Lloyds TSB charges

antrobus

(Scratches head)

OP had DDs going out on the Monday that would leave them overdrawn,

OP attempted to withdraw cash from their account to pay for the cost of travel to see a friend who was prepared to lend them sufficient cash to cover the overdraft, but ....

... the bank declined the withdrawal, because they had already allocated the available funds against the DDs going out on the Monday.

And thus because the OP couldn't withdraw any cash, they were not able to travel to their mates, couldn't get hold of the offered loan, and so went overdrawn and incurred charges. Ergo it's the bank's fault for not letting them withdraw the cash in the first place.

Is that it?

pudster75

(I meant loan not borrow) lol

I was told by my bank that I'd never have money taken out of my account on the weekend. I had a direct debit set up on my account and in the contract it states that the payment will be taken on or after a certain date. If my bank then decides to pay them early or on the weekend putting me in a position where I'm not able to cover the direct debits on the Monday then I can't see how that's my fault or why it is so confusing?

If I'd of been able to use the money I had in my account to travel up to my friends and get the loan off him then I could have put that money into my account first thing on Monday morning, as far as I know that is allowed. Not only was the money for the bank but it was also to help me out till I got paid.

If I sell something and the buyer pays by cheque, I promise them that I won't put it into my account for three days as requested, is it the buyers fault if I then put the cheque in that day and they get bank charges due to a bounced cheque?

If they'd said to me that they can take it on a weekend or the day before the weekend then that's down to me!

jonesMUFCforever

Did you read my previous post? Check the entries against a calendar.
You should have funds in the account one day before funds are going out.
Why did not the friend send funds to your account by Faster payment or pay it in him/her self on Monday morning.

Sorry but this was caused by nobody other than yourself - you did not have sufficent funds in your account to pay a D/D you set up.

pudster75

At the time of setting up the direct debit I had a job. The company I worked for lost the contract and we all ended up out of work with no redundancy, despite being on JSA I made payments off the loan. I occasionally defaulted and when I did I got charged. I paid the charges and just got on with it. When I was unable to withdraw money out of my account I was convinced that the bank had cocked up and wouldn't dream of charging me, I thought this was something that might happen to 1 in 1000 people, maybe more. I thought the £57 in charges was nothing compared to the stink I could kick up about money going out of my account when it shouldn't of, instead I was told that their computers don't make mistakes and I must have been mistaken on what day it was. Imagine how you would feel hearing that. I have read your post and it would be really helpful comparing the dates except I no longer have an account with them and I don't have a statement from that period, besides the bank have now admitted that the money was not available for me to withdraw on the Sunday (the same day as it was due to go out). I did put that in my thread. They have said that it was allocated to the two direct debits on the Friday (2 days before it was due to go out). If I'd of managed to get hold of my friend on the Friday and he had the money for me to loan off him then I still wouldn't of been able to get the money out to travel up to his. I knew nothing about banking back then, I'm not too good on it now but then I didn't think I had to be as it was so clear cut on what they can and can't do. I knew nothing about transferring money back then but then they didn't even leave me enough to make a phone call to him. As far as I was concerned they had messed up and left me in a really bad position. For the next few months I got nothing but phone calls and letters to the point where they were acting like loan sharks. 3/4 calls a week, mainly around eight in the morning or night and 2 letters a week, sometimes more.

They wanted all my bank details, date of birth, address and phone number before they would tell me who they were. As soon as I confirmed my identity they went on like a broken record. Could I get the money off a friend, a family member, a neighbour, did I have another account, was there another persons card I could use. They even asked if I had anything I could sell. It didn't matter how many times I told them it was in dispute they carried on calling, adding charges and sending letters. It got to the point where I had to change my phone number and my bank account. I had been with them for over ten years. I admit if I put my mind to it then maybe I could have come up with the money from somewhere else. A crisis loan, put something in the pawn shop, walked the eight miles to my mates maybe. As far as I was concerned they had done something that even their own staff refused to believe.

I have spoken to two other people within the three years since this has happened and both have told me that it was Lloyds who did the same to them. I wanted to get an idea of where I stood? Could they deny doing it for three years only to tell me that they did do it after all but that's OK because they've put it down to allocating funds. I've never heard of this and even the person I spoke to in Wescot Credit Services had never heard of it.

I thank everyone for their advice and hope that you never find yourselves in a position like that:)

jonesMUFCforever

So do I!
I take it you did not have PPI as you probably would have been covered.

sheilds

For the majority of banks the rules are you need to have the funds to cover a DD in your account by close of play the working day before it is due.
So if its due on Monday,you need to have the funds in your account on the Friday...some will allow Saturday,but most will not accept you lodging it on the day it is due. It will have bounced by then.

DTH

Ive been in a couple of slightly similar situations with Lloyds Bank:

- Once where I got funds into the account on the day a DD was due to come out, but after they had already been allocated to the DD, so causing me a charge.

- Once where I called for the opening times of my nearest bank while away on a Saturday and was given an incorrect closing time, so I missed it and was charged.

So one was my mistake and one was theirs, but on both occasions, I had a discussion with them and the charge was removed. The first time I was reminded of the terms / timings of DDs and when your money needs to been in your account. This was in effect, my 'yellow card'.

I think the key on both occasions was open and reasonable discussion. Whenever you have to go to a customer service advisor, you are dealing with a person, not just the system, and Ive always found that the more calm I am with the person, the more he or she tries to help, as in general, people like to help people.

I appreciate that the system is complicated, but this did seem to escalate very quickly. Im sure that Lloyds do not want to lose you as a customer if they can help it. Do you think it might be worth stepping back, writing a letter to explain how you think this might have been 50/50 in terms of fault to make this go wrong, and see if you can bring a happy resolution to the matter?

meer53

It seems to me that by not speaking to them, changing your phone number and your account, then admitting that you COULD (if you'd put your mind to it) have come up with the money, YOU have made this situation a whole lot worse for yourself.

Direct debits can always vary in when they are taken from your account and a direct debit due out on a Monday will always be showing on your account on the Friday before.

You admit that you didn't understand banking, i think you still don't. If you'd spoken to Lloyds at the time, all this could have been avoided, you obviously didn't or they wouldn't have passed the debt to Westcot.

pudster75

I understand where you're coming from. I was a customer advisor for many years so I'm never rude because I've been on the receiving end. I was given bad advice on the first occasion looking at the replies on this site. I understand that people make mistakes especially if they've just been trained. I did try to talk to them. The letter I wrote to them explained everything but the letter I got back didn't explain anything. Maybe it was 50/50 but I began to see them as the enemy trying to bully me into paying when according to what their own advisors had said they didn't have a leg to stand on. I just wished they had told me about funds allocation. I would have paid it if it had been explained to me. Maybe your right as well about me not knowing about banking procedures, I find that a lot of people only learn about banking procedures when something goes wrong.

I didn't tell the bank that I might have been able to come up with the money meer53

I don't know what's going to happen next. the letter I got was apologetic but mentioned nothing about the debt. I think I will leave it until the ombudsman looks into it and then take it from there, maybe write a letter to them.

Thanks everyone and have a great Christmas and New Year:beer:

meer53

Seeing them as the enemy and sticking your head in the sand and ignoring phone calls is a bit childish really. I know you didn't tell them you could have come up with the money, if you had you wouldn't be in this situation now.

We all have times when we feel hard done by. Despite you feeling that you were given the wrong advice, it's always best to try to sort things out. You can always complain later.

I don't want to sound as though i'm giving you a lecture but there are often posts on this board from people who just seem to to make things worse for themselves. This started in 2009, it could have been sorted in 2009.