Charges from Basic Bank Account - Please HELP

gratton20

Hi everyone,

I know this may not be the best place to post this but I did read on here some time ago that banks cannot by law take charges out of basic bank accounts that are not supposed to offer credit if the only money going into them is all benefits.

Our money is all benefit now and yesterday because we made a mistake and thought it had already been paid the bank have charged overdraft unauthorised fee of £12 because they paid a debit card transaction from 10th Nov yesterday of £5.88 which made us £2.40 overdrawn. Of course having taken the charge we are further overdrawn.

I though banks couldn't do this .. there was a link posted about it, if I recall right, if anyone can help please do as I we really need to get this cash back if we can, money is tight to say the least since I went BR in Sep

Thanks in advance

tigerfeet2006

I think you are right Gratton but don't know where the link is, Sorry!!

gratton20

Thanks Fermi for the link .. I read most of it but to be honest I didnt understand half of it and just got a headache. I THINK it says that banks cant take benefits and refers to a lot of incredibly "jargonised" stuff but its beyond me .. OK I AM thick!! LOL

I hope I will be able to find something in plain english about it, or perhaps a call to CAB might help ... cheers anyway

Scarlett.1974

Just an idea, but if this is the first time this has happened it might be worth you giving them a call, apologising profusely and asking nicely if they would please refund the charge and you'll make sure it never happens again etc etc.....

Might be worth a try, I know Lloyds did refund me once for a £65 charge in similar circumstances to you.

backontheup

This happened to me last week, so I rang them and grovelled for them to not levy the charges. I pointed out that the account had not had any problems since it was opened. They sent a letter on Saturday saying that they were not going to take the charges from my account.

its always worth just asking for them not to enforce it

gratton20

Just thought I would update people about this in case others have a similar problem with banks taking charges from benefits. I wrote my bank a letter see thread
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=7033815&posted=1#post7033815

and today got a phone call from the bank saying, Yes, we made a mistake, should not have taken the money as you are on benefits.

Hope this may help someone else. Note - They didnt say it was a gesture of goodwill or anything, she actually said it had been a mistake .. hope this may help someone, although as I said in the other forum it is pribably a legal grey area.

Well done Nat West :T

tigerfeet2006

:j :j Woohoo!! score one for the little guy:j :j

Well done Gratton, you should be really chuffed.:beer: