MSE News: Lloyds TSB and Bank of Scotland to revamp overdraft charges 15 June 2012 at 6:49PM in Budgeting & bank accounts 17 replies 6.2K views

Former_MSE_Guy

"Lloyds TSB and Bank of Scotland are scrapping some authorised overdraft fees but hiking others in an autumn reshuffle ..."

Read the full story:
Lloyds TSB and Bank of Scotland to revamp overdraft charges

MoneySaverLog

This bits good...

"Lloyds and BoS will no longer charge customers who are up to £35 overdrawn on their fee-free Classic accounts." as it used to be £10.

As long as you don't use the OD facility I assume they don't charge for having it available for true emergencies.

callum9999

Is this not exactly what the banks should be doing? Helping out those who occasionally slip into the red by a couple of pounds towards the end of the month while discouraging those who use the overdrafts recklessly?

(I know some people will be in the red just to put food on the table etc. so using the overdraft for that isn't a bad thing for their particular circumstances - but long-term borrowing on an overdraft is reckless).

FLAPJACK

I take it you still get the "Grace Period" of no charge if you go into O/D but repay it before 3.30pm.

tifo

I have a classic account which is meant to come with a £10 buffer ... today I got a letter that they've charged me for being £4 overdrawn (which consisted of the £5 overdraft charge and a few pounds interest). The letter said they "couldn't pay the payment you requested". It wasn't really overdrawn because account charges go on at midnight and the BACS payment came in at midnight as well.

In the past, account charges were not seen as "requested payments" like a direct debit.

MoneySaverLog

tifo wrote: »

I have a classic account which is meant to come with a £10 buffer ... today I got a letter that they've charged me for being £4 overdrawn (which consisted of the £5 overdraft charge and a few pounds interest). The letter said they "couldn't pay the payment you requested". It wasn't really overdrawn because account charges go on at midnight and the BACS payment came in at midnight as well.

In the past, account charges were not seen as "requested payments" like a direct debit.

Does seem odd, have you called up and asked about the £10 buffer?

tifo

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

Does seem odd, have you called up and asked about the £10 buffer?

Will do it on Monday at branch ....

I also have a cash card account which does not work in Halifax machines despite Lloyds saying it does (they changed some months ago) .... they don't know why. If I use it it at Halifax it throws the card out again as "this is not accepted".

10pence

I work for a well-known High Street Bank Company, and I thought our bank charges were steep - undisclosed buffer of £10 and upto £25 per transaction to no more than £150/per month - however these charges are day-light robbery.

I've had my privileges for refunding bank charges taken off me because I was refunding too much and have been placed on a performance improvement plan. I fear things will only get worse as banks look to bolster profits to pay for increased legislation.

DebtMagnet

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

Does seem odd, have you called up and asked about the £10 buffer?

Having wasted hours today trying to get them to explain why the £10 buffer isn't always available (even though it is advertised that it is part of the account) I have given up. I have had several different 'stories' from them and even had someone in the branch telling me that they don't make the £10 buffer zone public, to which I asked them for a copy of their banking terms leaflet and pointed out the wording in plain black and white!!

The bottom line (from what I have learned) is that the £10 buffer zone is there if it suits Lloyds for you to use it. If they see a way to charge you some cash then they seem to be allowed to opt out of giving it to you.

I'm currently looking to switch from Lloyds and reading this news item has just given me a further incentive to get on with it!

tifo

DebtMagnet wrote: »

The bottom line (from what I have learned) is that the £10 buffer zone is there if it suits Lloyds for you to use it. If they see a way to charge you some cash then they seem to be allowed to opt out of giving it to you.

Isn't that misleading and a breach of their terms?

Paul38

In response to an earlier poster who has been charged for going overdrawn with a Direct Debit. I had the same problem last month and like you it was a bit of a shock as I was always led to believe the £10 buffer applied regardless of what caused the overdraft.

Do you have online banking? If you do, have a look to see if they let the Direct Debit go through. On mine it showed that they had paid the Direct Debit then later in the day rejected it. I phoned up and argued that they paid it then withdrew it and clearly they were doing this to make money out of the situation. And I mentioned that I thought that this situation was why the buffer existed. They will say that it dont apply to Direct Debits but all you have to say is: "And where is this stated? The leaflet I got never made that clear." And they normally reimburse it.

Good luck.

Oh and if you are using the 0845 number, try (01733) 347007 much cheaper