My Halifax overdraft..

1pound

Hello, I'm new here and I'm looking for advice about overdrafts and bank charges. I have had an account with Halifax for around 7 years as well as an older account with Lloyds TSB which I've had for around 13 years. I have never kept my Halifax account in good order and have received many charges over the years. Around 10 months ago I reverted to using my TSB account as I wanted to maintain a good record which I've so far managed to do.

The problem is that I took the 'head in the sand' approach to Halifax and the £750 authorised overdraft I had maxed out. I got a letter today telling me that I will be charged £28 for unauthorised overdraft next month and this led me to check in online where I find my account is now overdrawn by just over £1000. Each month they have taken £28 in charges as well as interest charges and this has increased the amount I now owe to them considerably.

If I make a plan to pay back the overdraft to them do I really have to pay the amount that they have applied in charges? I have never tried to reclaim charges, could this be an option for me?

I'd really appreciate any suggestions before I speak to Halifax myself,

Thanks.

bountiful

Hello - I know that head in the sand thing only too well. I am not qualified to give you advice, but you have come to the right place - help will be at hand very soon - hang on in there and don't do anything hasty! Looking forward to seeing you get your head up into the sunlight

mazzapeeps

hi there go in and see them right away as you will have another 28.00 it keeps triggering every 3 days they will put you in touch with someone to stop getting more charges i have had my account frozen with the help from the ombudsman, also open another account and get your money transfered in to that one so they cant leave you with no money which they will do you will have to agree to pay it back pay it back a little at a time say £20 per month by the time you pay it back it should of been through the courts staff in branch are on your side hope this helps you

Tiglet

Hi, 1pound,

Here's a link to Martin's article on reclaiming bank charges. It explains about the current state of affairs regarding the test case that's going on. It's important to start the process as soon as possible because you can only claim up to six years' charges.

1pound

Hi, thanks for the replies. I'm reading through the articles about bank charges now.

Some further details...

The letter I received today was as a result of their email attempts not getting through (old email address) as I am registered for online banking. It appears that the charges are monthly and are for being in unauthorised overdraft ( i.e. over £750 overdrawn).

Over the last 6 months I have been receiving many calls from withheld and unknown numbers. Sometimes I've had as many as 20 calls in one day from the same number. I believe these calls are from Halifax as I had a similar experience when I got behind with credit card payments to them (around £1000 being paid off at £50/month @ 0% quite amicably). I consider this harassment and I ignored these calls from the off... they haven't gone away. I would really loathe to answer the phone to whoever it is after avoiding it for so long, I will definitely be switching mobile numbers when my current contract runs out. If these calls are from Halifax then doesn't that constitute harassment and strengthen my potential case against them?

Tiglet

You're right - if it's Halifax calling, then that would be unreasonable, although you'd have to answer the calls to find out. Do you have an answering machine, and do any of the callers leave messages? If they are withholding their number and hanging up without leaving a message, then I would pick the phone up and then cut them off immediately. That way they get to pay for the call.

Are you registered with the Telephone Preference Service? That's worth doing. It takes about a month to kick in but it does stop pretty much all cold calls. I used to get this sort of thing all the time and it dried up completely once I registered with them.