A&L redefines 'Available'

rob.jarvis

We bank online with Alliance & Leicester and the account show two balances - running & available. I'd always assumed running balance meant transactions appear on the account but not cleared, whereas available balance shows what is actually 'available'. Often these two balances differ.

But no, A&L in all their great banking wisdom define 'Available' as available money less any cheques that have been deposited in the last 4 working days.

So to get a true figure I need to take the available balance, search the list for any cheques in that preceding 4 days and deduct them.

It's extremely annoying but now I know! However, first thing this morning I didn't know and subsequently A&L have charged me £25 for going overdrawn. After a big argument with them, it took 20 minutes to convince them that available doesn't mean available, they agreed to refund only half the charge as 'goodwill'. Thanks a bunch!

So beware A&L customers who bank online.

Stonk

Some good bait here for daveboy ...

davidcampbell

Some good bait here for daveboy ...

hehehe :rotfl:




rob i dont know if i follow you.

available funds is .....


balance
- anything not yet cleared (cheques)
- anything pending (visa purchases)
+ overdraft (if applicable)




are you saying they only take into account cheques from that list? ie they will show an available balance with visa purchases pending still included?

rob.jarvis

The Available balance includes all transactions, including cheques and visa. However, it doesn't mean this balance is available to draw funds from your account, until cheques have cleared.

Further news: I was referred to their terms & conditions which apparently clearly state that it takes 4 working days to clear cheques. However the T&C says 5 working days from the day the cheque was paid in to a branch. But the table below the wording gives examples of days when cheques are paid and when they clear. I paid the cheque in on a Wednesday and according to the table, the funds should be available Tuesday, today. However A&L say it is not available until Wednesday.

One further note on this - the T&C also says that if 'large' cheques are paid in, A&L may choose to add an extra working day to the process. How are we supposed to know what 'large' means?

The A&L customer service guy this evening stated that the only way I could know if it has cleared, was to ring them and they could tell me, their website doesn't show it.

IvanOpinion

Jeez, I am totally confused ... your idea of 'available balance' and mine were the same .. ie. money 'available' to be be used. I am not with the A&L but it makes me wonder if the Abbey has a similar distorted idea about the meaning of 'available'. Personally I would argue the point with them and try to get all charges refunded ... but just keep an eye on it in future.

Ivan

fiendishly

If you bank with barclays you do not have to wait for cheques to clear, the funds are there straight away. This is at your own risk of the cheque bouncing, of course, but if it's from a company or person you know won't bounce then you're fine!

daveboy

This isn't bait for me as I can see that the OP appears to have been caught out by the underhand methods of Alliance and Leicester. I personally don't have any sort of account with them so don't have any experience of what they do.

I actually think that the OP should press for the charge to be wiped out entirely - although it appears it has been agreed that half should be - it probably isn't possible to go back and challenge it again.

Stonk - well played. You made me :rotfl:

I hereby award you a thank you - only the third one I've given.

Needless to say, I'm tight when it comes to thanking people!

MarkyMarkD

I don't understand the OP's problem, or any of the other clarifications apart from Mr Campbell's.

Available is as Mr Campbell suggests.

There's no need to deduct uncleared cheques AGAIN from the available balance - they are already deducted. The amount shown as available IS the amount you can spend.

I simply don't believe, having banked with A&L for 8 years, that you would be charged an unauthorised overdraft charge for spending money within your available balance.

The only situation where it might appear that this has occurred is where you failed to comply with the requirement to have cleared funds in the account at the end of the PREVIOUS working day before a debit transaction hits - because there is no guarantee that CREDITS will hit the account before DEBITS. People often think (and I've seen many posts to this effect) that it's OK to pay money in on the day a DD is due, or a cheque is due to clear, and this is simply NOT true with any bank (including A&L).

Further clarification of exactly what happened with the OP would be much appreciated.

rob.jarvis

The cheque I paid in was displayed on the list of transactions. The Running balance included it, and so did the Available balance. BUT when I rang A&L they said although the Available balance includes the amount of the cheque, I was unable to spend it until 4/5 working days after it had been paid in (depending on how you interpret the T&C).

Eg. If I paid £100 in by cheque, when the cheque reaches A&L, they show the Available balance as £100, but I couldn't spend this money until it has cleared.

My complaint is that I think the Available balance should show what you could actually spend and not have to work out if cheques have cleared or not.

I'm not sure if I can make this any clearer.

While I'm on the gripe game, I've just noticed another thing in their T&C. It states, 'The central clearing cycle for the industry normally takes 3 Working Days for cheques and automated payments, however Our process takes an extra day.' Why?

oldagetraveller

"Why?" I would suspect that they are just that little bit more greedy than the other banks and earn another day's interest, with your money, in some short term investment.

santana-mx3

I've been caught out by A&L before. I've noticed on my running balance that I'm going to be short due money coming in being delayed. So I've done a transfer from my online saver. Online banking showed the savings amount go down and the current account amount go up and the transaction was shown in my running balance. I then made a payment. When I got my statement I found I was temporarily overdrawn at this time with an effect on interest. The reason: If you read through their T&Cs, it says you can only spend money which was in your account at the end of the PREVIOUS working day. How ridiculous. I never had that with Lloyds or Nationwide.