Bank Account charges - Horrified - way ahead

kennyruss72

sourcrates wrote: »

Kenny,

Your always going to get the odd methodist portraying you as the bad guy.

The, "you borrowed it, you must pay it back brigade".

I have no time for them, this forum exists to provide help to people in debt, not to debate the rights and wrongs of the capitalist regime.

FOS is your next move now.

Need any help, PM. Me.

Thanks sourcrates, I have printed the forms off already - just need the letter from the Halifax - Will PM you when I ready to rock and roll.

We have still to get contact regarding my wife's account - be interesting to see if they play it differently.

on the plus side, I have my new santander account, so will be paying wages in there after this month's pay.

cheers

kennyruss72

kennyruss72

sourcrates I have PM'd you cheers.


Just as an update - I have received a letter from the Halifax outlining their offer as per the phone call. They have automatically waived fee's until April 2016. (planned only) - Account fees and unplanned will continue.


I intend to refuse the £337 they offered of the £3500 claimed.


cheers


Kennyruss72

StrugglingYouth

kennyruss72 wrote: »

StrugglingYouth I totally agree with your post. However....


The bank must share some of the responsibility along with me.


Like previously said I have contacted them on several occasions and explained my situation carefully and looked for some help - they only ever offered a few months rest bite and then they just picked up the charges baton again.
Even yesterday on the phone when I changed my tact to perhaps getting some sort of payment plan for clearing the overdrafts, they simply just gave me a helpline number for the Halifax. They wanted it resolved yesterday over the phone but were refusing to discuss any options other than for to accept the £337 refund and a 6 month freeze on charges.
Sure that might give me some breathing space and I may have managed to reduce my overdraft, but they would just pick up that charges baton again in 6 months and it would be the same Sh*t different day.


Previously they refused a loan to pay off the overdrafts - which was clearly the sensible thing to do - but the computer said no. I even went to the branch in person to make my case, and explain that the loan amount was less than the charges - but still they refused. If accepted the loan would have been 50% complete by now? - no common sense shown by the Halifax?

Why would anyone lend someone more money when they already owed the lender some?


From memory as well as soon as you upgrade to the Platinum Rewards accounts with the Halifax they simply just increase your overdraft - is that responsible?

Will have been in the terms and conditions of changing over. If it wasnt they havent acted legally I dont think.


At no time did they do a review of my accounts and suggest that if I combined my overdrafts, both would be less than £2k thus saving me £1 a day for 6 years... Was there duty of care here?

They've made £1826 more from you. The bank dont charge for their use of 'non rewarding' accounts. ATM services or being able to pay for things in virtually every store/shop/website across the world. They have to make money from somewhere.

Do they have a duty of care? I've never heard of such a thing.

I no longer have the platinum reward status on both these accounts, but still get charged a £10/£15 fee on these accounts per month - what is that for?
Surely this you can reason? Find the date/month you stopped getting these paid for benefits and ask for a refund.


The charges are in proportionate - How can it be fair to charge circa £50 per month for a £1k overdraft? - I have no idea what that is in APR - but I would imagine that it is close to a payday loan company APR? Again, surely these terms were in the terms and conditions? If you break them, you are liable, no?


I have actually found DCA's much easier to deal with than the Halifax and more accommodating..
No bank will care how long something takes to sort out if they are being drip fed money whilst its being resolved. Regardless of the amount.


I am simply a cash cow for the Halifax and they seem pretty happy for it to remain that way. The safety net for me has never existed and it's just a case of shut up and pay up every month.


As sourcrates says I have exactly nothing to lose here - so why not pursue them? Keep going. If I were you id get some independent legal advice. (I have zero idea if you already have done this)


With regard to your point of if I were a business... it's not like I have not paid them anything - Going back 10 years I have probably paid for these overdrafts twice over.. Legally they cannot keep taking money from you if you abide by their terms. Can you not reason this with the financial ombudsman and get it written off? I have no idea if thats doable. I have never been in a position similar to you.


Happy to debate further StrugglingYouth and I again state that I must share some of the responsibility for my actions...


cheers

kennyruss72

No debate necessary pal. Purely my own point of view.

I have always seen banks as business models. To them, you are ideal.

They increase overdrafts etc in the hope people become reckless or dependent on them, eventually breaking the terms and ending up owing more. All about the risk vs reward for them.

For me its all about being prepared for most eventualities. Unfortunately some do get caught by situations they are not prepared for. Most will have some sort of excuse, now I am not saying that those excuses are not valid. It just happens more to people who dont have some sort of emergency funds in place for such occurrences.

I do feel for you and your unfortunate situation. I hope one day you solve it or have a stroke of good fortune to counter act a little damage done here.