Another £35 charge

Lyndsay_21

I've given up on the refunds and decided just to accept fault. I was even crying on the phone today to the lending guy but he said the charges would still apply, so if that didnt work i doubt anything else will

virgin_moneysaver

I take it you have a Step account so are not elegible for an overdraft - I'm sorry but if you are not keeping track of the debits using your card you will get into difficulty - you can't rely on the balance being a 'true' balance as the british banking system isn't that sophisticated & switch/solo entries usually take up to 48 hrs to be debited - the telephone system gives you the option of knowing the latest entries that have gone thru so you could have checked if the Tesco's one had been debited - & any mini statement from hte ATM will give you the last 6 entries - so I'm afraid you must bear responsiblity for your card misuse, learn from it & keep a better check - it's not the banks fault that you are spending more than you got in your account - your only other option is to see if the bank will upgrade yor account to a standard current account & have an agreed overdraft facility - good luck

MarkyMarkD

Lyndsay,

You need to start keeping a running record of the transactions on your account. Transactions are either ones you initiate (shopping in Tesco, withdrawing cash, etc.) or they are automated - in which case the person debiting the money has to notify you in advance of taking the money.

So keep a list, or use the front of your cheque book, or something else.

You can't afford to be wasting £35 every time you lose track of your finances ... so don't moan at the bank every time they do things RIGHT - moan at yourself and change your record-keeping habits.

Walletwatch

virgin_moneysaver wrote:

your only other option is to see if the bank will upgrade yor account to a standard current account & have an agreed overdraft facility - good luck

To be honest, I doubt if an agreed overdraft would make too much of a difference here. The issue is totally on account of lack of a record of all expenses and expected outflows on account of automated DDs, etc. Even if you had an overdraft, you'd still have the problem of the book balance not being updated online. If the OP today goes by the balance to decide if she has sufficient funds, she'll do the same tomorrow, even if she does get an agreed overdraft limit, and then risk overshooting the limit.

Lyndsay

Fair enough,you've decided not to pursue a refund. However, I suggest you resolve another thing for yourself - not to give the bank any further opportunity to deprive you of these excessive charges for going overdrawn, This can be achieved by doing what the other posters have also recommended - keeping track of all your payments - I use an excel sheet, but there are other packages available, Ensure you only spend what you have got, and you'll never be giving away £35 for free in future.

Sorry if that sounded pedantic, but I do mean it - wish you all the best.