Unorthorised overdraft charges

jb478914

actually the bank hasn't taken 1008GBP from you, it has only taken 208GBP from you. The 800 GBP o/d belongs to the bank, is an on demand facility which means they can ask you to repay it at any time.

I reiterate an overdraft should only be a safety net, not something to live within. If you do so, you do at your peril, as threads like this go to show

Fedz

Elnerdio wrote:

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/

Good site

Out of curiosity wouldn't stating laws (which are correct obviously) to your bank help them consider you as a 'trouble maker' and maybe jepordize your relationship with them.

If you keep gaining charges it signals you can't control your account correctly, so they could use this to limit you ...etc. and limit your chances in future should you want more services from the bank.

Awful I know for people on the borderline but the fact remains.

Walletwatch

HelenR wrote:

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

Well, in that case, I must say, mentioning the fact that the poster had money in her Barclays account is irrelevant really, isn't it. The fact of the matter is that the poster had DDs scheduled to come out of a bank and did not fund the account in time for them. That a transfer from another bank to Smile would take three days was a known fact, and it cannot be volunteered as an argument against these charges.

I do agree that these charges seem inordinately high in most cases, but then, I am one of those that opine that anything you sign up to, you must honor. Else don't sign up to it in the first place. This chain suggests enough banks that have comparatively lighter T&Cs, as against other banks who don't.

safari_2

Fedz wrote:

Good site

Out of curiosity wouldn't stating laws (which are correct obviously) to your bank help them consider you as a 'trouble maker' and maybe jepordize your relationship with them.

If you keep gaining charges it signals you can't control your account correctly, so they could use this to limit you ...etc. and limit your chances in future should you want more services from the bank.

Awful I know for people on the borderline but the fact remains.

It might jeapordize your relationship with the bank, if they actually cared about customer relationships. And if they cared about customer relationships they probably wouldn't fleece you with penalty charges. So a bit of a chicken and egg situation!

I used to work for a big bank and have a good insight into customer economics. The best customers from the bank's point of view are the ones that have a regular income coming in but keep dipping over their overdraft limit. There's practically no risk to the bank (the monthly income clears the overdraft) and yet it can make hundreds of pounds a year from fees. In this situation banks will also then try and come to your rescue by persuading you to convert your overdraft into a personal loan ("because then you wouldn't be incurring all these charges"). They will also push a worthless protection insurance policy very hard as well.

It amazes me the number of people on this thread that seem to think it's ok to levy these illegal penalty charges. Presumably they'd be happy paying a hefty fine to their employers each time they turned up a second late to work...

Walletwatch

Fedz wrote:

Good site

Out of curiosity wouldn't stating laws (which are correct obviously) to your bank help them consider you as a 'trouble maker' and maybe jepordize your relationship with them.

If you keep gaining charges it signals you can't control your account correctly, so they could use this to limit you ...etc. and limit your chances in future should you want more services from the bank.

Awful I know for people on the borderline but the fact remains.

That's a good point, Fedz.

stressedoutmomof1,

What has happened in your case is indeed unfortunate, but as an earlier post points out, the £800 was never your money, it was an advance volunteered by the Bank, a privilege which it is well within its rights to withdraw without notice. Again, as pointed out earlier, an overdraft is nothing more than a safety net. If you choose to always be in the red on your bank account, you're running the risk of being caught in such a situation, should the facility be withdrawn by the bank.

I must say however, that in my opinion, any person from the bank would understand the problems one would go through, if such a facility were withdrawn overnight, and topped up with charges over and above the cancelled facility. I daresay from personal experience, you should be able to get most of the charges (if not all) refunded, if these charges have been levied for the first time on your account. (if not, then this is a chronic problem, and you need to relook at the way you manage your finances, the withdrawal of the overdraft facility has just expedited the catastrophe you were anyway heading towards)