A&L charges - but I had the money!

monochrome_2

This month has not started well money-wise, and now I'm funing/shocked at Alliance and Leicester.

I was paid 6 days late this month. I'm usually paid on the 23rd, but my pay only showed up yesterday morning. Standing orders to cover my rent and one of my bills went out of my account on the 27th, putting my into overdraft and earning me £50 in fees from A&L. Ok. Awful and annoying but not A&L's fault
I'm trying to get my boss to pay those... here's why I'm mad at A&L:

I have online banking, and was checking my account regularly to see if I'd been paid as I didn't even have the money to get to work, and had to borrow money from a friend for the weekend.
Yesterday morning I saw that the money was in my account and the available balance included my pay.

Yesterday afternoon (so several hours later), I set up an online payment to repay the friend who helped me out over the weekend.

Yesterday evening I went to the supermarket, withdrew £70 (my share of moth's food budget), and did a big shop.

As of this afternoon a&L online banking is showing that I did the withdrawal and the payment BEFORE I was paid, and says I will be charged! So that would be another 50 quid in charges... only this time I DID have the money in my account.... What?!?!:mad:

KTF

Most banks process debits before credits so the money you took out yesterday would have been added on to the overdraft before the wages were credited.

That said, it isnt helped by the crappy A&L online banking.

monochrome_2

Gah, I didn't know that - I was just going by what the online bank told me. I'm used to the hsbc one that seems much more reliable!

Do you think it's worth calling up and asking them to stop the charges?

KTF

If its the first time that you have picked up charges from A&L they normally give you some of it back (usually half). No harm in calling them up to ask tho.

YorkshireBoy

monochrome wrote: »

...and says I will be charged!

Does it 'say' you'll be charged, or are you assuming you will be?

Personally, if your wages were in the form of a BACS direct credit, I'd be ringing* A&L to complain.

* Use 08000 688638 and navigate to current accounts.

Lavendyr

Never rely on the online banking for same-day transactions. At the end of the day A&L will process debits before credits so if you get a credit one day, you should wait until the next day to make a payment out of that money, otherwise the payment will be taken first, then the credit will go in.

Suggest you set up an authorised overdraft as a buffer for this kind of situation perhaps?

emmalt

I would actually charge you company for these fees as it was actually because they were late paying you that you incurred them. If your friend hadn't been so kind as to lend you some money what would you have done? Also how would you have done your shopping.

monochrome_2

Thanks for the responses - I feel really silly not knowing that banks process debits before credits. Ah well, I do now I suppose so that will never happen again!

I'm going to ring them up and see what they say and at the same time set up a small overdraft to make sure if I'm ever paid late again I won't need to worry about it as much...

gt94sss2

monochrome wrote: »

I'm used to the hsbc one that seems much more reliable!

Thats not suprising as I seem to say every time this issue is discussed:

The only 'high street' bank I know which would not have charged you for going overdrawn would have been HSBC.

All the rest require cleared funds to be credited to your current account the day before.

OTOH HSBC will not charge you if you are 'in credit' at the end of a day, even if you have technically been overdrawn at some point that day as part of their 'Fairer Fees' policy which among other things, also says:

• You will not have to pay fees for being overdrawn by £10 or less.
• You will not have to pay more in fees than you are overdrawn by in your charging month, so a £15 overdraft will not cost you £50.
• You will not have to pay a fee for an informal overdraft request if your account is credited with covering funds by the end of the same day.

Personally, I think the first 2 points are just as important as the first! - though having an arranged overdraft, even if you never use it is a good idea..

As for any charges - your company should really pay for any that have been caused by your being paid late. For the others, you could try reclaiming them off A&L and/or switch bank accounts..

Regards
Sunil

molerat

Was the money showing as "available balance". Last month I was £6K od during the day but not charged as the money was cleared into my account, just that the "debits first" transaction system put me od.

YorkshireBoy

molerat wrote: »

Was the money showing as "available balance". Last month I was £6K od during the day but not charged as the money was cleared into my account, just that the "debits first" transaction system put me od.

Which was the point I raised (but didn't get an answer to) in post #5.