Bank charges reclaiming - bad news

Originally Posted by DanAbnormal

It's a money making scheme and it's morally wrong.

That's business.

Why was it morally ok for you to force the bank in to giving you an unauthorised overdraft? Technically you took money off them with no prior loan agreement.

I agree that £90 charge for going £6 overdrawn is absurd but if you look through all the T's & C's of the account you signed up for I'm sure it's all there.

Originally Posted by DanAbnormal

Easy to say when you are not experience hardship.

Example, I went over my overdrafy by £6. I get charged £90 for the privelage. How is that fair?

I am not against paying a fee but the amount they want has a knock on effect and shafts you for months to come. It's a money making scheme and it's morally wrong.

End of.

its a simple case of managing your money better isnt it? i'm of course viewing it all black and white and not taking mitigating circumstances into account (account, see what i did there??!), so im maybe being a little harsh.

and yes i've experienced hard times, have been out of work for over a year. i contacted my bank, went into see them, they advised my what to do and to the best of my knowledge i acrued very little, if any, penalty charges.

Sorry but no. It's not always that simple. Simple if you are earning good money and sitting pretty yes.

I am still trying to make ends meet after being made redundant and taking a huge paycut.

It can also take upto 3 weeks for transactions to come out when I use my debit card. It always seems to catch me out in the favour of the bank literally the day before payday.

I also have stuff come out on payday but as they come out before my wages goes in (even on the same day) it takes me over my o/d and I get hit with fee's. I don't understand this as on my statement I will have for example my bike insurance come out and then my wages go in on teh 25th November. In that order but the bike insurance will send me over my overdraft which will cost me £35 for the unauthorised transaction fee and a further £25 for an unauthorised o/d fee. Per item. Fair? NO.

Like I said, so easy to sit there and preach about managing your finances but until you are IN this situation and struggling you just don't get it.

Originally Posted by DanAbnormal

It can also take upto 3 weeks for transactions to come out when I use my debit card. It always seems to catch me out in the favour of the bank literally the day before payday.

I also have stuff come out on payday but as they come out before my wages goes in (even on the same day) it takes me over my o/d and I get hit with fee's. I don't understand this as on my statement I will have for example my bike insurance come out and then my wages go in on teh 25th November. In that order but the bike insurance will send me over my overdraft which will cost me £35 for the unauthorised transaction fee and a further £25 for an unauthorised o/d fee. Per item. Fair? NO.

Those were the main cause of my charges as well - it isn't total recklessness, but sometimes it seems that everything works against you in trying to keep on top of it

Best of luck getting back on your feet btw Dan

[Gazza77]

Originally Posted by DanAbnormal

Sorry but no. It's not always that simple. Simple if you are earning good money and sitting pretty yes.

I am still trying to make ends meet after being made redundant and taking a huge paycut.

It can also take upto 3 weeks for transactions to come out when I use my debit card. It always seems to catch me out in the favour of the bank literally the day before payday.

I also have stuff come out on payday but as they come out before my wages goes in (even on the same day) it takes me over my o/d and I get hit with fee's. I don't understand this as on my statement I will have for example my bike insurance come out and then my wages go in on teh 25th November. In that order but the bike insurance will send me over my overdraft which will cost me £35 for the unauthorised transaction fee and a further £25 for an unauthorised o/d fee. Per item. Fair? NO.

Like I said, so easy to sit there and preach about managing your finances but until you are IN this situation and struggling you just don't get it.

A couple of potential solutions that might help then.

1. Pay cash. No doubts about when it comes out of your account then.

2. Contact people to change the date of your DDs to time to when you get paid. I have done this every time I've changed jobs and my pay date has changed; it's usually fairly straightforward.

May save you a few quid in the long run.

Originally Posted by DanAbnormal

I also have stuff come out on payday

Whay don't you change your standing order dates? And liaise with companies that take DD's every month and ask them to take it a couple of days later?

[timwilky]

I think most of us have had it hard at some points in our lives. If we preach it is because of the lessons we have learned hoping that others will not repeat our mistakes.

Yes, I have been hit by repeated bank charges. I got myself out the mess and changed my approach to banking. There was a time I would never open a statement because I knew it would be bad news. I now track my expenditure weekly, most days check my balance and I now know if I can go out or have to stay in etc.

All good advice.

In my new job I get paid about a week later and just forgot to change everything over. Some companies won't let me do it but I can certainly get a few done.

Paying cash is all well and good but then there is the temptation to spend it. Not saying it's right but I could end up in a worse situation as I never know where the cash went.

Just so annoyed this month as I was hoping to phone the bank and ask for some nasty charges to be reversed and now I guess I have no hope. I even phoned abbey and asked them if the charges can be waived and I got told no. From some tw*t sat in a call centre in India. Grrr.

Is it Abbey that's doing that new account with no fees attached to it? I'm sure I read something about that recently....

First Direct now have an account where they text you your balance every day. That's a step in the right direction IMO, and has probably been more far more effective in reducing the number of people going OD than the OTT charging system.

Most people want to do the right thing and aren't spendaholics, it would just be nice to have a bit of help rather than a kick in the teeth.

Sadly it seems like the banks have got away with their past behaviour. However the new Financial Services bill coming through Parliament should help to address things for future.