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£1.43 Overdrawn - Over £400 in Bank Charges added

Hey there,

I'm new to the forums but I wondered if anyone could help me out.

I've recently moved abroad at the end of 2011 and I hadn't noticed that my Halifax bank account in the UK was £1.43 over the authorised overdraft in January (2012). Sadly I'd not got any internet banking access so it was impossible for me to check. (If I noticed, I'd have cleared it immediately)

Anyhow, 4 months down the line, they finally rang my parents to ask me to get in touch with them. After ringing I found that over the period of time I'd been charged over £400 in fees...

Obviously I realise that in their fine print they state that going out of the authorised overdraft at £5 a day... My only thing is, why didn't they attempt to contact me sooner via phone instead of letting the account run up so many charges, because it should have been very clear that the account had been inactive for such a long period of time, why wait 4 months?

I'm going to pay off the balance and close the account but I wanted to see what other peoples opinions are of this - it hardly seems fair to be charged over £400 for going over by less than £2

Comments

  • steve1980
    steve1980 Posts: 2,334 Forumite
    Just speak to them and plead stupidity. Apologise profusely and ask if there is any way of getting this reduced as you were abroad.

    Waiting fo 4 months before they got in contact is a bit strange but did they not send letters etc to your parents house (assuming you lived there)
    Estate Agent, Web Designer & All Round Geek!
  • SheaStine
    SheaStine Posts: 6 Forumite
    I'm assuming they did send letters, but as far as I was aware, they were returned to the bank with return to sender written on them.
  • steve1980
    steve1980 Posts: 2,334 Forumite
    SheaStine wrote: »
    I'm assuming they did send letters, but as far as I was aware, they were returned to the bank with return to sender written on them.

    Where were the letters sent to? Your parents house or somewhere else? If you moved out and didn't tell the bank you'd moved then that's just going to open up a big can of worms!
    Estate Agent, Web Designer & All Round Geek!
  • SheaStine
    SheaStine Posts: 6 Forumite
    Before I left I went into my local branch to let them know I was leaving the country. I had my cards cleared for use in Australia and I attempted to change my address. I didn't have an Australian address to give to them so the lady at the desk said that there was't anything that she could do. I did give them my parents address instead in the end although I later found out that they continued to send letters to my old property.
  • lilac_lady
    lilac_lady Posts: 4,469 Forumite
    I think you have a good case for getting the charges dropped if Halifax sent the notices to the wrong address. Fight it first, don't just pay up.
    " The greatest wealth is to live content with little."

    Plato


  • steve1980
    steve1980 Posts: 2,334 Forumite
    I know the answer already but did you get in writing?
    SheaStine wrote: »
    Before I left I went into my local branch to let them know I was leaving the country. I had my cards cleared for use in Australia and I attempted to change my address. I didn't have an Australian address to give to them so the lady at the desk said that there was't anything that she could do. I did give them my parents address instead in the end although I later found out that they continued to send letters to my old property.

    This would have been your get out of jail free card. When I moved I went into Halifax (when I banked with them) and gave them the address, no proof or anything needed (admittedly they put the wrong address in the first time....and the second time) but never once did I have to show proof.

    How did they know who your parents were?
    Estate Agent, Web Designer & All Round Geek!
  • SheaStine
    SheaStine Posts: 6 Forumite
    I was a little panicked about this when I found out so I told them I would pay up and they wrote down a promise to pay on my account. Does this stop me from being able to dispute the charges?
  • SheaStine
    SheaStine Posts: 6 Forumite
    Years ago when I opened this account I think it had my parents address on it - it was just before I went to university.

    Well this is the thing, it looks like they'd managed to sucessfully add my parents phone number but not revert back to the proper address
  • steve1980
    steve1980 Posts: 2,334 Forumite
    SheaStine wrote: »
    Years ago when I opened this account I think it had my parents address on it - it was just before I went to university.

    Well this is the thing, it looks like they'd managed to sucessfully add my parents phone number but not revert back to the proper address

    So they had no idea that your parents still lived at that address yet still contacted them!?

    That is shocking. Fight it all the way.
    Estate Agent, Web Designer & All Round Geek!
  • SheaStine
    SheaStine Posts: 6 Forumite
    Thanks for your advice, I'm going to give this my best shot - wish me luck! :)
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