Bank Of Scotland

Ted_Head

My OH found an odd charge on his bank statement and has been querying it to no avail since last October. He is being charged for breakdown cover, travel abroad and other items in a monthly fee. This is unauthorised as he has breakdown cover and never goes abroad. He is being fobbed off continuously and is finding this so frustrating and annoying dealing with different people each time he phones up. He is asking for details of where this was set up - they claim at his branch where he opened his account which is 250 miles away as we have since moved. This has been charged for the past 10 years - I know he should have noticed this before now. He would not have travelled 250 miles to change to the different account that he is now being charged for and it appears he has been for the past decade.
He is getting passed from pillar to post and is not being dealt with in a pleasant manner - he's getting quite upset about this.

flo22

What type of account does he have?  How much is the charge?
Is it this account https://www.bankofscotland.co.uk/bankaccounts/platinum.html

naedanger

It sounds like he is being charged for a premium current account. (BoS have a premium current account at £21pm.)

He should send a formal complaint in writing saying he has only ever wanted or needed a basic current current with the normal banking facilities, and that he should immediately be transferred to a normal current account, and his past charges should be refunded at least until October 2020, when they were first notified he did not want these services and charges, or until inception if they cannot provide documentary evidence of him selecting that type of account in the first place.

eskbanker

Ted_Head said:

He is being charged for breakdown cover, travel abroad and other items in a monthly fee. This is unauthorised as he has breakdown cover and never goes abroad.

Whether it's authorised and whether it's necessary are two entirely different issues!

He will presumably have a packaged account, which charges a standard monthly fee but offers insurance-based benefits - if these are of no use to him then the first thing he should have done in October was to get the account downgraded to a standard fee-free one, and only after that start to look into whether there's any sort of misselling case to be constructed.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/reclaim-packaged-bank-accounts/

Ted_Head

flo22 said:

What type of account does he have?  How much is the charge?
Is it this account https://www.bankofscotland.co.uk/bankaccounts/platinum.html

Yes, that's the account. He's got them to stop the charges now but is wishing to know when it was set up and to see the paperwork. He's been requesting a copy of the paperwork since the beginning of October as he did not sign up for this type of account. It is not of any use to him.
He is getting fobbed off with we can't do that because of the pandemic.

Ted_Head

naedanger said:

It sounds like he is being charged for a premium current account. (BoS have a premium current account at £21pm.)

He should send a formal complaint in writing saying he has only ever wanted or needed a basic current current with the normal banking facilities, and that he should immediately be transferred to a normal current account, and his past charges should be refunded at least until October 2020, when they were first notified he did not want these services and charges, or until inception if they cannot provide documentary evidence of him selecting that type of account in the first place.

He has got the written response saying that they've cancelled that account and are looking into when and where it was set up. But he keeps asking for updates and is fobbed off with we've written to you.
The only reason he noticed that he was being charged for something is when they wrote to him notifying him that because of his age he would not be eligible for this type of account any longer and he then went back over his bank statements which he should have noticed this deduction before now but didn't.

Zanderman

You say 

This has been charged for the past 10 years - I know he should have noticed this before now.

And indeed he should. 
Has he really really not noticed he's paying about £20 a month for his bank account for 10 years?? 
That's extraordinary carelessness on his part. 
He could have changed the account anytime to a non-packaged one by writing (good old-fashioned letters still work) or downgraded online if banking online.
The fact that he never 'used' the cover being provided is scarcely relevant - that's his problem not the bank's. 
Indeed most people never 'use' insurance cover.  That's the point of insurance - you rarely need it. 

Ted_Head

Correct he really hadn't noticed it as he has many transactions on this account. Don't know why you are using double question marks. He would of changed the account if he had known that it had been changed from his normal account that he opened 40 years ago. It was done without him knowing.
No, the problem is that his bank account was changed without his permission nor his authority nor his knowledge.
He doesn't bank on-line. He uses a branch or telephone banking.
'Scarcely irrelevant' ? I think you have the wrong phrase if I think you mean it was scarcely relevant. 
He has and had adequate cover elsewhere. 

Zanderman

Ted_Head said:

Correct he really hadn't noticed it as he has many transactions on this account. Don't know why you are using double question marks. He would of changed the account if he had known that it had been changed from his normal account that he opened 40 years ago. It was done without him knowing.
No, the problem is that his bank account was changed without his permission nor his authority nor his knowledge.
He doesn't bank on-line. He uses a branch or telephone banking.
'Scarcely irrelevant' ? I think you have the wrong phrase if I think you mean it was scarcely relevant. 
He has and had adequate cover elsewhere. 

Re irrelevant yes I meant relevant - my typo. Now corrected
The point stands though - it doesn't matter if he had cover elsewhere.  He chose to have cover elsewhere despite having cover through the account.  That's not the bank's fault.
If he genuinely didn't sign up for the account - and can demonstrate this - then yes, he shouldn't have had it.
But banks don't just change your account type by themselves. 
He must have been aware at the time - though he may have now forgotten or not understood fully.

naedanger

Ted_Head said:

naedanger said:

It sounds like he is being charged for a premium current account. (BoS have a premium current account at £21pm.)

He should send a formal complaint in writing saying he has only ever wanted or needed a basic current current with the normal banking facilities, and that he should immediately be transferred to a normal current account, and his past charges should be refunded at least until October 2020, when they were first notified he did not want these services and charges, or until inception if they cannot provide documentary evidence of him selecting that type of account in the first place.

He has got the written response saying that they've cancelled that account and are looking into when and where it was set up. But he keeps asking for updates and is fobbed off with we've written to you.
The only reason he noticed that he was being charged for something is when they wrote to him notifying him that because of his age he would not be eligible for this type of account any longer and he then went back over his bank statements which he should have noticed this deduction before now but didn't.

If he made a formal complaint they should have sent him a copy of their complaints procedure. However it sounds like they are just treating it as an enquiry. Send a formal complaint as that starts a clock ticking and after 8 weeks if he is not satisfied then he can take the complaint to FOS. (However I doubt FOS are quick, so it can be a slow process.)

I must have read your first post too quickly as I hadn't appreciated that these charges have been ongoing for 10 years. I am not sure the bank will need to have kept the original paperwork that length of time, and if they haven't I would not assume the charges will necessarily get refunded. (I don't know how FOS would look at it.)

kaMelo

What about the annual notice letter the bank will have been sending for the past few years, about the account, the charges and asking him to check this account is still suitable for his needs?