Aol put me overdrawn Bank Charges Help!!!!

[Gazza112]

Hi

Have an DD with AOL which i was paying £9.99 per month, without letting me know they put it up to £14.99. Bring me overdrawn in the bank.
I'm on disability benefits and also a full time carer, and can't afford the overdraft charges that they have taken out of my account. The amount that i went overdrawn was £1.56 and as i've not got an overdraft they have hit me with £75.00 this month and probably another £50.00 next month.
Can i get the rest of my charges back, i must say that the bank has given me £35.00 back this morning but will not give me the rest back.

Any surgestions how i can reclaim my charges back.

Thanks

Gaz

[Gazza112]

Bump!! anyone

[Alison82]

Oh no!!! I'm not an expert but I think you should write to AOL, also I read on here that banks can't take charges out of benifit money, is it possible if you can collect your benifits in cash for now?

[Gazza112]

Hi Alison82

Thankyou for coming to my thread, I did go to the bank on saturday.
But all they where allowed to do was refund me £35 in charges.
They also said to get intouch with AOL to reclaim the remaining charges.
because the bank took out £75.00 out of my account on Friday, it made me £1.35 overdrawn again so looks like the banks going to remove more money from my account next month .
So i have written to AOL today, but i'm not giving much hope for them to refund me the charges.

Gaz

[poppynurse]

There is a letter on here somewhere that stops the banks taking money from benefits, it's called something like rights of appropriation.

Also you can argue financial hardship when you write in to ask them to refund the charges.

[Gazza112]

Hi poppynurse

Thanks for coming to my thread, i know the banks are trying to pass the buck. Telling me its my responseability to look after my account, and to see if there is funds in the account to cover the outgoings. But if they don't tell you that DD's are going up how do i know what funds are going out.
Also they've tried passing the buck to AOL, which i'm not giving much hope in getting a refund from them. I'll get a letter out to the bank today see if they can reinburse me

Gaz

[Bookworm]

Which bank?

[Gazza112]

Hi Bookworm

Thanks for coming to my thread.

The Bank it the dreaded Abbey National.

Gaz

[Bookworm]

Ok, first I think we should get your thread moved to the Abbey forum. There's people who tend to stick to the bank they know best and you are more likely to get the appropriate help there.

Then, you need to start the process to reclaim your charges on a hardship basis, I'll go and find the right link for you to read.

As for AOL, I would strongly suggest that you cancel your DD with them and pay them by standing order instead this way you're in charge of how much and when and they can never spring that kind of nasty surprise on you. (that goes for all DD in my book, not just AOL, btw. )

Forget reclaiming the charges from AOL, they'll say they notified you and try to prove they never did is going to be virtually impossible. Much easier to go after Abbey.

[Bookworm]

Hardship and Stayed Claims

Have a look at that and adapt for your circumstances.

[42man]

I'm moving this to the Abbey forums for you....

[Gazza112]

Hi Bookworm

Thanks for the info, i'll get that letter of to the Bank with my Hardship case. On the DD can i cancel from the bank or do i have to contact AOL and cancel it from there.

Hi 42man

Thanks for moving this to to the Abbey forum.


Gaz

[Bookworm]

Get the bank to cancel it. If you bank online, you can do it yourself.

Let us know how you get on.

[Gazza112]

Hi Bookworm

I did ask the bank on saturday, if they could move this DD to my other account as thats got an overdraft facility on it that i dont use at the moment. But they said they couldn't move or cancel this, As i need to contact the people direct to get the DD moved.

Gaz

[Bookworm]

Ah, yet another fine piece of advice by Abbey.

Don't ask, tell them. Tell them you want this DD cancelled, and to do it now.

Then you'll have to contact AOL to tell them that you have done so and give them your new account details where you want the DD to go to from now on, or ask them for their account details so you can start paying by BACS/Standing Order (If they'll let you, I haven't been with AOL for many more years than I can recall).