Informal Overdraft Arrangement Fees?!

sugar_lump

Hi guys,
Me and my partner have just recently opened a joint account with HBSC. My partner was with HSBC previously and I was with Santander, we decided to go with a HSBC advance joint account.
I have set my internet banking up and just gone on there today to check our balance. There was a little red link under the bank account that said 'fees due to be charged to your account' or something like that. I clicked on it and it said that there is an informal overdraft arrangement fee of £150 to be taken out in a couple of weeks which was dated between April and May. I looked through April and Mays old statements and there is not a single occasion of going overdrawn at all. We have a £100 overdraft and there was 2 occasions we went into it but never went over it. So how do we have a £150 charge??
Before ringing them, I thought I would ask for some advice on here, in case they try to baffle me with jargon.
I'm not completely clueless but I've never had experience with these charges before.

Thanks in advance.

bengal-stripe

Did you have a cheque which had not cleared and so took you into overdraft territory? (A cheque gets credited instantly, but needs four working days for the funds to be drawn.)

Lokolo

£150 would mean you would have had 6 transactions whilst over your overdraft limit.

It could be an error. It might not be. Best ask them why.

sugar_lump

My partner did write a cheque to the DVLA for £20 which hasn't cleared yet but looking at our statements, £20 would not have made us nowhere near overdrawn....

sugar_lump

Thanks for all your replies, I have rang HSBC and they have explained to me that when my partner had the account before it was joint, he went overdrawn several times. They explained to me the individual times and explained the charges. So I guess it's just going to have to get paid, thanks again.

callum9999

sugar_lump wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies, I have rang HSBC and they have explained to me that when my partner had the account before it was joint, he went overdrawn several times. They explained to me the individual times and explained the charges. So I guess it's just going to have to get paid, thanks again.

It might be a bit late now, but it's worth getting your partner to call them back and see if they can reduce it. They are within their rights to charge you the full amount, but if you apologise for going overdrawn and promise it won't happen again they will sometimes remove all/some of the charges as a "good will gesture".

Worth a try at least - you've got nothing to lose by asking!

GlamGirlie

callum9999 wrote: »

It might be a bit late now, but it's worth getting your partner to call them back and see if they can reduce it. They are within their rights to charge you the full amount, but if you apologise for going overdrawn and promise it won't happen again they will sometimes remove all/some of the charges as a "good will gesture".

Worth a try at least - you've got nothing to lose by asking!

Callum is correct in that you have nothing to lose, but TBH I wouldn't waste your time in asking. The charges were legitimate so there is no reason for them to refund them. 'Goodwill' doesn't exist anymore!

callum9999

GlamGirlie wrote: »

Callum is correct in that you have nothing to lose, but TBH I wouldn't waste your time in asking. The charges were legitimate so there is no reason for them to refund them. 'Goodwill' doesn't exist anymore!

I can't speak for HSBC as I've never gone over with them, but it certainly does exist. I've had them refunded from 2 banks and a credit card in the last year (only the £12 odd fees though - not £150!).

You could be right that they won't get anything back, but I don't think it's a completely futile attempt!

[Deleted User]

Hi OP

Please do not take this the wrong way but that is a huge amount to incur charges for, by taking out a joint account with your partner you are becoming financially linked to them. Do they have a good credit history? Will this have an adverse effect on your credit rating? It does'nt sound like they have been managing their account well at all :S