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Bank Charges: Fine V Payout poll discussion
Former_MSE_Lawrence
Former MSE 975 Posts
Poll Started 29 Jan 2008:
Bank Charges Poll: Fine v Payout.
During the Bank Charges Test Case HBOS’s lawyer said customers prefer a payment to be made even if it means a bank charges them a fee. The Office of Fair Trading disagreed, saying it believes customers would prefer the payment not to be made, giving a chance to make alternative arrangements.
If you had paid for something costing £40 without realising, taking you beyond your overdraft limit would you prefer:
A. The payment is made, but you’re fined £35 on top.
B. The payment isn’t made. There’s no fine. You need to make alternative payment arrangements
Vote here, or click reply to discuss below.
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Bank Charges Poll: Fine v Payout.
During the Bank Charges Test Case HBOS’s lawyer said customers prefer a payment to be made even if it means a bank charges them a fee. The Office of Fair Trading disagreed, saying it believes customers would prefer the payment not to be made, giving a chance to make alternative arrangements.
If you had paid for something costing £40 without realising, taking you beyond your overdraft limit would you prefer:
A. The payment is made, but you’re fined £35 on top.
B. The payment isn’t made. There’s no fine. You need to make alternative payment arrangements
Vote here, or click reply to discuss below.
[threadbanner]box[/threadbanner]
0
This discussion has been closed.
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Replies
The good thing about keeping a ledger is that you know precisely what you have in the bank and what funds you need to cover any transactions, and that gives us peace of mind.
The other good thing about 'writing things down' is that you can go back and actually look at what you spend and say 'WHAT?, we spent that on that........'
Consequently, we have never and I mean never gone into arrears where we had to use the banks overdraft and been fined.
I understand that there are circumstances where folks have been fined by banks unfairly and deserve special treatment, but there are a lot of other people who just don't keep an eye on their expenses.
Why should my wife and I, who always play by the rules and keep our accounts in good order, have to suffer with the threat of paying for our current account because of other folks who don't bother to keep an eye on their finances?
Let me just say this: Rather than everyone squabbling in this country over £35 overdraft charges how about working to get the banks to offer 35 year fixed rate mortgages with NO early payment penalties like they have in the rest of the free world?
We are literally playing Russian Roulette with variable rate mortgages in this country as the interest rates go up and down like a roller-coaster and that really baffles me why folks put up with it?
In reference to the poll: I noticed that a whopping 98% of people would opt for no payment to be made if their account didn't have any money in it.
OK...........what about that company that has to chase you down for your payment that has been refused by your bank due to insufficient funds? Do you think it would be fair for them to charge you a non-payment fee? I'll leave that question for anyone who has ever run their own business and had to chase down customers who wrote cheques that bounced.
Having said that, in this debate I'm firmly in the camp of any and all payments taking you over your agreed limit should be refused. Simple as that.
My response - b) but I reckon there would be a fair few who would rather pay up than have that ground opening feeling!
Scenario 2 - I still have just one card. I'm driving home from seeing my sister up north. Its a wet miserable Sunday night and we had afternoon tea before I set off. Halfway home at about midnight the petrol light comes on in the car and I pull into a motorway service station and put £40 worth of petrol in the car to get me home. On arrival at the till my card is put in the machine and it transpires the £40 would take me over the limit. Would I a) like to suffer the £35 and get on my way (thereby arriving home in time to sleep and get up for work the next day - albeit a bit bleary eyed) or b) have a tank of petrol I cannot pay for and be informed that I will not be allowed to drive on until I have sorted out payment. I phone my 24/7 bank who arrange a temporary overdraft but unfortunately they can't update the relevant system until banking hours the following day. I therefore have to spend the night sleeping in the car, can't set off until after 9am the following day and therefore miss a day at work.
Hands up who's choosing b! Not so black and white now!
Thus a new thread is being started to discuss it.
Martin
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
Its even easier if you use something like Microsoft Money