Do Banks "Blackball" Customers?

Snowedunder

Short Precise of events


Had an added benefits account for over 5 years - no problems.


Earlier this year, 2 banking errors corrected and compensated by Banks' Complaints Department.


Same fault 2 weeks ago, was not able to get an appointment for a few days, so wrote a letter of complaint. Really nasty letter from the Manager.


Events as follows:


Direct Debit paid then pulled back - no reason - and no retry. Immediate late charge and failed DD charges added by both recipient (credit card) and onto my bank account.


I discovered this around mid day so paid recipient of DD directly and also paid an amount to cover into my account. both my faster payments just after mid-day.


4 days later, online statement showed no outgoing payments had caused non payment of DD, and sufficient balance on current account to have covered DD. Extra money paid into my current account was therefore never used to pay DD, so over the weekend I thought I had that cash to use, and indeed, a couple of debit card payments were authorised.


On Sunday night online statement showed, account was again overdrawn on Monday (next day) with Monday balance showing - remember this is Sunday, so they had projected into 'unauthorised' od, but I could not project my regular Monday income as it was not Monday.


Now received a statement of charges for the above amounting to nearly £100. Maximum unauthorised overdraft from use of Debit card was £51 - but remember these amounts were projected on Sunday, but on Monday I was in credit and covering this amount, which were posted on (Sunday), but dated Monday!!


Now the point I am raising, I have tried online to open a current account with no OD or credit card - first was refused - so tried another, this to was refused. Credit Files are OK so, have I been 'blackballed' or is it my age and income - retired on pension.

Dobbibill

Why did you need to pay money into your account to pay the companies directly if you had available funds?

If you didn't have available funds, due to paying in a cheque that hadn't cleared or due to using your debit card which had reduced your available balance then this would be the reason the DD's were returned unpaid.

Each bank will have it's own criteria for any application for a current account. What do you mean by 'blackballed'?

Have you checked all 3 CRA's, they may hold different data

Hope this helps

DB

grumbler

Snowedunder wrote: »

Direct Debit paid then pulled back - no reason - and no retry. Immediate late charge and failed DD charges added by both recipient (credit card) and onto my bank account.


I discovered this around mid day so paid recipient of DD directly and also paid an amount to cover into my account. both my faster payments just after mid-day.

If the DD bounced for "no reason", why did you need to pay money into account later?

Now the point I am raising, I have tried online to open a current account with no OD or credit card - first was refused - so tried another, this to was refused. Credit Files are OK so, have I been 'blackballed' or is it my age and income - retired on pension.

Any bank can have some internal 'blacklist' or 'blacklisting' marks in the accounts. A shared 'blacklist' does exist, but only for reporting fraud.

colsten

Snowedunder wrote: »

Really nasty letter from the Manager.

what did the really nasty letter say?

Snowedunder wrote: »

Now received a statement of charges for the above amounting to nearly £100.

You haven't said which bank it is but £100 charges for one failed DD doesn't sound likely. There must be some other reason for the charges. Have you checked the previous statement, as it will have detailed what charges will be levied in the next statement?

You need to get to the bottom of why you were charged.

Snowedunder

Hi,


Sorry if I was not 'clear'.


The reason I paid money into the current account the same day was that they were saying 'insufficient funds' so in haste I paid into the current account more than sufficient to pay this DD in the event of a banking error (this had happened on 2 occasions previously this year), and although proving unnecessary, as 4 days later my online account showed there had been (even prior to my paying in the extra amount) sufficient cleared funds in the account, I always try NOT to incur charges.


No reason exists for these charges on a previous Statement. I paid into the CC and Current Acount to make doubly sure I did NOT incur charges as I know that 'retry' exists, although not used by Lloyds on this occasion. Incidentally, the CC also charged a returned DD charge and a late payment charge, even though their statement shows I paid into the account on the date due, but not processed until the next day. Both accounts are with Lloyds.


The 'nasty' letter accused me of shouting at the teller, but (no excuse I know) I have a congenital hearing problem and this unfortunately means I do talk louder than normal, and the letter also went on to say that after I left the branch a discussion was started between bank staff and customers waiting in line and they all agreed I was 'not a very nice person'. - This, believe it or not, was in writing from the Manager to me!! It further went on to say that a gesture was made to my sister (she was in branch with me because I was unwell), to be quiet as the lady the other teller was dealing with was distressed because her husband had just died!.


Blackballing is an old fashioned method used to 'secretly' pass around information that someone is less than 'desirable'.


Thank you for your helpful support in this matter. I DO need to get to the bottom of this, but the online letter containing the charges reads:


Overdraft interest £0.12
Unplanned O/D charges £80.00
Returned DD £10.00
O/D usage Fee £6


I have a premium account at a cost of £25 per month and a planned fee free o/d of £500 paid in full each month.


The CC DD was due 16/10 and apart from the amount I paid in on 16th an online statement on 20/10 showed no outgoings just a balance including the refunded DD and the amount I had paid in to cover this, well above the amount of the returned DD

dunstonh

as 4 days later my online account showed there had been (even prior to my paying in the extra amount) sufficient cleared funds in the account, I always try NOT to incur charges.

But was at cleared at the time?

Incidentally, the CC also charged a returned DD charge and a late payment charge, even though their statement shows I paid into the account on the date due, but not processed until the next day.

Transactions are only processed next day if you pay in during a non-working day (such as weekend or bank holiday) or use a sub-branch that does not have same day processing or do the transaction after banking hours.

The bank will also have to make a decision to bounce the item if funds are not cleared at the start of the day. Some banks, will give a little grace on the day of the debit is taken but the latest they can really hold on to is 4pm. Lloyds state in their T&C that it has to be before 3.30.

Archi_Bald

Snowedunder wrote: »

Unplanned O/D charges £80.00

If you were charged £80 for unplanned OD, you were probably in an unplanned OD by more than £25 for 8 days during the statement month.

http://www.lloydsbank.com/current-accounts/personal-overdrafts/charges.asp

Thrugelmir

Snowedunder wrote: »

Blackballing is an old fashioned method used to 'secretly' pass around information that someone is less than 'desirable'.

Not in the least old fashioned. Any business is within it's rights to decline to conduct trade with any customer it wishes. Can be for any number of reasons. Sometimes a customer is simply more trouble than they are worth. Plenty of other fish in the sea.

InsideInsurance

External blacklisting is illegal though a bank can bar you internally from its group of companies.

Of course companies can share relevant information, via the CRAs, CIFAS, Hunter etc as long as its factually accurate but it is up to the other organisations to make up their own mind on if they want you as a customer or not. That said, if a bank accurately uploads someone attempted fraud, they've defaulted on every product they have etc then what the other banks reactions are going to be is fairly predictable even without formal blacklisting

Snowedunder

InsideInsurance wrote: »

External blacklisting is illegal though a bank can bar you internally from its group of companies.

Of course companies can share relevant information, via the CRAs, CIFAS, Hunter etc as long as its factually accurate but it is up to the other organisations to make up their own mind on if they want you as a customer or not. That said, if a bank accurately uploads someone attempted fraud, they've defaulted on every product they have etc then what the other banks reactions are going to be is fairly predictable even without formal blacklisting

My CRA, Cifas are all up to date and not showing any problems.


Not sure what 'Hunter' is.


My account is a top of the range Premier Account which I have held for over 5 years.


There is absolutely no evidence of Fraud, defaults etc. I have no problems with any other company, either in finance or not.


'If' I have ever incurred charges previously, can't say for absolute certainty, then these would have been for a very minor mis-calculation, and would have been corrected within 24 hours. On 2 occasions I challenged 2 charges in relation to my Credit Card Direct Debits, and it was found that mistakenly the CC Company had cancelled my Direct Debit. My complaint was upheld and I received a small amount of compensation. A few months later, this happened again, and again complaint upheld and I received compensation along with an absolute assurance this would not happen again.


I have a Home Accounts programme and use this diligently to monitor my finances and can predict any 'problems' down to the last 1p, in excess of 12 months ahead. What I cannot predict is any 'mistakes or errors' made within the banking institution, which may, or indeed have, caused a snowball effect within a very short space of time over a matter of 3 days over a weekend.

Snowedunder

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Not in the least old fashioned. Any business is within it's rights to decline to conduct trade with any customer it wishes. Can be for any number of reasons. Sometimes a customer is simply more trouble than they are worth. Plenty of other fish in the sea.

I understand what you say above, as another poster indicated that they did not know what 'blackball' was I simply used the term 'old fashioned' as I thought perhaps it's use had declined - my error.


The point I was trying to make was that I had always understood that anyone could apply for and receive a basic current account.


I realise of course, that I am a very small fish in a very large sea, and was just seeking opinions as to what could have caused these rejections. I am not nieve enough to expect that in any way I was the 'perfect' customer, just pondering whether it could have been interbank communications that because I had made and 'won' two recent complaints I was, as you put it,
more trouble than I was worth!