Alliance and Leicester overdraft switching.

bugaboo_2

Hi
Beware! I have just been through the process of switching my lloydstsb bank account to the alliance and leicester on the condition that they would match my existing overdraft and it would be free for a year. They now tell me that I need to be in credit with existing bank for at least 15 days which I haven't been. I cannot find this information on the website as one of the conditions and am currently trying to battle this one out with them over the phone but no supervisors seem to be able to call me back when they are supposed to! I am very frustrated! Is anyone experiencing the same kind of problems?:mad:

NewbieMoneySaver**

Hello,

I have just gone through the process and they did say to me when I phoned them about the in-credit detail.

I have just had everything accepted.

Hope you can sort your problem out.

:cool:

masonic

From: http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/currentaccounts/index.asp?page=prem-legals&currpage=home#switching

Overdraft limit matching is subject to status and an assessment of your personal circumstances and financial behaviour. We will check to make sure your total unsecured lending with us does not go over £25,000 and we will need to be satisfied that your previous account has been run in a satisfactory manner.

The bit in bold is what you are looking for. Posts from others on this topic suggest A&L are very forthcoming about their exact expectations when asked. The main point to note is that overdraft matching is not guaranteed in any case.

arfster

I got caught by this as well. "In a satisfactory manner" is completely different to "no overdrafts under any circumstance to those actually using their overdraft at present" - they never mentioned the latter to me whatsoever, until after I sent them my bank statement (by which time the account transfer was completed, and all my direct debits across). Even then I had to phone them three times, after they lost the first statement, told me to fax it the next time without mentioning it had to come from an A&L branch, then only mentioning it after I went to an A&L branch - each time I had to chase it up, they never bothered phoning me to state there was a problem. Complete waste of my time from start to finish.

Basically, they advertise outstanding overdraft terms without ever intending to give them out. Had they actually been honest in their advertising I could have transferred some funds from savings into my account to meet their conditions. Now it's too late, since the switch has finished.

masonic

arfster wrote: »

I got caught by this as well. "In a satisfactory manner" is completely different to "no overdrafts under any circumstance to those actually using their overdraft at present"

The problem is that overdrafts are designed to bridge the gap between payments going out and income coming in. It's entirely reasonable for a bank to expect to see the account in credit for at least part of the month. Many have had their overdrafts reduced/taken away because they used them to hold long-term debts and didn't clear the overdraft from one month to the next.

silverbullit

I switched from Barclays to A&L in April (mainly to utilise the interest-free OD of £2,500 for a year and get the £30 incentive for switching), and i must say the switch was relatively painless (albeit that it took a while and i received huge piles of documents from them). They said that to match my existing OD, i had to submit the latest bank statement which had to show that i was in credit for 3/4 days in the previous month (certainly not 15 days).

YorkshireBoy

arfster wrote: »

...I could have transferred some funds from savings into my account to meet their conditions. Now it's too late, since the switch has finished.

Why on earth were you carrying an overdraft (and incurring debit interest) if you had savings you could move over?

The debit interest rate charged would be at least 2-3 times the savings interest rate earned surely?

arfster

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Why on earth were you carrying an overdraft (and incurring debit interest) if you had savings you could move over?

Graduate account interest free, runs out in the not too distant future. My finances are also fairly irregular, as I work when I choose.

Like I said, if they just made this clear, all would be fine. It would also help if you didn't get told a different thing every time you phoned.

The actual direct debit switch worked OK at least, they've all been transferred fine. It's a good product otherwise, nice quidco cashback, decent interest etc.

YorkshireBoy

arfster wrote: »

Graduate account interest free, runs out in the not too distant future.

That explains it then!

bugaboo_2

It's interesting to see that I am not the only one that has had this problem with the overdraft matching service as well as other problems.
The thing that has annoyed me is that they have offered mthe overdraft matching product but not made the terms of that product clear on their website which I feel is very misleading. Their customer service is also very poor and it is almost impossible to speak to a supervisor as they are never available and don't bother to call you back after 3 attempts so you can't sort any problems out anyway!
I have now also had an additional problem with an unpaid direct debit where I see others have had the same problem in other forums. I paid in cash at the post office to cover a direct debit due out and in the welcome booklet I was told it would be credited the same day, which it wasn't, as I didn't use my card. Money went in on same day as dd due out but they returned it. Even without the extra money I paid in, it would have only been short by 13p!:mad: !!

masonic

bugaboo wrote: »

Money went in on same day as dd due out but they returned it.

Well, there's your problem. A&L's T&Cs require funds used to meet a payment to be credited by the end of the working day before a payment is due out. Therefore, in order for the money to be there in time to pay the direct debit, you would have had to pay it in the day before.