Smile / Co-op Bank

[nuttybutty]

I had an online account with Smile which had an overdraft limit of £400. Unfortunately things got a little out of hand and I went over my limit and obviously Smile wanted their money back. I tried to pay as much per month as possible, but with interest charges it crept upto around £550.

Then I managed to get a bit of money together two months ago and paid off all but a measily £8.87. It felt great to have Smile stop calling me endlessly on my landline and mobile.

However, over the last week I've started receiving a call per day from this lowlife bunch, and I thought it was just them trying to sell something.

But I've just checked online and all of a sudden I owe around £184 - which apparently is made up of £155 daily excess charge, £15 service charge and the rest is interest.

For a start why the hell am I being bounced for a daily excess when I paid the best part of £540, I've never had this before even though my account was in dire straits. And what is the service charge, again this has never been applied before. I did notice on a previous statement that a correspondence charge of £60 had been applied, is this because they sent me a first class letter? Aren't postage charges pricey these days?!

I am disgusted that they have not sent me a letter explaining this, let alone why these charges have been added. Seems like a pure money making scam.

Before I fire anything off to Smile I could do with a bit of advice so I know where I stand. If I've got a definite claim Smile won't be able to stand cos they'll have a size ten boot up their a**e!!

[nuttybutty]

Actually I've just looked at this again and I paid £554 which was exactly the amount owing so took my balance to zero, but two days after it was paid the interest charge took me to -£8.87, so it's this charge that has made my balance plummet to -£184 since 19th March.

[Bolton1]

You've definitely got a claim, send them the preliminary letter.

[nuttybutty]

Cheers for that.

I've sent them a secure message first outlining my view on the situation and also added that if I don't receive a satisfactory response I will be taking the matter further, so I'll see where I get with that. If nothing happens I will send the prelim letter as you say.

[caro]

Have you had any luck or do you need to send a preliminary letter now?

[nuttybutty]

Hi, sorry haven't been on for a few days.

Yes they've reinstated a zero balance which means my account is now officially closed.

Had a response from a member of staff saying she'd pass it on so it could be looked into, then almost instantly one of the managers sent me an email saying it had been sorted, although the £60 wasn't a charge for writing letters, it was for going overdrawn.

Quite happy to leave it at that.

[Bolton1]

Good Result

[caro]

Great stuff. That seems to have been quite painless.