Ulster Bank have stealthily charged over €250 since 2013 for an account I stopped using in 2006

joeyjoejnr1

Anyone know what I can do in this situation?
Details
I live in Dublin for my "year out" from University (I went to Uni in the UK). I opened an Ulster Bank account to get paid and left Dublin in 2006. I got a letter from Ulster Bank in Nov 2019 (UK address) saying I owed around €220. When a requested a full statement this showed I was charged €25 overdraft fee in Oct 2013 and went €6.43 overdrawn. Since then they have charged me €250 in overdraft and interest charges. They sent no comms around this and locked me out of my online banking (I tried to reset details but I was locked out). I stopped using the account in 2006 and it lay dormant until Oct 2013 when they started charging me.

Is there any course of action I can take? When requesting the full statement I asked for more details and said this was unfair but they only sent me a more detailed statement. It feel so unfair and sneaky that they charged me this.

Timeline

-          2005/2006 – worked in Dublin for work experience during University

-          2006 – left Dublin and stopped using account

-          15th Oct 2013 – charged overdraft fee and got withdrawn €6.43

-          2013 onwards – charged overdraft fees and interest with no communication

-          Nov 2019 – they send me a statement showing overdue balance

-          Present - account now sitting around €250 overdrawn

[Deleted User]

How could you have missed all that though, even unused accounts still generate paper or online correspondence which requires inspection - for these very scenarios you're describing.

The responsibility of an account is by the owner, i'm not sure you'll get very far with this because it just shows how you've been negligent in your affairs from that point to this.

colsten

joeyjoejnr1 said:

 I got a letter from Ulster Bank in Nov 2019 (UK address) saying I owed around €220. 

How do they know your UK address?

joeyjoejnr1

colsten said:

joeyjoejnr1 said:

 I got a letter from Ulster Bank in Nov 2019 (UK address) saying I owed around €220. 

How do they know your UK address?

I assume they had it on file.

DCFC79

joeyjoejnr1 said:

Anyone know what I can do in this situation?
Details
I live in Dublin for my "year out" from University (I went to Uni in the UK). I opened an Ulster Bank account to get paid and left Dublin in 2006. I got a letter from Ulster Bank in Nov 2019 (UK address) saying I owed around €220. When a requested a full statement this showed I was charged €25 overdraft fee in Oct 2013 and went €6.43 overdrawn. Since then they have charged me €250 in overdraft and interest charges. They sent no comms around this and locked me out of my online banking (I tried to reset details but I was locked out). I stopped using the account in 2006 and it lay dormant until Oct 2013 when they started charging me.

Is there any course of action I can take? When requesting the full statement I asked for more details and said this was unfair but they only sent me a more detailed statement. It feel so unfair and sneaky that they charged me this.

Timeline

-          2005/2006 – worked in Dublin for work experience during University

-          2006 – left Dublin and stopped using account

-          15th Oct 2013 – charged overdraft fee and got withdrawn €6.43

-          2013 onwards – charged overdraft fees and interest with no communication

-          Nov 2019 – they send me a statement showing overdue balance

-          Present - account now sitting around €250 overdrawn

Dont see what reply could be given other than why was it not sorted out sooner.
Did the bank have your address, other contact details before nov 19 ?

joeyjoejnr1

Catsacor said:

How could you have missed all that though, even unused accounts still generate paper or online correspondence which requires inspection - for these very scenarios you're describing.

The responsibility of an account is by the owner, i'm not sure you'll get very far with this because it just shows how you've been negligent in your affairs from that point to this.

I spoke to them on the phone briefly and asked why they hadn't been sending me comms, it says it looks like they hadn't been sending me anything so they didn't even have an answer.

Also - I tried to get my online banking working for this account and it wouldn't let me reset it even though it is an option online - I recorded evidence of this.

The frustrating thing is I am super diligent about my accounts, I check everything weekly and always move the rectify issues like this immediately. I left the account open and it had a positive balance as I thought it would be useful to have a € account.

joeyjoejnr1

DCFC79 said:

Dont see what reply could be given other than why was it not sorted out sooner.
Did the bank have your address, other contact details before nov 19 ?

I didn't know about the charges, the account was left with a positive balance and they didn't contact me.

I assume they had my address, when I asked them on the phone why they didn't contact me sooner they didn't have an answer. I have also sent them letters recently asking why there was no communication but they won't answer (they just send statements).

[Deleted User]

joeyjoejnr1 said:

The frustrating thing is I am super diligent about my accounts, I check everything weekly and always move the rectify issues like this immediately. 

Perhaps not that super in this instance.

joeyjoejnr1

Deleted_User said:

joeyjoejnr1 said:

The frustrating thing is I am super diligent about my accounts, I check everything weekly and always move the rectify issues like this immediately. 

Perhaps not that super in this instance.

To be fair they locked me out of my Online Banking and made it impossible to reset the password.They confirmed this when I spoke to them on the phone.

When I asked how to fix this they said I had to make the trip to Dublin and visit the branch. Not great for a bank in 2020 to not allow its customers to self service.

[Deleted User]

The minute you stop getting statements for an is the time to sort it out with all the super-spidey diligence you possess.

joeyjoejnr1

Deleted_User said:

 with all the super-spidey diligence you possess.

No need to be rude, seeing that I had left the country and wasn't using the account it wasn't my number one priority. I doubt I'm the only person in the world who hasn't left an account open after leaving a country. I've worked in lived in 5 different countries and I have never has this problem with other banks.

I don't think it is very fair that they started charging me 7 years after I used the account without sending me any details. They clearly had my address as they were able to start contacting me again in November. I genuinely think this is a mistake on their part.