A&L Overdraft

DanDan123

Hi,
I have an A&L Premier Direct Current Account and only have a £100 overdraft. I have only had the account since the end of Feb, and have just had my 3rd monthly wage paid into the account. Just before this went in (about 3 weeks ago) i spoke to someone about increasing my overdraft. They said that there wasnt an increase available at the moment. (it seems that there is a set value that you are entitled to dependant on how the account is run?)
Anyway, what I want to know is, when are the accounts reviewed? My salary is paid in at the middle of each month. if that helps, I want to know if I applied again now (I was advised to wait for the 3rd wage payment to be made into my account) will I get a different answer? I pay in nearly 2k a month, and have never been overdrawn.

Cheers in advance.

Night-owl_6

DanDan123 wrote: »

Hi,
I have an A&L Premier Direct Current Account and only have a £100 overdraft. I have only had the account since the end of Feb, and have just had my 3rd monthly wage paid into the account. Just before this went in (about 3 weeks ago) i spoke to someone about increasing my overdraft. They said that there wasnt an increase available at the moment. (it seems that there is a set value that you are entitled to dependant on how the account is run?)
Anyway, what I want to know is, when are the accounts reviewed? My salary is paid in at the middle of each month. if that helps, I want to know if I applied again now (I was advised to wait for the 3rd wage payment to be made into my account) will I get a different answer? I pay in nearly 2k a month, and have never been overdrawn.

Cheers in advance.

First of all, dont get your hopes up about getting a overdraft with A & L.
They have really got to me recently after promise and promise not being kept about giving me a overdraft with them.
I fund my account and have high use on it monthly however they have given me no OD limit and everytime I apply say "try in 3 months" this has brought me to the point now that I am looking into changing banks as I have been with them for over a year and 6 months and they wont even give me a £50 overdraft.
I was told that the way they decide if to give you a OD is the way you operate and fund the account I have done both correctly and never incurred any fees however this apears to be a lie on there part.
Secondly I have recently been advised by the branch manager that strongly disagrees with the banks choice not to give me and OD and says that they should to write to there underwritters, be prepared for delay for there address; to ask them to review my account conduct, I have decided not too as I am looking for another ac!!!!.
I must say, against all above that A&L are a very good bank but they really need to stop making false pomises they know they have no intent to keep.

Gooduck in getting your OD, I somehw guess youll have a long wait on it

MarkyMarkD

A&L's standard overdraft amount is half of your monthly credit. So if you are depositing £2k of salary per month, you should in due course be able to get a £1k limit.

They will give higher limits than this to match over banks if you are transferring your account from them.

I'm not sure why night-owl is having problems getting an overdraft limit. You've talked about the conduct of your A&L account, but I'd ask - (1) are you funding it with a salary, or just moving money from another account in your own name; and (2) do you have any credit issues/other debts which may be putting them off?

Night-owl_6

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

A&L's standard overdraft amount is half of your monthly credit. So if you are depositing £2k of salary per month, you should in due course be able to get a £1k limit.

They will give higher limits than this to match over banks if you are transferring your account from them.

I'm not sure why night-owl is having problems getting an overdraft limit. You've talked about the conduct of your A&L account, but I'd ask - (1) are you funding it with a salary, or just moving money from another account in your own name; and (2) do you have any credit issues/other debts which may be putting them off?

My account is funded from salary and I was told when I opened my account that anything held about my credit status with CRA would not affect my chances of getting an OD with them as they only check internally, I dont mind not having an OD but what I wont have is a banking lying to me everytime I ask for one JSUT to keep mje as a customer, I have to travel 10 miles to my nearest branch, I stayed with them and put up with them for well over a year now in hope that they would just give me a £5o OD, in al fairness alot more than that is going through the account, when I have time I will be looking at moving to First direct.
If they were at least honest at the start at said "no we cant offer you a OD at prsent or in 6 months or so" then I would have been okay with that but its lies after lies with them.
There a great bank, not saying there not, just they should not lie just to keep you as a customer!

MarkyMarkD

Does that mean that there ARE problems on your credit rating? I wouldn't believe any bank which said "we only check internally" because, to be honest, that would be stupid and not good lending practice.

Do you have a full VISA debit card with a £100 cheque guarantee? Because if you don't, that is a sign that A&L don't like your credit history and are far less likely (or maybe completely unlikely) to give you an overdraft.

Night-owl_6

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

Does that mean that there ARE problems on your credit rating? I wouldn't believe any bank which said "we only check internally" because, to be honest, that would be stupid and not good lending practice.

Do you have a full VISA debit card with a £100 cheque guarantee? Because if you don't, that is a sign that A&L don't like your credit history and are far less likely (or maybe completely unlikely) to give you an overdraft.

I have a Visa debit card and chequebook, not a guarantee card - I had the prem 21 account but down graded to a current account.
HOWEVER - When I opened the account my credit file was prefect and I had a £1000 OD with TSB which I asked A&L to match, they never did, They closed my TSB account, and said they couldnt review it now it was closed - What the????!!!
Anyway, since being with them I have had a default, but I must point out that everytime I apply for a OD they have NEVER searched any CRA as I check my file online weekly with all CRAs and no search has ever been conducted by A&L.
When I spoke to the branch manger they disagreed with the banks choice to refuse a OD and advised me to write to there underwritters, and send in proof that I had a £1000 OD limit with TSB and that I can fund the account.
The branch I use has well, I wont say which as it is under investigation by A&L security department, has also another worrying fact to add, I paid in a sum of £**** A while back, the cashier made a misake and only paid in £***, it was over £100 short, this was cleared up after I brought it to the cashiers attention however, it happened again recently, hence the reason I reported it and A&L were very concerned, it appears that alot of A&Ls branchs allow trainees to handle high amounts of cash without being watched!!!!
The branch manager told me, the cashier who made the misakes on my amounts was only 3 weeks in training :eek: :eek:

Snooze

I've been with them for 15 yrs and put a lot through my account each month but my OD is £200 !!

That said, I do have a an £1800 Flexiplan account with them (any old skool members remember those?! They don't do them anymore).

Over the years I've been with them I find them best for loans. They seem to throw loans at me and pretty much asked no questions when I applied for £20k last week. The papers were here to sign the following day - never even checked my employment or credit file!

I find them stingey for CC limits (only £2k ) and stingey for ODs too. :rolleyes:

Rob

sss555s

I opened a premier direct account with them in April at the same time as switching my ISA to them.

I did it all in branch and as i didn't have proof of my RBS overdraft limit she said just apply then if your not happy with the amount you can bring in proof and they should match it. I still had time to stop the switch if they weren't gonna give me enough.

I told her my existing OD was £2700 and she said that was a lot and said she didn't think they offered over £2500 on new accounts which would have been ok.

Anyway they set me up with £700 so i copied my online banking bit that says current balance and amount available as that was the easiest way for me to prove my limit. If i remember rightly your page must have a bar code or something on it too.

Well next thing i know is they agree to the £2700 no hassles. :T

I'm self employed and she said as long as i pay in £500 pm everything will be fine so i set up a DD for that amount and pay my dividend in when i like without worry.

I did use the switcher service which also went smooth.

The bonus for me was i could fill up my ISA with the free overdraft and square it up at my leisure over the year but thanks to this site i'm hotter on my finances now a days anyway

MarkyMarkD

The A&L credit card limits are down to MBNA who operate the cards, not A&L.

Night-owl_6

I have decided I am moving from A&L to Abbey, and I have 6 branchs locally to me

chesky369

How odd. I only opened a premier current account with A&L because I wanted to have the regular saver. Only put in £500 per month, half of which went to the RS - but, without my asking, they offered me (and I accepted) a free overdraft facility for a year of £1,400.