Bank Charges: Fine v Payout Poll

going2die_rich

Shouldn't the second option of "No fine. The payment is unpaid/refused." really included something in brackets saying risk further charges from those you have failed to pay? As some places charge you for failure of payment on time.

WestonDave

This is all very easy while we keep it in the realm of the latest fashion victim purchase and even to an extent the mortgage direct debit (since you won't get evicted instantly). In fact most things on direct debit wouldn't be a problem because it takes time to get back to the relevant company in which time you may be able to arrange an alternative.

The question really bites when you are trying to pay for something you really need at some ungodly hour. I used the example on the original thread of petrol on a Sunday night at a motorway service station. A flat refusal at such an hour means you are stuck until the banking system reopens - you might phone the bank on their 24/7 phone line, and they might agree an extension but as far as I'm aware the new limit won't be active on swipe machines until the banking system re-opens next working day. I had a situation where I had to instantly upgrade my RAC membership because my car was spewing petrol from a leaking tank onto my drive adjacent to my house - not sure I'd have wanted to hang around (bearing in mind even after the upgrade I had to wait for the patrol to get there) waiting for a new limit - at that point £35 would have been cheap.

I'm all in favour of anything being cheaper so if the £35 can be reduced to £5 then fair enough, but I think the same people currently getting caught by the charges will be the ones sleeping rough in service stations, or not being able to get their heating fixed over the bank holiday etc. Be very careful when you ask for rigid limits - at present with good planning you can avoid charges - if it becomes a system of blanket refusal people will still have to exercise good planning to avoid problems.

On the grounds that I can choose to avoid a £35 charge but could not choose to override a blanket refusal in an emergency I therefore reluctantly have to vote a)

RabbitMad

phltrnr wrote: »

In France, I believe it's a criminal offence to write a cheque without having the cleared funds in your account.

It is in this country too. I person I worked with spent 6 months inside for doing this (although it was for 30K)

I think if it came to it most people would prefer the charge than having their credit record trashed when various DDs were returned unpaid.

Whilst I agree with charges in principle what I disagree with is the way the bank mount charges upon charges etc so that going £3 over you OD limit means you end up paying £100.

rcssmb

I would prefer to have the payment returned unpaid. Problem is the organisation I was paying would probably charge me a returned dd fee. I dont think that this should be the banks choice though - they are authorising transactions for which I have no funds. Would that not require a credit agreement or does this come with all bank accounts hidden in the t&cs?

nettles

I have only ever gone over my limit once, and that was for a standing order they paid 3 days early. If it had gone on the day I set it up for, I would have been fine. When I phoned them, they said I must have gone online and changed it! Why would I do that? I would rather they didn't pay, and saved me the £50 I got whacked with - £25 for going over plus a monthly over limit fee of £25. When I applied for it back, they put it on hold, even though I said its nothing to do with the court case! They won't budge though.

Lynette

David12

Provided the bank tells you what will happen before you sign up, I don't see it matters either way as you choose to accept or go someplace else. An unauthorised overdraft is theft in my book and you are lucky to get away with a penalty - and it is not a 'fine'.

gbhxu

Have to agree that bank transfers, BGC, cheques etc need speeding up.

I bet there's only a handfull of people on this forum can tell you the exact amount they've got in their bank account.

Gone are the days when the only way you could get at your money was with a pass book or a cheque when you instantly knew how much you had in your account.

Now, there are so many ways to get at your money, that unless you keep checking your balance it's very easy to go overdrawn.

kezbabybabe

To be honest I prefer to know that it is still paid, as the charges from whoever I didn't manage to pay in time might be a lot higher than £35.

Hopefully that will no longer happen in my new money saving ways.

I remember once upon a time when my bank would transfer the money from a savings account if it was available, even that's stopped now.

Freebie_Manor

The supplier of product or service provides their goods service in good faith expecting that the bank will honour the promised payment however if payments have the option to be refused there may be a return to the process of waiting until the cheque or payment is cleared. It may be appropriate that at point of sale a transaction payment can be queried if customer is present however in the instance of automatic payment being requested by supplier and cancelled by bank I think that there will be many instances of "bad debt" incorrectlyrecorded by various suppliers and debt companies which is a whole lot more difficult to resolve and correct than a squabble with bank over a few transactions. It would raise a lot of questions on contract law, between customer and supplier and the banks role in the contract. It is my opinion that the bank should publish and apply fair one off charges rather than distort the contract between supplier customer. Also the hidden cost of the supplier of the product having to chase up failed / rejected direct debits will be considerable and be paid by the consumer through future price increases.

Ebenezer_Screwj

Banks are not charities or public services. They are commercial enterprises run solely to make profits and are responsible to their shareholders who appoint directors, who in turn appoint managers to run the business. It is presumed that customers have the mentality to read the terms and conditions of their bank accounts and be able to grasp the simple fact that the computers which calculate bank charges are accurate and will run to their programs. The onus is on the public to better themselves, not the banks to "dumb down".