I'm so upset - Bank have left us screwed

*Sparkle*_3

i can totally sympathise with you!
Abbey have taken out £200 worth of bank charges yesterday, only just got paid on friday now i have £2 to live on until next friday...
i was planning to take out the cash today so i have something to live on, thinking that as its the weekend they wont take anything out til monday but they took it out on saturday.
I really hate abbey, i'm currently reclaiming my charges(over £2000) but as i need £120 for the court costs i'm stuck as i have no money....
so i can completly understand where you are coming from

Broken_hearted

You get the first charge automaticaly refunded if you havn't had any charges in the last 6 months.

Frugal_Fox

Bakeybadoo wrote:

... You are right, it's the feeling of being kicked in the teeth and being unable to do anything about it.

I remember that feeling well, I felt sick for days just thinking about it - in fact reading your post brought it all back to me.

Do you bank online with the Abbey? If so - you should be able to cancel the payments going out.

First thing on monday start the ball rolling to cancel the payments going into this account.

By fluke exactly the same thing happened to us. It was over a bank holiday weekend, it was Saturday that the problems hit and we had to wait until Tuesday before we could talk to anyone properly and by then over £350 had been taken in charges, so we were then over our limit and they charged us some more.

We are now going through the process to reclaim our charges. We could have done it sooner - but other things were of a higher priority. Hopefully we should be lucky and the money will come in very handy in paying off some of our debts! Mainly the b******y overdraft from the Halifax!

Bakeybadoo

gilly1964 wrote:

The telephone banking number for Abbey is 08459 724 724. It will be worth a call to see if they can increase your overdraft to avoid incurring further charges.

As another person has said £205 does seem to be a heck of a lot.

Does the breakdown make sense?

I believe Abbey charge £20 for going into unauthorised od, then £30 for a transaction which results in unauthorised OD and then £35 for each bounced item.

HTH
Gill

Yes we called them and no, they won't increase our o/d.

The charges never make sense from them.

They've charged:

Direct Debit was not paid because there was not enough money in the account - £25 (we do agree with that one btw).

Your instruction for £5 was paid when there was not enough money in the account - £30. (There WAS enough money).

Your instruction for £15 was paid when there was not enough money in the account - £30. (There WAS enough money).

Your cheque was paid when there was not enough money in the account £30. (There was enough for that).

Visa payment was paid when there was not enough money in the account - £30. (There was enough for that).

Your instruction for £12 was paid when there was not enough money in the account - £30. (Again, there was enough).

You went over your overdraft limit - £30. (No !!!!, really????)

Oh and several of these were paid. Several of them we called to make sure the charges would be removed and were told it was a glitch and to ignore the letters and no charges were showing on our account.

So, yes, we probably (although without proof, who knows) can get some of the money returned but we have to prove we were told the charges wouldn't be applied and it means whilst that is investigated, we have no money to live on.

We had 2 letter this month saying we were going to be charged, one was for a Visa payment to the council for our council tax. We KNOW we had enough money in there and it was paid but we got a letter telling us to the contrary, saying we would be charged next month but when we called? Yep, again, 'oh it's an error, ignore it....' So who knows what shock we could be in for next month.

*Sparkle*_3

Bakeybadoo wrote:

Yes we called them and no, they won't increase our o/d.

The charges never make sense from them.

They've charged:

Direct Debit was not paid because there was not enough money in the account - £25 (we do agree with that one btw).

Your instruction for £5 was paid when there was not enough money in the account - £30. (There WAS enough money).

Your instruction for £15 was paid when there was not enough money in the account - £30. (There WAS enough money).

Your cheque was paid when there was not enough money in the account £30. (There was enough for that).

Visa payment was paid when there was not enough money in the account - £30. (There was enough for that).

Your instruction for £12 was paid when there was not enough money in the account - £30. (Again, there was enough).

You went over your overdraft limit - £30. (No !!!!, really????)

Oh and several of these were paid. Several of them we called to make sure the charges would be removed and were told it was a glitch and to ignore the letters and no charges were showing on our account.

So, yes, we probably (although without proof, who knows) can get some of the money returned but we have to prove we were told the charges wouldn't be applied and it means whilst that is investigated, we have no money to live on.

We had 2 letter this month saying we were going to be charged, one was for a Visa payment to the council for our council tax. We KNOW we had enough money in there and it was paid but we got a letter telling us to the contrary, saying we would be charged next month but when we called? Yep, again, 'oh it's an error, ignore it....' So who knows what shock we could be in for next month.

this is what happens to me too.
I will check my balance online or even at the bank and work out what i can pay.
Once i make a payment using my card it reduces the available amount and then it takes a few days, then it comes out of my account,it seems like it comes out twice? i've never got my head around it??
then i end up getting charged for payments i've made when there was money in my account.
Is this what happens to you to bakey?

Bakeybadoo

Exactly!

Yes, I don't get it either. I mean, if you have a balance of £20, pay a £10 bill, your available amount shows as £10 so it's obviously been taken/reserved.

How come then, a few days later you get a charge, call them and they say you didn't have enough to pay it and it takes a few days to come out of your account???

mountainofdebt

I don't know this for sure but I am pretty positive that for the banks to use benefit money to pay off charges is not allowed....as I said I might be wrong but someone I am sure will correct me if I am.

I've claimed back nearly £3000 from Natwest in relation to bank charges so if you want to pm me I will go through the process with you and help you s much as I can if you do decide to proceed....which I strongly recommend.

Bear in mind though that this will be like a game of poker where they will try to put up as many barriers to you successfully claiming but as yet I haven't heard of the banks taking it all the way.

It might be an idea to go into a branch to see someone - not as impersonal as talking to someone over the phone but you will have the name of the person you spoke to as I think sometimes financial institutions can hide behind the anonomity of the call centre

moxie_2

If you haven't already, have a look at the consumer action group website. they have all the letters and everything else you need to start the process of getting your charges back : http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-action-group-against/

I'm not sure if it's illegal to take out your benefit money, but it sure is immoral. I claimed back £900 in charges from Nationwide last year so have also been through the process. Let me know if I can help at all.

gilly1964

I can explain a bit how it works as I used to work in this environment.

Your account says current balance 200, available balance 200.

The amount for you is £200, but during the day you use your debit card for £30 in one shop, £22 in another and then take £20 from the cashpoint.

The cashpoint receipt will now show current balance 180, available balance 180. The cashpoint does not yet know that you have spent £52 in the shops.

Overnight the computer system updates your available balance to remove the £52, so your available balance is now £128, but your current balance will still show as £180. This is because what has come off your account available balance is a Visa (Debit Card) Authorisation. The funds have not yet left your account as the physical withdrawal takes two days, therefore two days after you have spent in the shops your current and available balance should both say £128, presuming you have spent nothing else and no direct debits etc have come out.

To summarise, if you use cash machines as your most up to date source of information always check the available balance as that is what you really have.

HTH and does not sound like a lecture as it wan't meant to be.

Gill

Bakeybadoo

I see that logic but what I don't understand is before now, we've had say £50, spent £25 on the card in a shop and our available balance at a cashpoint and online, shows as £25 straight away and will only let us take out £25 at the cashpoint and then shows a £0 available.

So days later, how can it then (the card payment) be taken and we get charged because apparently there wasn't enough money to cover it?

We know what we have to spend and spend only what we have. Yet we often go over what we thought because they take it days later????