Shocking new Alliance and Leicester Fees!

tom0407

Hi,

I've already posted about my recent experiences with Alliance and Leicester in another forum.


However I thought it was worth bringing to the attention of members here as well and perhaps Martin himself isn't completely aware of the situation facing Alliance and Leicester account holders as I notice Alliance and Leicester feature heavily on the Best Current Accounts Page which I don't think is appropriate given their new awful banking charges. Please can someone update this page and include a serious warning to future account holders at the very least?

dunstonh

What new fees are these? Have they changed them again or are you referring to the not so new fees announced a few months back where some people are better off and some are worse?

I'm not sure those better off would agree with you about them being shocking. If you are one of the ones that is worse off then you cannot blame A&L wanting to perhaps price their account to favour those that create less work. That is their commercial decision after all.

morg_monster

Martin is all for reclaiming bank charges and helping the people who get in a terrible mess because of how bank charges are applied. If all banks applied charges like the "new" alliance and leicester charges a lot of these people wouldn't have got in the mess in the first place, so I'm not sure Martin will think they are awful.
Most of the people complaining are those who manage their money well and hence DON'T read the literature sent to them through the post because they think they are so savvy they don't need it. Then they occasionally get lazy or something happens out of the blue and they to go overdrawn a tiny little bit - maybe a few quid, so the charges seem disproportionate (and yes this has happened to me).
These people get really annoyed and start thread after thread on this board - "how dare they charge ME" - but at the end of the day the charge, while annoying, is affordable to them, it doesn't cause them to get their leccy DD to bounce hence having their electricity cut off or cause them suddenly to not be able to withdraw cash for the weekly food shop. If they don't like the new charging regime they should take their money elsewhere - after all, they are the kind of people who will have no problem getting a current account somewhere else. Their movements out of A&L will surely be cancelled out by people who aren't as good at managing their money moving TO A&L.
I for one would like to see a post on here from someone saying
"Last month I messed up with my A&L account and didn't have money in my account in time to cover a DD, so I went over my overdraft limit for a day. I was sweating waiting for a huge charge which would have sent me even more over and meant another DD would have bounced. Instead I was just charged £5, which was great. I went and paid the £5 at a branch and everythings back to normal again. what a great system, much better than the old one!"

[Deleted User]

The A&L Premier Direct has been recommended for the interest rate that it pays on credit balances up to £2,500, which is a fantastic rate, not on the fees for going overdrawn.


Part and parcel of this site has been reclaiming bank charges, but overall it's more about being savvy with and where you put your money.

I'm really not seeing a problem with this charge, it's a lot more fair if you go overdrawn for a day and it gives you the opportunity to restore yourself back in credit quicky. Bank charges are what, about £35, so that gives you a six day period in which to save yourself the big charge.

Seems fair to me and the only people it wouldn't be too are the chronic fee payers..

masonic

Firstly, the new agreed overdraft charges do not apply to accounts in the first 12 months because the overdraft is interest free. It has always been Martin's advice to ditch the account after a year.

As far as the other charges go, no bank account is worth having if you run up these charges, but admittedly A&L is not the place to be if you have trouble managing your current account. Perhaps Martin should add a section for people whose priority is to minimise their bank charges, rather than earn a good rate of interest or get a cheap overdraft.

Lavendyr

masonic wrote: »

A&L is not the place to be if you have trouble managing your current account. Perhaps Martin should add a section for people whose priority is to minimise their bank charges, rather than earn a good rate of interest or get a cheap overdraft.

Actually, the new charges are harsher on those who do operate their accounts carefully. It'll cost me more to go overdrawn, relatively speaking, than it ever would have done before, given how little and rarely I use my overdraft. The new system would actually encourage those with an authorised overdraft to borrow more of it, because no matter how much you borrow, you still pay the same.

And if you have an overdraft of more than £1000 available with A&L it might be worth moving the whole lot into a savings account/ISA and profiting from it, since the maximum fee on an authorised overdraft is £5 per month.

masonic

Lavendyr wrote: »

Actually, the new charges are harsher on those who do operate their accounts carefully. It'll cost me more to go overdrawn, relatively speaking, than it ever would have done before, given how little and rarely I use my overdraft.

You held your account for more than a year, though, didn't you.

The new system would actually encourage those with an authorised overdraft to borrow more of it, because no matter how much you borrow, you still pay the same.

And if you have an overdraft of more than £1000 available with A&L it might be worth moving the whole lot into a savings account/ISA and profiting from it, since the maximum fee on an authorised overdraft is £5 per month.

Exactly right. Though I suspect A&L will seriously limit the amount people are permitted to borrow on an authorised overdraft.

MarkyMarkD

The idea of deliberately maxing out your overdraft and saving the money, for the profit involved, is pretty silly unless you are a current account tart.

If you actually use the account properly, it's impossible to max out your overdraft without actually exceeding your limit which isn't a good idea.

I don't believe masonic is right that Martin has always recommended using the A&L account for one year only - at 6.9%, its authorised overdraft rate (prior to the recent policy change) was one of the cheapest available and was definitely a "best buy" for people regularly overdrawn.

The new system is still not expensive for those living in their authorised overdraft most of the time - the TOTAL charges in a year are capped at £60.

People who think £60 a year for unlimited regular banking services, and the ability to run their account constantly in (authorised) overdraft, really don't have a clue about what is good value in life.

People who dip in and out of overdraft, and hence will get charged something between £0 and £60 a year, are also moaning without good cause IMHO.

It's all because people have got used to the (completely illogical) notion that banking should be free, that they find such small charges excessive. Get things in proportion, will you?

YorkshireBoy

masonic wrote: »

Exactly right. Though I suspect A&L will seriously limit the amount people are permitted to borrow on an unauthorised overdraft.

I assume that's a typo masonic, and you meant to say authorised.

MarkyMarkD

I almost said the same thing, YB; I'm sure you are right.

yellowox1

Alliance and Leicester have charged me about £900 in charges since last summer ... all because I accidentally went over my limit at the beginning ... and so they took a lot from my account ... leaving me constantly short of money as I'm on a fixed income and not that well paid .... and it's been a vicious circle .... they just applied a charge of £105 for the days I was over my limit last month ... which has now taken me over my limit this month ... and then they send me a letter telling me I'm over my limit ... without their huge bank fees I'd not have been overdrawn .... charging bank fees per item ... plus extra money because you have no money left because of their fees is not fair ..... if the bank takes £100s from an account ... it is no wonder that the customer on a low income has no money left at the end of the month !