Overdraft of 17 pence (0.17p) now £600

[NorthE]

Hello,

I'm having a problem with Alliance & Leicester. (A&L)

Basically, my current account with Alliance & Leicester went overdrawn in November by seventeen pence (0.17p)

For the first 11 days they charged 5 pounds (£5) per day, amounting from 0.17p to £55.17 overdraft. This has continued to this date (31/05/2009) and since they have been charging around 5 pounds per day at £100 cap per month.

The total to this date, has amounted to around £500-600 pounds sterling from a £0.17p overdraft.

Now I was in prison at this time for a minor offense (4 months in-prison .. open prison thank god) and had no knowledge of the charges they had placed on my account for this 0.17p overdraft. I have since contacted them saying that I could not pay them back, as I had lost my job, my house and everything else. - I also asked them when this overdraft occurred and they stated on the 20th of November 2008, I went overdrawn by 17 pence, since this time they have charged the £5 per day for 11 days for the first month. (£55.17) I told the women that I would not pay the fee and she said "that was okay" as she said if I wrote to this certain department they would take care of it all and take my situation into account. I sent them a letter explaining the whole situation.

However just today, I have received a letter from them saying exactly the following:

Dear XXXX,

Thank you for your recent letter and we acknowledge the receipt of your request for repayment of fees for your claim of financial hardship. Unfortunately you were given the wrong information by the customer service advisor for which I apologise, but we do still need details of your income and expenditure so that we may progress your claim.

So that we fully investigate and consider your claim, please complete the enclosed Income an Expenditure form and return it to us in the prepaid envelope within the next 10 days. We will then refer your details to a specialist team to consider your financial situation.

Please make sure the form is completed fully and provide copies (Please do not send the originals) of three months' proof of earnings or other income. When we have considered your claim for security and confidentiality reason, the documents you send to us will be destroyed.

If we do not receive this information from you, we will assume you no longer wish to claim financial hardship.

Please telephone 0844 800 9000 if you would like to discuss any aspect of the matter further. Alliance & Leicester is committed to resolving complaints as fairly as possible and our leaflet explains the actions we will take.

I never claimed for financial hardship, I claimed that I could not pay it back, however I also said I would NOT pay it back. Yet they have sent me this.

I'm not going to pay it back over a 17p (SEVENTEEN PENCE) overdraft.

I also explained that I never even wanted or had an overdraft facility, so I am unsure as to why they are charging me when this should have never even have taken place. There should be NO overdraft for a 17pence overdrawing to even occur.

My friend has said that he would back me and pay for any lawyers if it ever came down to legal action. However that route is expensive and I would rather do this the cheapest way without an IOU being on my back all the time.

What can I do? It says, I can contact them about it, however the last time I contacted them on the PREMIUM NUMBER it cost me £4's due to call charges and the person misinformed me about the situation as outlined by them in the letter above.

I'm upset at the moment. But I won't pay them, even if it means going bankrupt, I will NOT pay these people the money they are asking for. *£500-600*...

Any help would be appreciated.

[mariner2000]

Hi sorry to hear of your problems but funny how people are supposed to be sorry for you as this happened whilst you were in jail. Once upon a time jail was a punishment and the consquences including charges were to be lived with as part of the penalty.

I would also assume that you had opportunity to warn you bank of your pending predicament or to make arrangements to ensure DD's were covered or cancelled either prior or since going to jail, it being an open one.

As for the situation, if you are saing you can't afford to pay you will be issued with an I&E as you are saying yu can't afford to hence you must be in financial difficulties if yu can't afford to pay.

If this isn't th truth and as you stated you just don't want to that won't wash with any bank.

You would be better of asking for GOODWILL apologiing and explaining that you merely went 17p overdrawn and since then things escalated.

Complaining about the fairness of the situation or of the charges will more likely result in waiver

As for not having an overdraft you were told when you opened that the facility was available. If you keep any current account make sure you arrange a free one "just in case" and what charges would be if used

[NorthE]

Originally Posted by mariner2000

Hi sorry to hear of your problems but funny how people are supposed to be sorry for you as this happened whilst you were in jail. Once upon a time jail was a punishment and the consquences including charges were to be lived with as part of the penalty.

I went to prison to keep my family in some sort of a house, but a house nevertheless. I lost my job, one of my houses and my car as a consequence, I've paid the price. I'm not asking for people to be sorry for me, I asking for people to give me some solutions otherwise I'm in ever deeper horse poop than before.

Originally Posted by mariner2000

I would also assume that you had opportunity to warn you bank of your pending predicament or to make arrangements to ensure DD's were covered or cancelled either prior or since going to jail, it being an open one.

I hadn't used the account, so I did not think there would be a problem with it.

Originally Posted by mariner2000

As for the situation, if you are saing you can't afford to pay you will be issued with an I&E as you are saying yu can't afford to hence you must be in financial difficulties if yu can't afford to pay.

If this isn't th truth and as you stated you just don't want to that won't wash with any bank.

You would be better of asking for GOODWILL apologiing and explaining that you merely went 17p overdrawn and since then things escalated.

Complaining about the fairness of the situation or of the charges will more likely result in waiver

As for not having an overdraft you were told when you opened that the facility was available. If you keep any current account make sure you arrange a free one "just in case" and what charges would be if used

The fact that it went overdrawn by 17p in the first place, I am baffled about. They can't go into specifics for some reason as to why this 17p overdrawing came about in the first place, I ask and I simply get "Our records show you went overdrawn in November by 17pence and than that escalated to a £5 charge per day".

As for the overdraft facility, when I opened the account, I told the advisor or assistant, that I did not want an overdraft facility, it even says in online banking that my account does not have an overdraft facility. I specifically did not want this for the reason I am fighting against TODAY! As for a good-will gesture, I will try that however it will most likely be declined due to the magnitude of the amount that they want me to pay back. If all else fails, I will have to go bankrupt, as there is no way in hell, I'm going to ever pay that back and that is my principals.

[thesergeant]

NorthE,

This is a matter of the application of unlawful charges. You need to read all the FAQs and relevant threads. You need to submit the template Data Protection Act Subject Access Request. Then you send them an initial letter of request for the return of the unlawful charges to start the process towards a County Court Claim.

IMHO you need to get this done ASAP due to the ongoing OFT test case.

[old_andrew2007]

Good luck with your claim

[boingy]

Yikes. That sucks! 17p, and they want £600 from you! That just shows how extortionate these unfair bank charges are.

A dodgy loan shark wouldn't have charged you that much!

I wouldn't worry about it in the slightest. Download one of the many template letters and get your claim in.

At the end of the day, if they take you to court for it, the case will surely get laughed out!

I bet a few newspapers would even pay a few quid for your story!!! It's amazing what a bit of bad publicity can do to rectify problems like this.

[indebtstudent]

"As for the overdraft facility, when I opened the account, I told the advisor or assistant, that I did not want an overdraft facility, it even says in online banking that my account does not have an overdraft facility"

This is the problem many people have, fact is the banks have not divised a way to stop current accounts becoming overdrawn, IMO because it is profitable for them to NOT have such a system. I accept there are problems with guaranteed card payments but other than that I'm sure it is possible.

As for your posts I don't want to pry but it would be useful to have more info, I'd ask for more details about when it happened and how it happened.

BTW I know this doesn't help but forwarned is forarmed, it costs about £600 quid (believe) to go bankrupt. This situation is absurd but it has occured many times.

[slick132]

Hi NorthE,

Because of the tiny amount which started this whole sorry saga, I would write to A&L's Head Office and complain that such a tiny amount (17p) has snowballed into £500 to £600.

Find out the name of the CEO or similar and write to him asking for the default charges to be removed as a Gesture of Goodwill, failing which you will go to the press to highlight the disproportionate charges made after the apparent 17p o/draft.

Mention also that you haven't claimed Financial Hardship as suggested but that you WILL, if necessary, take court action to have the charges repaid.

[lucky13]

Mariner, how can you behave like that on these forums? This is a place to give and receive help, not criticism on redundant matters. Has it occurred to you that not everyone in prison deserves to be there, and that many are there such as NorthE as a consequence of helping others?

Sorry to start like that, but I had a friend who was jailed for defending his family against 3 huge steroid junkies who had already caused hideous injuries to both adult and child members of his family. I love this forum, and how friendly and helpful people are, no matter what the circumstance, and I hope it carries on indefinitely!

Anyway, now that rant is out of the way, would some proof of being imprisoned over that time not satisfy them? If you are not at home to get the letters or phone calls, then how can they expect to have it taken care of?

Plus, as boingy said, it would be laughed out of court, and a newspaper such as the Sun would have a field day with that one!

[old_andrew2007]

Its interesting that Mariner was only ever on line once, there are many instances where an idiot comes on to the forum to stir.

[lucky13]

I hope it was only the once! I can't count how many forums I've been a part of that have eventually been ruined by such characters!

[indebtstudent]

"As for not having an overdraft you were told when you opened that the facility was available."

No, it does not matter what you say the account can and does go overdrawn. Unless you have a savings account you CANNOT be guaranteed that an overdraft will not magically appear.

I am disappointed in the recent OFT report that they did not force the banks to invoice seperately for thier charges. If they are indeed 'service charges' then that is only fair.