OT Bank charge, is this reasonable?

[Harry Bloomfield]

I have three accounts and one credit card account all with the same bank, which I have been with for >30 years.

A savings account with 20K, a debit account with 10K and another savings account with 8K in and the credit card. I don't have an overdraft facility on any account, I really don't need it.

I opened another savings account with different bank, with a cheque drawn on the debit account, transferring an extra 10K into that account in readiness for it. At the instant the cheque was presented due to a small error on my part, that debit card account was 40p short of the

10K and the cheque was bounced. It was 40p short of meeting the cheque of 10K for just two days.

I have now been presented with a bill from my bank for £35 for refusing the cheque. No phone call from my bank, just an online bill.

Should I be fighting this £35 charge?

[R D S]

If you give them a ring I am 99% certain they will reconsider the charge.

[Dieseldes]

to the ombudsman is in abeyance at the moment so the banks are charging as much as they can (cynical moi?) I would, if possible go into the branch and argue it face to face, I think they will probably refund "on this ocasion" If you are with HBOS there will be another £35 for even thinking of going over your agreed limit! I had a fight last month over something very similar money paid in but not shown, charges, and then the next day money shows as having been paid in on time! when I queried the charges and showed them a print out of the online statement, reply " online banking is as accurate ... as it can be!" f+%^*ing banks, mind ewe they did refund.....

Des

[Colin Wilson]

I would - you've obviously been a good customer having had =A310k=20 deposited with them, and to charge =A335 for a one-off mistake for the=20 princely sum of 40p is taking the pi$$.

I'd call their customer services, and if they argue the toss, i'd=20 start being awkward back - first point out that you'll be closing all=20 your accounts, and secondly that you'll be doing a Subject Access=20 Request which will cost you =A310 (at most) but you want copies of all=20 data the bank hold on you - in either written, electronic, spoken=20 (voice recordings of calls) and security camera footage.

Just to make life more interesting, visit a few different branches and=20 give them the dates to make their life harder, but point out that you=20 know you were there on those dates.

THEN tell them you're going to the Ombudsman and small claims court to=20 fight the cost, and for them to bring a full breakdown of their costs=20 and charges they allegedly incurred for this 40p misdemeanor.

[Roger Mills]

The charge is doubtless within the T&Cs, and has been applied blindly by a computer. Go and speak nicely to a real person, and grovel for your small mistake, and they'll probably refund it.

At least it was - sort of - your fault. I've currently got a dispute with Barclaycard who have charged me a £12 fee for a failed Direct Debit, which was entirely *their* fault - they got the account number wrong in the Morgan Stanley/Goldfish to Barclaycard transition!

[Harry Bloomfield]

Colin Wilson brought next idea :

Actually 38K in total lodged with that particular bank.

[Colin Wilson]

Either way, you haven't been taking the pi$$ and living off an=20 overdraft !

[Ian]

It was your mistake. get it right next time.

[geoff]

In message , Harry Bloomfield writes

No - you should calmly inform them that if they don't withdraw the charge, you will withdraw every penny

... then fight the £35

... then look for a better bank (FSVO, of course)

[Ian]

the terms and conditions YOU agreed to.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Of course.

Happened to me. Io pened an account with no overdraft facility, accidentally went overdrawn, and they whacked me a huge interest charge BECAUSE I HAD NO FACILITY.

I went in to see my bank manager about something else and mentioned that I was a bit peeved that if I had asked for a 16 grand limit, he would have granted it, but because I didn't I got stung.

He reversed the charges in front of me and put a 5 grand facility on.

If they don't, close teh account. They are kinda desperate for depositors money right now since they cant get it off LIBOR anymore.

[geoff]

In message , Harry Bloomfield writes

Personally, I'd spread money wide and thin ATM

Forget the new £50k limit, no bank is really safe, and if you need money in a hurry, it's no use waiting for a compensation scheme to kick in

[Tim S]

geoff coughed up some electrons that declared:

Agree. I had some dosh in Kaupthing Edge. I got out a few months back, but primarily because their online banking sucked rocks. I *did* think I was safe with

[geoff]

In message , Ian writes

You're really not getting into the spirit of the party, are you ?

Stuff the T&Cs, all banks had more or less the same punitive (and illegal) T&Cs, there was no choice

I've fought every bank charge I've ever incurred (nearly always due to my negligence) and I've always got the charge rescinded

If you win, it's your money if you lose, it's their money

that's it, end of story

[geoff]

In message , Tim S writes

AIUI - Kaupthing have been taken over by ING who are honouring all accounts and claim business as usual

'kin hope so as we have £60k with them between us

I must admit it was somewhat scary being in Bali watching first Landesbanki and then Kaupthing fall over with all my account info left in Bandung, hundreds of miles away

[Clint Sharp]

In message , Harry Bloomfield writes

Short answer, hell yes.

My experience;

I got charged £30 for a shortfall of less than a pound so I went to the branch and asked for the manager who I asked to refund the charges, she refused.

I explained to her I thought it was an unreasonable charge for a shortfall of less than a pound.

She refused to comment.

I told her I'd still like the money back, regardless of what she thought, she told me it was all my fault (it was) and I should have been more careful (I should have been).

I asked her to close the account if she wasn't prepared to refund the money at which point she accused me of blackmail.

I told her she could call it what she liked and pointed out that I could see two other banks through the front window of her branch who'd gladly take my custom.

After much humming and haa-ing and pointless complaints of how unusual it was and it was all a goodwill gesture I got the amount credited and closed the account a month later.

[Martin Crossley]

Reminds me of a conversation at my branch when I opened a savings account at my bank last year:

"Can I set it up so money will automatically be transferred if my current account goes below £x or looks like it's heading for the red?" "No, not now it's all centrally computerised. We used to be able to, back when we had branch managers in charge."

Yet they can program the computers to charge £35 and send you a letter for going 40p in the red...

Martin.

[ConfusedCarbuyer]

Emphatically YES! but do not "fight" it - just say politely that you appreciate it was your techical error but that given that it was a computer-generated charge you would like a human being to apply commonsense to the matter now and rescind the charge. Ultimately, it is their decision - do they want your custom and goodwill AND the deposit or do they wish to lose your custom

I am pi$$ed off with Barclays for a variety of reasons and will be inviting them soon to choose between giving me two years' free business and personal banking (value say =A3500) or lose my custom and 4 accounts with some many tens of thousands in them. It will be interesting to see if the bureaucrats overcome their instincts and understand a business necessity! Good luck Chris

[Tim S]

geoff coughed up some electrons that declared:

Basic rule of foreign holidays - DON'T watch the news!

;->

Anyway, hope your dosh is OK - think it will be with the ING takeover. Interesting how suddenly Britain is prepared to defend it's subjects' interests in the world arena, given how often it normally rolls over and dies (cf the EU in general and anything the merkin's boss-man wants).

Like I said, Iceland can't have many nukes, or anything else we're interested in maintaining diplomatic relations for. Wish we'd take that stance a bit more often.

[John Rumm]

Which suggests there must be a number of MPs etc that have Icesave accounts!