Nationwide Blocked Me

MisterMotivated

Section62 said:

phillw said:

Mark_Lion said:

She said it is "confusing to have 2 bank accounts", and I should sort out NW.

I wonder what she would make of 14 current accounts.

The only reason I can think why Barclay's would try to dissuade you, is if they told their staff to put people off if they have had their accounts blocked due to getting involved in scames.

I wouldn't have told them why.

The typical person walking into a branch of Barclays won't necessarily have that level of money management skill, and may be at risk of going overdrawn (possibly frequently) if they make mistakes.

Sounds like an ideal opportunity for Barclays to make some money from overdraft charges...

Section62

MisterMotivated said:

Section62 said:

phillw said:

Mark_Lion said:

She said it is "confusing to have 2 bank accounts", and I should sort out NW.

I wonder what she would make of 14 current accounts.

The only reason I can think why Barclay's would try to dissuade you, is if they told their staff to put people off if they have had their accounts blocked due to getting involved in scames.

I wouldn't have told them why.

The typical person walking into a branch of Barclays won't necessarily have that level of money management skill, and may be at risk of going overdrawn (possibly frequently) if they make mistakes.

Sounds like an ideal opportunity for Barclays to make some money from overdraft charges...

That goes to the point I was making -  Barclays can't/don't make those charges anymore.  Therefore they have nothing to gain, but do have the responsibility of checking to make sure the customer is OK and not in financial difficulty.  I.e. costs without income.

phillw

Section62 said:
That goes to the point I was making -  Barclays can't/don't make those charges anymore.  Therefore they have nothing to gain, but do have the responsibility of checking to make sure the customer is OK and not in financial difficulty.  I.e. costs without income.

Don't they?

https://www.barclays.co.uk/current-accounts/bank-account/overdrafts/overdraft-charges/

Temporary cap on arranged overdraft charges

We're temporarily capping overdraft interest charges on personal current accounts at £180 per monthly charging period until further notice. 

This doesn't change the terms of your overdraft agreement.

Though there are no unarranged overdraft fees anymore (they try not to let you go into an unarranged overdraft)

Section62

phillw said:

Section62 said:
That goes to the point I was making -  Barclays can't/don't make those charges anymore.  Therefore they have nothing to gain, but do have the responsibility of checking to make sure the customer is OK and not in financial difficulty.  I.e. costs without income.

Don't they?

https://www.barclays.co.uk/current-accounts/bank-account/overdrafts/overdraft-charges/

Temporary cap on arranged overdraft charges

We're temporarily capping overdraft interest charges on personal current accounts at £180 per monthly charging period until further notice. 

This doesn't change the terms of your overdraft agreement.

Though there are no unarranged overdraft fees anymore (they try not to let you go into an unarranged overdraft)

No, as I said, they don't.

The information explains that they will avoid making payments (without charge) if you don't have an arranged overdraft, and with arranged overdrafts will charge interest only (at 35%).  Therefore someone who does have an arranged overdraft facility and goes (say) £100 overdrawn due to an error with an incoming or outgoing payment will generate a 'charge' of 8p per day (according to the Barclays calculator).

Opinions may vary, but I would very much doubt that charging a customer 8p per day for a couple of days until the person realises their error and funds their account will earn Barclays enough to cover the cost of providing the overdraft, let alone generating a worthwhile profit.

Hence the possibility of staff dissuading potential customers from having multiple current accounts because of the money management issues that may flow from doing so, which from the perspective of Barclays could be a problem rather than an opportunity to make money.

Bigwheels1111

Having had free overdrafts on my FD accounts for over 20 years and the first £250 fee free I not had this issue.
The AA took an ISA payment without sending me a form and I was 20k overdrawn when I woke up one day.
On checking my account I was not pleased.
Moved money from FD savings into FD current account to resolve it issue.
Called then in a panic as did not want to pay large fees that were not my fault.
I explained what had happened.
Their response was it’s fine, the system had seen the money in your accounts could cover the payment so made it.
We would have called you after 10.00 am to query it.
As you have gone overdrawn but corrected it the same day before 23.45 pm no charges are due.
Thats how all banks and building societies should work.

Mark_Lion

Just to let you know, NW Fraud phoned me on Friday 28 July and finally unlocked my account.
I got a phone call a few days later, from the Complaint section. 
The lady said they were wrong to take so long, should have solved it much more quickly.
They have deposited £75 compensation into my account.
Asked if I had any expenses due to the account locked.
I said I would have interest charged to my credit cards because I was unable to pay in full.
The lady said to send proof of the interest.
I won't bother. The £75 more than covers it.
Thank you everyone for your replies and advice.

phillw

Section62 said:
Opinions may vary, but I would very much doubt that charging a customer 8p per day for a couple of days until the person realises their error and funds their account will earn Barclays enough to cover the cost of providing the overdraft, let alone generating a worthwhile profit.

I bet at 35% APR that they cover the cost of the overdraft. All profits are worthwhile.

artyboy

Mark_Lion said:

Just to let you know, NW Fraud phoned me on Friday 28 July and finally unlocked my account.
I got a phone call a few days later, from the Complaint section. 
The lady said they were wrong to take so long, should have solved it much more quickly.
They have deposited £75 compensation into my account.
Asked if I had any expenses due to the account locked.
I said I would have interest charged to my credit cards because I was unable to pay in full.
The lady said to send proof of the interest.
I won't bother. The £75 more than covers it.
Thank you everyone for your replies and advice.

I have to say, you've been very generous to NW here - given they have agreed they didn't do a good job, personally I'd have kicked up rather more of a fuss about £75 hardly being commensurate to the inconvenience caused.

And then I'd certainly have reclaimed the interest charges on top of whatever 'go away' money they ended up offering me.

But I appreciate that not everyone is as obstreperous as I am, so if you're happy with the outcome, good for you. And thanks for the update!