Banking Charges

[jackie j]

I am absolutly livid, got a bank statement today and they are going to charge me £61.79p FOR GOING OVERDRAWN BY A WHOLE 3P YES 3P. So I phoned them up and after going through press 1 for x and so on I finally got to talk to someone from a different country that I couldnt understand and had to really listen to what he was saying and he had to keep repeating himself. and after waiting 12 mins managed to get this knocked down to £26.79p. I wish I could go back to paying cash for everything never had a problem then. I would love to close the account but we need it to pay bills as there is no longer the shops where you could pay in cash.

[Polly Fouracre]

I do believe you could get that money re-funded. I will ask Jim this evening.

[SarzWix]

I got charged £20 for being 6p overdrawn last week Jackie, and then they decided to recall the thing which made me go 6p overdrawn, so then I got charged a £25 late fee from Orange Home (broadband) as well. There was money due into (& showing as due) the account the following day. When I rang up I was told that "a supervisor could authorise a full or partial refund" but I'd have to ring up after 1pm to get the decision. Half an hour later I got called down to school to pick up my poorly daughter and forgot to ring them back. When I remembered the next day I was told it was 'too late'
I seriously hope the 'Overdraft Fees' court case goes through the High Court soon, as this is just the sort of p**s-taking that needs to be stopped!!

[jackie j]

What makes it worse is that i had paid in £122 to cover payments going out three days before they were due and miscalculated by 3 b****y pence and two days later a regular payment of £600 went in. They have got us all over the short and curlys and the chap had the cheek to tell me off for going overdrawn. Last month they accepted a cheque that I had paid out with a post date on and charged me for the privallage.

[maytreefrannie]

I am absolutly livid, got a bank statement today and they are going to charge me £61.79p FOR GOING OVERDRAWN BY A WHOLE 3P YES 3P. So I phoned them up and after going through press 1 for x and so on I finally got to talk to someone from a different country that I couldnt understand and had to really listen to what he was saying and he had to keep repeating himself. and after waiting 12 mins managed to get this knocked down to £26.79p. I wish I could go back to paying cash for everything never had a problem then. I would love to close the account but we need it to pay bills as there is no longer the shops where you could pay in cash.

I heard this story some years ago:

Joe and Angie lived in a little house, each week when they were paid they put money into little jars - leccy, gas etc. with a little for the Savings jar and that left enough to cover their groceries and weekly household things.

One evening in the pub, Joe heard his friends talking about the banks.

'Me and Angie don't understand money or banks,' he said, 'what we do is...' telling them about their jar system.

'Stupid.' Joe's friends said, 'the bank would look after your money, and they'll pay your bills - if you have some over they'll pay you interest.'

They proceeded to explain modern money management, so when Joe got back home, he explained it to Angie; from then on, all their money went through the bank.

All went well for a month or two, they hardly noticed the DD fees and bank charges - then bills went up, the bank account went down and in a few months Joe and Angie found themselves no longer living within their income, in fact they were being charged overdraft fees.

Some time later, in the pub, Joe's friends asked him how he was getting on with his money. Joe told them what had happened.

'See, me and Angie don't understand banks,' Joe said, 'we had to go back to our jar system, because we're stupid.'

The following morning there was a knock at the door.

Angie went out and saw a group of neighbours and friends - the town doctor, teacher, bricklayer, carpenter etc., headed by the town accountant.

'Are you Stupid Angie?' they asked.

'Yes,' said Angie.

'We want you to teach us how to use the jars.'

[jackie j]

Well said. When I was first married 30 plus years ago we were paid in cash every week and would pay the bills first, any left we used for whatever we wanted. Stamp for t.v license and telephone at the post office, electric and gas bills paid in the showrooms, I know it meant a bit of footwork but it was easier.

[snuffer]

Legalised theft in my opinion. Mind you, the trouble they've got the country in just lately you can't blame them for trying to claw some back. Thieving B%$£*^DS. Bit strong I know but I find it so annoying that they can get away with these exorbitant charges.

[piskieinboots]

probably best to get the largest overdraft you can and still pay the same over-draft fee ....then you can use their money instead of yours

but don't listen to me cos I'm known for not caring much after the paper stuff

[Marthaclematis]

Many years ago when I was but a young 'un I worked and got paid in cash. One day the company invited Nat West to come and talk to us about savings etc... I knew that this was the precurser to the firm paying us through the bank - they denied this when I put it to them but sure enough a few weeks later we were told we would be paid through the bank starting in a months time. Nat West came back and proceded to take applications to open an account from those who didn't bank with them. I was one of those people and at the same time I set up a standing order to save £10 per month via their savings account. We were supposed to start getting paid through them one months hence, and so that's the time I set up the standing order to commence. But things were delayed, and we didn't start getting paid through the bank for another six weeks. My standing order though, still 'stood'. Which meant that I was ten pounds overdrawn BEFORE I'd even had ONE PENNY paid in. !!!!
Thing is I was so young and daft (and busy with my social life) that I didn't take it up with them, I could kick myself.
Some years later though I did find the time and the wherewithall to dump them altogether, I wrote a letter telling them exactly what I though of them and their practices and told them where to go. And I took all my money with me - and as I'd just got redundancy from another company I had worked for for fifteen years - I took literally tens of thousands of pounds with me. I laughed all the way to the Halifax and my revenge was sweet.

[coreopsis]

When I opened my bank account,they asked me "would you like an overdraft"?They got short reply"No" and I never had any problems-I can't take more money than I've got.
I heard quite a lot of stories about being people being charged ridiculous money for an overdraft.I could understand the fee of couple of quids-I forgot,tough luck-but not such a rip off

[sewer rat]

If you get hammered with an exorbitant fee for going slightly overdrawn, phone your branch and really raise hell - and I do mean get loud but stay JUST on the polite side of abusive- works every time for us - charge is either fully refunded, or at least reduced.
Remember, the banks are no longer quite as chirpy or cocky as they used to be.

[piskieinboots]

Remember, the banks are no longer quite as chirpy or cocky as they used to be.

Indeed, it is hard to imagine how they got into this current pickle with the fees they were charging

[lynda66]

i'm with barclays, and yup i still get charges, but recently they have introduced reduced charges, and now i only get charged £8 for going overdrawn, even though i usually get it back, cos 9 out of 10 times it's their fault.

[Bephlam]

I also got hammered in charges recently - I went 3.00 overdrawn, and they charged me £76. I went in to the branch, complained BIGTIME - the guy agreed it was terrible, but unfortunately couldn't do anything about it. He then gave me the number for the 'customer relations' team - who were damn right rude. The woman spoke to me like I was scum of the earth, and refused point blank to refund any charges!!!! Not only that - it cost me a couple of quid for the call as it's always a bloody 0845 number!!

I hate banks!!!

[digthatchick]

I claimed back bank charges going back six years for my daughters friend's mum, they had been charging her £38 for every overdrawn balance or returned direct debit. We used the forms available on this site The Consumer Forums and she was refunded £2200 so far the banks have paid out over £150,000,000 in returned charges. They took it to court last summer as it was said that in "common law" bank charges are illegal as the banks can only reclaim "actual costs" (which turns out to be £1.50) the banks lost their case, but all pending claims are on hold, pending an appeal in February 2009 but you can still get your claim in - go to the site and you can download the letters and forms - it's easy it cost us £10, not bad to get £2200 back. Or try moneysavingexpert.com for the same forms and advice. Sorry for the ramble - but GET CLAIMING!!