RBS - massive charges

opinions4u

Ring them.

Talk to them.

Explian that you were waiting for them to contact you.

Ask them to waive all the charges.

If they refuse, you could progress to the FOS.

But to me it looks like you've buried your head in the sand.

JohnWK_2

Hmm, that's what I was afraid of. I know there's a big difference between unethical and illegal, which is why the banks cover themselves with lengthy T&C's.

I'm normally quite on the ball with my money, but my phone bill is one thing I never used to check regularly as it was fairly stable (never really fluctuated more than £10 since I took out the lines). I had two lines, one for me, one for my g/f, and it was her who'd hammered the phone that month and not told me. I never use up all my free mins/texts.

I just find it hard to swallow that the bank normally bounce DD's for being short less than a fiver, but are allowed to pay this whopping one which there was no way of me rectifying until my next payday. Seems completely immoral.

izools

OP please note that there is a thin line between "going easy" on new members like yourself and telling the truth. I, and I imagine many other members, don't want to sugar coat the reality of the situation. The best possible outcome from all of this is your acknowledging that the onus was on you and most importantly going forwards in your banking endeavours loaded with the knowledge you need to prevent this happening again.

Call the bank, ask to speak to collections, come to an arrangement for repaying the balance.

Google "Direct Debit Guarantee", "Direct Debit Indemnity Claims" and "Cancelling a direct debit".

Check your balance more frequently, check all your bills the day they're available to view. Religiously.

Cancel Direct Debits and SOs you don't have the funds for and come to an arrangement with the company taking the money to repay the balance at an affordable rate instead of going OD.

Problem shouldn't re-occur then

JohnWK_2

opinions4u wrote: »

Ring them.

Talk to them.

Explian that you were waiting for them to contact you.

Ask them to waive all the charges.

If they refuse, you could progress to the FOS.

But to me it looks like you've buried your head in the sand.

No, I've written to them several times requesting an update (as I mentioned already). The reason I don't like having any kind of discussions with the bank over the phone is because they have a habit of denying all knowledge of conversations that have taken place. I spoke to the same girl twice over the phone the day I noticed the transaction. The second time she completely changed her stance and denied the first conversation even happened.

I'm writing them another letter now which I'll have delivered RD, and if they don't reply I'll just take it to the FOS.

izools wrote: »

OP please note that there is a thin line between "going easy" on new members like yourself and telling the truth. I, and I imagine many other members, don't want to sugar coat the reality of the situation. The best possible outcome from all of this is your acknowledging that the onus was on you and most importantly going forwards in your banking endeavours loaded with the knowledge you need to prevent this happening again.

Call the bank, ask to speak to collections, come to an arrangement for repaying the balance.

Google "Direct Debit Guarantee", "Direct Debit Indemnity Claims" and "Cancelling a direct debit".

Check your balance more frequently, check all your bills the day they're available to view. Religiously.

Cancel Direct Debits and SOs you don't have the funds for and come to an arrangement with the company taking the money to repay the balance at an affordable rate instead of going OD.

Problem shouldn't re-occur then

Yes, but there are ways of saying things. Anyway, the person in question apologised and I hold no ill-will so no point raking over old ground.

I'm well aware the onus is on me to keep my finances in order, but banks should not be able to pick and choose whether they decide to bounce DDs or pay them. If I don't have funds in my account, it shouldn't be paid, simples. Inconsistency in the way they treat a lack of funds is the biggest source of my discontent. The first time I spoke to the customer services, she could not explain why it had been paid, then the second time I called back she stated it was because I was a good customer and it was a good will gesture. She had no answer for why they had bounced a DD I was £3 short for only a couple of months previously (phone insurance I'd forgotten to change the DD date on, my fault, and was justly charged for it).

willo65

JohnWK wrote: »

I'm well aware the onus is on me to keep my finances in order, but banks should not be able to pick and choose whether they decide to bounce DDs or pay them. If I don't have funds in my account, it shouldn't be paid, simples. Inconsistency in the way they treat a lack of funds is the biggest source of my discontent. The first time I spoke to the customer services, she could not explain why it had been paid, then the second time I called back she stated it was because I was a good customer and it was a good will gesture. She had no answer for why they had bounced a DD I was £3 short for only a couple of months previously (phone insurance I'd forgotten to change the DD date on, my fault, and was justly charged for it).

When you have dd with insufficient funds this is an informal request by you for a temporary unarranged overdraft, when this happens the bank will either accept your request as they did in your case or decline it. When there isn't funds in your account unless you wish for a payment to be accepted by the bank then payments shouldn't be presented.

mclaren32

Clearly writing to the bank is getting any real response from the Bank.

You need to contact them by phone or visit any branch and establish if a complaint was logged originally and what happened with that complaint subsequently, there is little to no chance that the complaint is still open so you need to find out what the outcome was. It doesnt sound like the complaint has been handled correctly and if a complaint was logged you can contact the ombudsman 8 weeks from when it was originally logged i.e now. On the letter recieved relating to the complaint there should be a reference number which links it to the complaints system RBS retail use.

Keep a cool head and you may get a satisfactory resolution to this.

opinions4u

JohnWK wrote: »

banks should not be able to pick and choose whether they decide to bounce DDs or pay them.

Customers should not pick and choose when to fund their account after giving the bank an instruction to make a payment.

What you are basically saying is that it's fine for you to spend stupid money on your mobile phone and then not honour the bill when you receive it.

Grow up.

JohnWK_2

opinions4u wrote: »

Customers should not pick and choose when to fund their account after giving the bank an instruction to make a payment.

What you are basically saying is that it's fine for you to spend stupid money on your mobile phone and then not honour the bill when you receive it.

Grow up.

Read through the thread before posting, and you might not make yourself look like a complete idiot.

stclair

When you speak to lending on the phone what have they actually told you?

opinions4u

JohnWK wrote: »

Read through the thread before posting, and you might not make yourself look like a complete idiot.

I spotted:

At the start of April I had an unusually high mobile phone bill (over £400) come out of my account by direct debit. At the time I did not have the funds in my account to pay this

So you authorised a direct debit, used your phone and didn't fund your account in time for it.

Just saying ....