Lloyds are about to charge me!

danster

Hi, I paid a cheque in last week to my lloyds current account. When I logged on a few days later I thought it had all been processed and I paid it into my ING account (where I would obviously get more interest). I got a letter the next day saying that i had insufficient funds and that they were going to charge me £35!
OK, maybe I was a little too quick in trying to take the money out of my account, but:
Why did the lloyds website allow me to try and pay monies into another account if I had insufficent funds and what is the process to get the £35 back? (i dont think theyve debited my account of the £35 yet). Should I phone them or is it better to write to them?
I think its really bad that their website doesnt detect whether you actually have sifficent funds before trying to pay into another account. The sceptic in me thinks this is just so they can charge in situations like this!

adrianbrak_2

danster wrote: »

Hi, I paid a cheque in last week to my lloyds current account. When I logged on a few days later I thought it had all been processed and I paid it into my ING account (where I would obviously get more interest). I got a letter the next day saying that i had insufficient funds and that they were going to charge me £35!
OK, maybe I was a little too quick in trying to take the money out of my account, but:
Why did the lloyds website allow me to try and pay monies into another account if I had insufficent funds and what is the process to get the £35 back? (i dont think theyve debited my account of the £35 yet). Should I phone them or is it better to write to them?
I think its really bad that their website doesnt detect whether you actually have sifficent funds before trying to pay into another account. The sceptic in me thinks this is just so they can charge in situations like this!

I would have checked my account first Danster - but as you say, why let me transfer money if I have insufficent funds. I would ring them up, stay calm and explain the situation to them. Tell them it was a genuine mistake and see how far it gets you, remember STAY COOL:cool:

[Deleted User]

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=409991

It seems that lloyds are on to a nice little con

dunstonh

Lloyds internet banking does tell you what cleared funds you have available.

jamesd

danster wrote: »

I think its really bad that their website doesnt detect whether you actually have sifficent funds before trying to pay into another account.

How is the web site supposed to know whether you plan to walk into the branch and deposit cash before the payment is sent? Or make a BACS transfer? Or transfer from another account with the same bank? You have lots of options, the bank can't predict your future actions very well.

If they don't let you start to transfer the money, they would get perfectly correct complaints from other people that they aren't letting them get at their own money, because they were ignoring these normal transactions that make it fine to do the transfer.

I suggest that you seek an arranged overdraft facility sufficient to cover all of your monthly bills and the value of any other transfers that you routinely make out of your account. This way the transfer or normal bills won't cause uncleared funds to trigger avoidable charges.

danster

Thanks for your replies. Is there a standard process of reclaiming this bank charge? Ive heard a lot about people reclaiming abritrary bank fees (£35 for sending a letter!?). Im going to phoen them later and see how far that gets me. Thanks.

Paul_Herring

dunstonh wrote: »

Lloyds internet banking does tell you what cleared funds you have available.

From the thread mentioned in the post above yours: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=4701262#post4701262

ejones999 wrote:

Here's a tip for all LTSB internet customers

When you log in to check your balance click on the blue lined account name - this takes you to a page showing AVAILABLE balance.

danster

OK, just to let you know. Ive just been on the phone to Lloyds and theyve waived the fee. She put a note on my file to say that if I do this again then Ill be charged, which is fare enough.
Im glad they could be flexible.

[Deleted User]

They didnt waive mine unfortunatly they said that they dont waive any fees any more to me so I think you have been lucky.

Im going down to close my accounts with them today and bank elsewhere

chesky369

I think a lot depends on how you approach the person answering the 'phone. If you're extremely polite and grovel a bit, it will get you further than getting cross - so I'm afraid it pays to bite your tongue. It also makes a difference if you've banked with them a long time and have a good record in this respect.

[Deleted User]

I did try to be polite and grovel but the guy seems a very stern person who took a very negative approach with me and told me to go away at which point I did blow my top a bit and acused them of ripping me off and that id take them to small claims but at that point I had already lost so it was just me going a bit loopy. I would have been prepared to close my accounts and take them to small claims as I believe the charges were totally OTT the sooner the FSA steps in and caps them the better as tbh if I saw a letter that said im getting charged £10 I would have chucked it in the bin and thought nothing of it but 70 quid for a tiny error was madness.

I had a lot more luck in person in the bank so now I am a happy chappy and will be a lot more careful in future.