charges

Reward account he gets 3x unpaid item fees = £15 in charges + £10 account fee = £35pcm in charges.

Obviously though that is not a long term solution. The long term solution is that your son learns to manage his money.

However it is not the banks responsibility to manage your sons account - it is his. The Reward account is sold on non-advised basis, he would have had to sign a declaration to say that he is happy with the benefits package and the fee.

dawyldthing

or you can phone the automated system as all banks have it where you type in your details and they tell you what money is in there and whats going in/going out etc. If you go on to www.saynoto0870.com you'll find out what the normal number is for his bank which will be included as part of his mobile bundle