I can't believe banks can get away with this...

Walletwatch

ANNALISA69 wrote:

hi i also hate abbey at mo as i have just been charged 30 for 2 £6 unpaid cheques and then another 15 for unauthorised overdraft fee so £75 for 12,am leaving them with discustespecially since had paid in cheque that day

Are you trying to say that you paid in a chq today to cover payments that were due to go out today? If yes, fat chance that Abbey is going to honour your cheques, and not charge you fees. How does it make a difference what the amount on the chq was? You mismanaged your funds, and then tried to pay in money at the last moment and that too by cheque, which anyway doesn't make the amount available instantaneously. And even worse, now you take the moral high ground, and say that you're disgusted with them and are going to move to another bank. I would love to hear which other bank is going to honour your chqs in the above scenario, and not sock you a nice fat sum as overdrawn and chq return charges.

dougk_2

Ok I admit to be a good financial planner.

The trouble with banks (and life) is you need to plan in advance. I would suggest that the people on here can do a better job as we all have internet access (must have to be able to take part in the forum). Internet banking allows us to check and see what is happening with our accounts and that we should do on a regular basis. Perhaps a couple of times a week. I always check Internet Banking before writing a cheque or making a large payment.

I know that it is hard for people with little money , but you should always try and retain a buffer ABOVE the £0 mark. This may mean going without things for a week or too and then being really hard on yourself not to take any money out of your account if you are below this buffer (say £50). This way you can avoid unexpected charges if something goes slightly wrong.

virgin_moneysaver

ANNALISA69 wrote:

hi i also hate abbey at mo as i have just been charged 30 for 2 £6 unpaid cheques and then another 15 for unauthorised overdraft fee so £75 for 12,am leaving them with discustespecially since had paid in cheque that day

when you try & open an acc with another bank they will ask who you bank with currently & ask for at least 3 - 6 months statements, when they see that you are going o/d without arrangement they are unlikely to offer you an account, or only one with limited facilities eg. no cq book, no o/d, no switch/ maestro card. So it maybe not a case of changing accounts, other banks may not want you - Sorry

mippy

It's not always a case of 'going without', it's the difference between being able to eat or not.

" The trouble with banks (and life) is you need to plan in advance."

Ah,. if only it were always possible...

KrazyFool

ok so you are a good financial planner then maybe you should be in finance rather than IT....

dougk_2

KrazyFool,

The two are not mutally exclusive! Finance and IT go very close hand in hand especially when working on or managing projects. Yes some of what I have learnt comes from work (especially when you are looking after a £1m budget).

Walletwatch

KrazyFool wrote:

ok so you are a good financial planner then maybe you should be in finance rather than IT....

Krazyfool

I don't know where from you get the notion that anybody can be exempt from being a good financial planner. In today's day and age, if you want to avoid such situations where you're charged admittedly extortionate fees by banks, you have to maintain your account conduct in line with the Terms and Conditions. Which makes it compulsory for you to be good with planning your finances. Else, as somebody's suggested in some previous posts, the only option you're left with is to stash your money under the pillow, so you're not subject to charges, and hence, do not have to be a good planner.

KrazyFool

lol ok

i was just wondering whether he was in the wrong job - giving out financial "advice" all day when he should be giving out IT advice

Walletwatch

KrazyFool wrote:

lol ok

i was just wondering whether he was in the wrong job - giving out financial "advice" all day when he should be giving out IT advice

LOL. Guess I'm getting dense, if that was meant to be a joke and I didn't get it ;-)

j_dlaw

I'm leaving Abbey now as soon as I can. I too have had many problems with the bank, through bogus charges and bad mistakes.

Last month alone I was charged 60 pounds for clearing transactons while overdrawn. I had to explain to the company after a lengthy time in a phone queue that I had over 1500 pounds in my account when they claimed I was overdrawn. I stuck to my guns though and after another lengthy period on hold I got my money back.

I've lost count of the amount of cheques I've deposited, where they have missread the check and put in the wrong amount. Last month my wages were 7000 more than normal (I wish) due to their bad cheque reading and checking procedure.

On top of that, they have shut many of their branches in the Reading area. You can now expect a 20-30 minute wait to see the cashier in the central branch at lunch time.

Looking forward to getting out of this bank.