Unorthorised overdraft charges

Fedz

dchurch24 wrote:

I take it that you have never put your hand in your pocket only to find that the money you thought was there actually wasn't? Or put your card in a cashpoint and tried to withdraw money and found that you didn't have it there to withdraw?
Should the bank have charged you £39 each time perhaps?
If this has never happened to you, then you must have too much time on your hands, as you must be in and out of your banks branch getting up-to-the-minute statements (and in my experience, not such a thing exists) more often than your average yo-yo goes up and down.
I, and probably lots of other people, have lives to lead and don't have the time to either; use out of date Internet banking, out of date and generally incorrect (shows 'uncleared' funds as funds) cashpoint balances, or request statements on the hour from our banks.

If I attempted to get money from a cash machine and didn't have the funds, why am I not charged £39 then? Perhaps, by your logic, I should be.
Or perhaps you would argue that it's none of the banks business.

Your attempted analogy is nowhere near!

Putting your hand in your pocket to see if you have money and actively instructed the bank for a 3rd party to pay a DD from funds you don't have is completely different, I'm confident enough that even you can see that difference.

The difference is I'm disciplined enough to know how much money I can spend without going over my agreed overdraft limit. If you can't even take care of your own finances and then blame the bank for your own mistakes rather than take responsability for your own mistakes then you only have yourself to blame.

My Halifax Internet Banking is always up-to-date so if this is the problem with your bank being out-of-date then it's about time you changed banks to one that spent your overdraft charges more wisely eg: updating your internet banking facilities.

Kind regards

Fedz

frepol wrote:

If I get charged then fine no problem - I should know better. Then again, my bank doesn't charge me because they understand my finances and I have the confidence and social skills to ring up and negotiate with them so that I don't have a black mark against me and the bills are paid.

But then I am a teacher. My focus is special needs. However, most of the pupils I teach in a school of 700 pupils will never have the skills to negotiate such refunds or have the numerical abiity to manage their finances effectively. Each September, I spend a lot of time showing 16 and 17 olds how to fill in online application forms for bank accounts. The words terms and conditions are outside many young people's understanding, never mind the legalistic language within them.

I despair of you people who work in banks. Are you so indoctrinated that you cannot see any other point of view? Can you not see that it is the vulnerable who suffer?

...............................................

Corrected bank staff are indoctrinated, they have to work within these Ts and Cs - it's their job. Are you suggesting they should risk loosing their jobs, not to mention a criminal record by fixing certain customers accounts at the till/terminal?

You can simplify certain but critical parts of the Ts and Cs of running a bank account but this still might not be good enough as it's remembering them that matters.

Some people with learning difficulties might be better with Cashpoint cards only with anything outside this eg: DDs, SOs and overdrafts being being on a separate account and supervised by an competent adult.

Kind regards

Tim_L

The difference is I'm disciplined enough to know how much money I can spend without going over my agreed overdraft limit. If you can't even take care of your own finances and then blame the bank for your own mistakes rather than take responsability for your own mistakes then you only have yourself to blame.

I'm also extremely careful about managing my money, but I'm damned if I'm going to pay these charges if I slip up. Self righteousness apart, anyone with reasonably complex finances is going to forget something or be subject to an error at some point.

And when this happens it takes 4 days to rectify the situation because the banks take 4 days to do a BACs transfer that could be done instantly. A cheque - a piece of paper requiring humans to read and process it - can often beat a BACs transfer if both are issued on the same day - complete nonsense. Most banks refuse to accept a corrective payment by credit or debit card, which is completely ridiculous.

These charges are excessive and don't reflect any cost to the banks of processing warnings (the banks have admitted they are deterrents not charges). They penalise people who have marginal financial problems disproportionately, and those who are not financially aware. This is not in any way a reasonable condition, it is to make money for banks. And it is an absolute scandal.

AnnaV

Have just sent email to Smile trying to get back these bank charges. I'm trying to switch from Barclays to Smile and having a few problems, as I still had some payments coming from Barclays I left my salary there and transfered money across, which obviously took 3 days, which is when I was charged on both occasions. I have been charged a massive £40 for each occasion (£25 charge and £15 'service charge'). Making a total of £80.

I have quoted the Unfair Terms In Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. Also if anyone is trying to do the same I have found a really useful webpage on the Financial Services Authority's website here.

Also the article on the student that sued Abbey and got his charges (& interest) refunded is here

And the press release by the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) about unfair charges for credit card consumers who are late with payments is here. Not quite sure why it only applies to credit cards and not to banks, but it is still interesting.

I'll let you know how it goes with Smile.

lovemoose

I'll be interested in how you get on with smile; I've just had a similar problem. My travel season ticket money was taken earlier than it should. For going £22 overdrawn for two days I was charged a £20 service fee. I thought that was it, but yesterday a £15 fee and two separate £5 daily charges, and interest.
£47 quid or so all told. I've sent them a secure message about it, I'll let you know how I get on.

M_Thomson

AnnaV wrote:

Have just sent email to Smile trying to get back these bank charges. I'm trying to switch from Barclays to Smile and having a few problems, as I still had some payments coming from Barclays I left my salary there and transfered money across, which obviously took 3 days, which is when I was charged on both occasions. I have been charged a massive £40 for each occasion (£25 charge and £15 'service charge'). Making a total of £80.

I have quoted the Unfair Terms In Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. Also if anyone is trying to do the same I have found a really useful webpage on the Financial Services Authority's website here.

Also the article on the student that sued Abbey and got his charges (& interest) refunded is here

And the press release by the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) about unfair charges for credit card consumers who are late with payments is here. Not quite sure why it only applies to credit cards and not to banks, but it is still interesting.

I'll let you know how it goes with Smile.

Well, I am sorry to say that I think using the excuse that it takes 3 days to transfer money across from one bank to another is not really a valid one. You opened an account with a bank and accepted the t's and c's with them and you didn't plan very well to have money in your account. You then moan about charges that it was obvious that you were going to incur! It's things like this that make it more difficult for people who have genuine financial problems to get charges reversed.

AnnaV

lovemoose wrote:

I'll be interested in how you get on with smile; I've just had a similar problem. My travel season ticket money was taken earlier than it should. For going £22 overdrawn for two days I was charged a £20 service fee. I thought that was it, but yesterday a £15 fee and two separate £5 daily charges, and interest.
£47 quid or so all told. I've sent them a secure message about it, I'll let you know how I get on.

Still no reply- I'll let you know when it comes through. Good luck

HelenR_3

M Thompson




It seems obvious to me , on reading the whole thread , that peoples gripes seem to be more aimed at HOW much the charges are , not the actual act of being charged , which seems to be accepted and in most cases , completelet understood.

You just seem to want to have a dig when you can.



H

stressedoutmumof1

I have had a horrendous month with my bank!! Firstly on my pay day I went to take some cash out only to have my card swallowed. I phoned my bank who informed me that they have downgraded my account to an electron account and had promptly taken away my £800 overdraft in one fell swoop. I asked how I was going to get some money out to feed my family etc.. they suggested a CHAPS payment into another account which I agreed to - they assured me it would go into my account that very day - it didn't!! Now today I have looked at my bank account and they have taken £208 in bank charges (fair enough it was for DD's that there wasn't enough funds for) but in one month they have taken £1008 from me - and believe me I don't earn a fortune - infact I now have £11.26 to last me the month (although there will be enough money for the DD's this month). Does anyone think I would have a good chance of trying to get the charges refunded, and if so how do I go about it? Any advice would be appreciated. (By the way the bank did not give me any advance warning my account had been downgraded!!!)

Elnerdio

Ask your bank for the charges back, if they say no ask them to justify the £208. The charges can legally only cover the loss to the bank in not paying the DDs. Anything above the financial loss is a penalty charge and unlawful under English Law.

If you still feel inclined to fight it and get your £208, send them a letter, details of which http://www.bankcharges.info/