Just Been Paid Already Skint. Think I Might Need Some Help!

jamtart6

yikes! £5 per day is pretty harsh! i would look at martins letters for reclaiming bank charges. Ask them what the £5 per day is for? why should you ask Natwest about the problem?

I think £12 is the max you can be charged, sorry i cant be of more help

LancsMacca

Thanks daisychain and jamtart.

I did receive a letter from Alliance & Leicester about the £5 charge but thought it was per month not per day. I had tried to transfer money from my natwest account to alliance & leicester but I was not aware that my money wasn't being transferred. The sort code I had supplied was wrong so I suppose it is my fault but I have tried to pay money into my account, it's not as though I'm just leaving it.

It's not even like there are direct debits being missed because there aren't any.

I'll give them another ring now I've clamed down about it. If they won't budge hopefully I can send them a letter to claim it back.

L-Jay

Personally, I'd open a new account (without an OD) and get my wages paid into there, set up new DDs and offer A&L a payment each month to clear the OD.

LancsMacca

Right I've spoken to them again, no budging from them, won't refund any charges because of the upcoming test case on charges. Asked why they were charging £5 a day and all they could say was those are the charges set out on the account but couldn't justify it.

They've logged a refund request about the charges for me and will be intouch with me in 7-10 working days but they won't do anything about it until the test case has been heard.

I asked about closing my account and what the consequences would be if I did this, was passed to Credit Control, they advised I would have to pay the debt off in 6 payments and this would put a status 3 on my credit file which would affect my credit rating.

If I couldn't afford this and I offered what I could afford it would be escalated and a status 8 would be put on my file which would seriously affect my credit rating for 6 years.

Asked how much the payments would be they came back with £82 a month and told me there are another £105 of charges not yet put on my account. So in effect I owe £491.78 and this figure will rise by £5 every day the account is over the limit.

Could someone explain the section 3 and section 8 as I've no clue what they mean other than 8 must be much worse than 3.

I think it would be best to close this account now. I won't have any money until the 26th so that another £40 at least going onto my account in that time.

firesidemaid

i would go into your branch - make an appt to see someone in person. i have an a+l account and it is 50p per day up to a max of £5 per month.

i didn't know an account existed that charged £5/day - that is excessive.

explain face-to-face the probs you have had swapping banks etc and that you did not mean to go overdrawn (and did not realise what the overdraft charges were) - also say that it is now causing you financial hardship.

on a lighter note, you need to get into drinking tap water or are there any water fountains available?

i also hate paying marked-up prices for food, so i also take multi packs of crisps, biscuits, oatcakes, nuts, apples etc in to work. this way, on the days i forget to make sarnies i just eat the items i have.

LancsMacca

firesidemaid wrote: »

i would go into your branch - make an appt to see someone in person. i have an a+l account and it is 50p per day up to a max of £5 per month.

i didn't know an account existed that charged £5/day - that is excessive.

explain face-to-face the probs you have had swapping banks etc and that you did not mean to go overdrawn (and did not realise what the overdraft charges were) - also say that it is now causing you financial hardship.

on a lighter note, you need to get into drinking tap water or are there any water fountains available?

i also hate paying marked-up prices for food, so i also take multi packs of crisps, biscuits, oatcakes, nuts, apples etc in to work. this way, on the days i forget to make sarnies i just eat the items i have.

Neither did I, I've been over my overdraft limit before with other banks but I have never been charged like this before, they're hardly daily charges when they group them all together in one huge £130 sum and not letting you know they are doing this.

I've spoken to customer services and they say the charges are valid and I've tried explaining the situation. I don't think I have a branch as I got the account online, certainly not been told where my branch is if I do have one.

Having trouble on the water front at work, because I'm working airside I can't bring any liquids through with me airside and we can't bring water through either to replace the empty bottles for the fountains. I have no choice on that really as I work 12 hour shifts. My company isn't well oprganised!

LancsMacca

I talked with my grandad about this problem with Alliance & Leicester and he has lent me £250 to bring my overdraft under it's limit so I won't occur any more charges.

I'm going into town shortly looking to get a basic account, no overdraft, just something I can pay my wages into. I'm also going to go into a branch of Alliance & Leicester and have it out with them regarding these charges. I've been charged £240 in total to date and I feel really hard done by.

We'll see what happens.

babyharry5

LancsMacca wrote: »

Right I've spoken to them again, no budging from them, won't refund any charges because of the upcoming test case on charges. Asked why they were charging £5 a day and all they could say was those are the charges set out on the account but couldn't justify it.

They've logged a refund request about the charges for me and will be intouch with me in 7-10 working days but they won't do anything about it until the test case has been heard.

I asked about closing my account and what the consequences would be if I did this, was passed to Credit Control, they advised I would have to pay the debt off in 6 payments and this would put a status 3 on my credit file which would affect my credit rating.

If I couldn't afford this and I offered what I could afford it would be escalated and a status 8 would be put on my file which would seriously affect my credit rating for 6 years.

Asked how much the payments would be they came back with £82 a month and told me there are another £105 of charges not yet put on my account. So in effect I owe £491.78 and this figure will rise by £5 every day the account is over the limit.

Could someone explain the section 3 and section 8 as I've no clue what they mean other than 8 must be much worse than 3.

I think it would be best to close this account now. I won't have any money until the 26th so that another £40 at least going onto my account in that time.

hi there
just read your thread - gosh the banks are a nightmare!
I worked in a bank for thirteen years as a deliquency/debt recovery manager.
a status 3 on your credit file would mean that your payments are approx 3m in arrears - cant see how a & l could put a status 3 on your credit file until you have not actually made a payment into your account for 3 months??! a status 8 on the otherhand is a defaulted account ( pre ccj).
alliance & leics could default your account at any time if you refused to make any payment into it. This would immediately register on your credit file as an alert to other credit providers and would seriously damage your credit rating.
To be honest I think your best option would be to call them - ask them to stop charges and interest as of now and you will make a fixed monthly payment towards it. You need to open an account with no overdraft facility at all which should make it easier to manage your outgoings.

P.S. I know its not a lot but spending 99p a day for example on coke/bottles of water is costing you £25+ a month surely if you are not allowed to take liquids into the airport they should be supplying you with fresh water to drink? use their water
also I suggest making your own lunch not spending each day this will seriously reduce your outgoings
best of luck sharon

LancsMacca

babyharry5 wrote: »

hi there
just read your thread - gosh the banks are a nightmare!
I worked in a bank for thirteen years as a deliquency/debt recovery manager.
a status 3 on your credit file would mean that your payments are approx 3m in arrears - cant see how a & l could put a status 3 on your credit file until you have not actually made a payment into your account for 3 months??! a status 8 on the otherhand is a defaulted account ( pre ccj).
alliance & leics could default your account at any time if you refused to make any payment into it. This would immediately register on your credit file as an alert to other credit providers and would seriously damage your credit rating.
To be honest I think your best option would be to call them - ask them to stop charges and interest as of now and you will make a fixed monthly payment towards it. You need to open an account with no overdraft facility at all which should make it easier to manage your outgoings.

P.S. I know its not a lot but spending 99p a day for example on coke/bottles of water is costing you £25+ a month surely if you are not allowed to take liquids into the airport they should be supplying you with fresh water to drink? use their water
also I suggest making your own lunch not spending each day this will seriously reduce your outgoings
best of luck sharon

Thanks Sharon that has helped me a lot.

I can't understand why they would put a status 3 on it either then as I have made payments recently. I'm putting £250 into my A&L account today so I won't be getting anymore charges and then I'm gonna talk to someone there about it.

Work have no water at the moment, can't bring any through airside to replace what we had, at the moment have no choice put to buy drinks, could I possibly claim this money back off the company?

I will be making a better effort to take a packed lunch with me to work, should save me a small fortune!

LancsMacca

I've paid the money into my A&L account now so there shouldn't be anymore charges to be applied apart from the £110 they haven't put on my account so far.

I tried to speak to someone face to face about the charges but was told that I would have to speak to the customer services team by phone (already done that got nowhere) but I've requested they send me my teams and conditions again so I can have a look.

I've been round the banks as well looking for basic bank accounts. In my town I found the best one to be with Yorkshire Bank, all are pretty much similar but I get a Maestro card, online banking, no overdraft, setup direct debits and the service in branch was fantastic as well. Got an appointment this afternoon to set it all up.