The bank lied to me, face-to-face.

grahamglos

Okay, so I purchased something off the internet, at about 4am. I went into the bank at 9am that morning to put money in my account to cover the payment (I only used my LloydsTSB account as it had a Visa card)

Anyways, what I purchased came to just under £40. When I got to the bank, put in £40, and the cashier told me that there was a payment coming out of the account for £41.33. So, I put in an extra £2.00, leaving me - post-payment with 0.67 in the account. I asked him if this would take me overdrawn, he said no.

Then, a few days later I get a letter saying I'm overdrawn, given a £15 charge + £6 a day charge while overdrawn. There was a hidden £1.00 charge on my payment which took me £0.33 overdrawn. The letter said I have been charge £33 (FOR ONLY 33 PENCE OVERDRAWN)

Now I could understand if the bank had told me I would be going overdrawn, but I had the money I could have paid an extra £1.

What do I do? I'm going to the bank tomorrow....


Thankyou for your help.

Badger_Lady

Definitely explain the situation and demonstrate the unfairness in a calm and reasonable way - they will normally look at your account history and decide to refund you. They may offer a partial refund, but in this case I'd stick to your guns - the breach is tiny and the bank was unhelpful.

Good luck!

FlyHigh_2

Just to offer an alternative opinion; (and probably the one that the bank would use)

Some payments maybe automatically authorised without the amount being checked in your account as some retailers have a floor limit. If this is the case then it would be impossible for the bank to advise you about these payments.

The fact that you confirmed the amount and the cashier confirmed it back to sounds like this was the case. I don't believe the cashier intentionally mislead you, he simply wouldn't have anything to gain by tricking you.

This 'hidden' £1 charge? May I ask what it was? It seems fair that if the charge was hidden from you then the bank may not have seen it either.

The bank will probably maintain that the information given to you was correct to the best of there knowledge and that you as the cardholder should have been aware of this hidden charge. They definitly won't admit it as bank error, so just be polite and ask if they can let you off. Its your call ultimately but I would avoid the "you cashier lied to my face" approach.

whowants2brich

I think that the alternative approach and a lesson for everyone to learn, is that you should always have either £50 as an agreed overdraft (if you're never overdrawn) or £50 above the limit/zero balance. This way, if you ever get into this kind of situation, you always have some money to draw on.

Whilst I sympathize with this kind of issue, and agree that banks should understand if you are under £10 overdrawn and give you the benefit of the doubt (some do, most don't), charging £33 is somewhat excessive, and if you talk to them calmly, they may be able to help.

Good luck fighting the banks... and either way, learn from this so that it doesn't happen again. Prevention in this case is definitely better than cure!

whowants2brich

PS I forgot to mention that I have a £500 overdraft on all of my current accounts. Doesn't mean that I use it (I usually never do) but if any of my direct debits go out, I pay pennies in interest instead of pounds in fees... I'd suggest that everyone has an agreed overdraft facility (if they can get it) even if they are strict in making sure that they never use it (unless scenarios such as the one above occur)...

Badger_Lady

^ That's true - I've actually got a £2,400 overdraft I never use :eek: so I know I won't be charged again!