Bank of Scotland - charges even for un-used overdraft

pelirocco

There have been a lot of changes since BOS became 'Lloyds ' , most of them for the worse . We have held a business account with BOS for over 10 years , we always had an excellent relationship with the manager and staff , even tho our branch was miles away . Since the change , there is no relationship .

br1anstorm

noh wrote: »

....You are either a regular customer of BoS or a Private Banking customer.
......
You still haven't stated what account you have ie its name.
Nowhere on the BoS private banking site or the normal BoS site can I find an account that charges soley for the arrangement of an overdraft.

http://www.bankofscotlandprivateclients.co.uk/privatebanking/banking.asp

http://www.bankofscotland.co.uk/bankaccounts/

Noh - see my post at #18.

I am a Private Banking customer (now). I did agree to this.

I have stated what account I have. To repeat, it's a Flexible Current Account.

There is indeed nothing on the BoS PB site which states explicitly that a fee is charged for agreement to authorise an overdraft (as distinct from actually providing the overdraft itself).

Noh - see my post at #18 - and please READ IT!!

In response to opinions4u - I think there's a difference between a bank which screws up, and a bank which just screws its customers.

Fiddlestick

br1anstorm wrote: »

Charging a fee for holding-money-in-case-it-is-needed-for-an-overdraft is a bit like the situation where someone comes into the shop and buys a toothbrush, and the shopkeeper also charges him for the storage cost of toothpaste..... because that customer might, in due course, want to buy toothpaste!

In a sense they do charge - it's the business rates and rent/mortage on a property of sufficient size to hold sufficient stock, and that cost gets passed onto the customers.

noh

br1anstorm wrote: »

Noh - see my post at #18.

I am a Private Banking customer (now). I did agree to this.

I have stated what account I have. To repeat, it's a Flexible Current Account.

There is indeed nothing on the BoS PB site which states explicitly that a fee is charged for agreement to authorise an overdraft (as distinct from actually providing the overdraft itself).

Noh - see my post at #18 - and please READ IT!!

In response to opinions4u - I think there's a difference between a bank which screws up, and a bank which just screws its customers.

Firstly I apologise for not reading even seeing your post #18 previously.


In summary
BoS Private Banking customers with the Flexible Current Account are now being charged an annual fee for arranging an overdraft.
The price list on their site is dated September 2011 and doesn't show this fee.
They wrote and informed you of this charge in November. You didn't read the letter so were not aware of this until this month when the fee was debited.

Your experience highlights the need to read all literature received.

If you don't need the facilities offered by private banking then shift back to being an "ordinary" customer and maybe get them to pay you £60 a year by using a Reward Account.

jen245

The Reward account is no longer available to Bank of Scotland customers, only Halifax customers

noh

jen245 wrote: »

The Reward account is no longer available to Bank of Scotland customers, only Halifax customers

Yes of course they are now offering Lloyds accounts.
In that case the Classic with Vantage would be a better choice.

br1anstorm

noh wrote: »

Firstly I apologise for not reading even seeing your post #18 previously.

In summary
BoS Private Banking customers with the Flexible Current Account are now being charged an annual fee for arranging an overdraft.
The price list on their site is dated September 2011 and doesn't show this fee.
They wrote and informed you of this charge in November. You didn't read the letter so were not aware of this until this month when the fee was debited.

Your experience highlights the need to read all literature received.

If you don't need the facilities offered by private banking then shift back to being an "ordinary" customer and maybe get them to pay you £60 a year by using a Reward Account.

Noh - no need to apologise - forum threads are like a game of ping-pong: sometimes it's hard to keep track of the ball!

Your summary is elegantly precise and accurate - especially the bit about reading the literature! I would certainly have noticed, and been much less peeved, if the bank had actually indicated up front in the title or heading of the letter, "We are introducing a new charge from next month for your overdraft facility". After all they are not slow to highlight changes which can be presented as 'improvements'.

It is noteworthy that BoS, whose quality of service declined when it merged with Halifax, is now apparently getting even worse since the tie-up with LTSB. I'll contemplate in slower time a possible move of my accounts elsewhere. BoS Reward is no longer apparently an option. North of the Border LTSB accounts may not be a choice either: I have a small amount in an LTSB account and I heard news recently that the selloff of Scottish branches may mean that LTSB accounts are being shifted over to the Co-operative Bank.

Oh well, dealing with banks is rarely boring!