Bank Chargers

michael3429

Hi all.

Looking for a bit of advise on my wifes behalf.

I have been looking into her account (with permission obviously) and she is receiving approx £100-£120 of charges monthly.

She has a tsb gold account and pays a fee of £12 monthly.

They are both to blame but i would expect more from the bank to stop this happening. They are allowing her to spend more money that is actually in the account and it's all due to the bank and how they display the balance. For E>G if there was £100 in the account today and i spent £50 on debit card in the shop you would expect the balance to say £100 balance and £50 available, but it doesnt it would say £100 available and would still show that for several days after. So after a few days of smaller trasactions popping to the shop etc she has no idea what her actual balance is cause last month the bank said there was £30 available she took the £30 out and then 2 days later account is -£25 because transactions have come out afterwards. Then that has then led to her now having £100 worth of charges for using unauthoriused overdraft and daily fee's. Yes my wife should manage this better but shurley we expect the bank to manage that better also. She only receives approx £300 into that account over the month from child tax credits and child Benifit and has £250 overdraft which she has had and been in for approx 10 years. She has never been able to clear it due to charges each month.

My main question is can we attempt to claim some of these charges back as the larger percentage of them are due to the bank allowing her to spend more than that is actually there. i would understand if they wanted to charge for returned items etc but this is them not managing this account correctly in my view. They could just look at the account see that it is only benifits been paid into this account and it is constantly maxed out into the £250 overdraft.

Any advise or critisism taken

many thanks in advance

dunstonh

They are allowing her to spend more money that is actually in the account and it's all due to the bank and how they display the balance.

The banks havent changed the way they show balances in a 100 years.

For E>G if there was £100 in the account today and i spent £50 on debit card in the shop you would expect the balance to say £100 balance and £50 available, but it doesnt it would say £100 available and would still show that for several days after.

I would expect the bank to say £100 was available until such time it has the information to know that there is a £50 withdrawal coming off.

Bank account transactions are not live and whilst some debit card transactions may be checked against balance and able to show as a potential debit coming off in future (often referred to as an earmark) most many transactions do not work that way.

So after a few days of smaller trasactions popping to the shop etc she has no idea what her actual balance is cause last month the bank said there was £30 available she took the £30 out and then 2 days later account is -£25 because transactions have come out afterwards.

Why does she not know what her balance is? She is spending the money and surely must be keeping a track of her transactions when she reconciles the balance?

It is not for the bank to do this for her. She should be doing it like most other people do.

but shurley we expect the bank to manage that better also.

No. That is not a correct assumption. Banks have never been in a position to give a reconciled balance based on transactions they do not know about.

My main question is can we attempt to claim some of these charges back as the larger percentage of them are due to the bank allowing her to spend more than that is actually there.

She could ask the bank nicely to refund the charges. Perhaps apologising for not understanding how a bank account works. However, unless you are both in financial hardship, you are going to be hoping for a goodwill gesture. They have done nothing wrong here. She is in one totally in the wrong.

i would understand if they wanted to charge for returned items etc but this is them not managing this account correctly in my view.

It still takes a staff member to look at the abuse of the account by your wife. They cannot bounce debit card transactions. This is about your wife not managing her account correctly.

Any advise or critisism taken

There is no way for a bank to know every transaction your wife is making. Most debit card transactions are not checked against the balance (floor limits will exist). So, what you are asking of them is not possible.

Back in the days before debit card, people used to write down on the cheque book what they paid in or drew out to keep a running balance. Nowadays, some people use software or spreadsheets and many still use notebooks. I suggest your wife does the same. Maybe every x days, take her receipts out of the purse and keep a running balance from those.

[Deleted User]

You can't claim back charges just because your wife insists on spending more than she has each month. It's up to your wife to budget her finances, not the Bank . Clearly there are better and more accurate methods of ascertaining her current balance too.

Basically, only customers who are currently in the Bank's definition of "Financial Hardship" will receive goodwill refunds of bank charges.

Enterprise_1701C

Why not just arrange an overdraft?