Thread: Dave v Alliance & Leicester

Hi Guys,
Got a claim going with the First Trust Bank in Northern Ireland.
This is my 2nd and maybe not my last!

Ive been with A&L for 6 months and I think they are a good bank, with great online banking. However, havign being stuck in a rut for a while, I accumulated £370 of banking charges. This included failed dd's and unauthorised overdraft charges.

After adding up the totals from statements on the online banking, I actually emailed they the letter asking for a refund of all the fee's using the template in the template folder.

I got the following reply on the 3rd of March:

Thank you for your e-mail regarding charges to your account.

I have arranged for your charges to be reviewed and once this has been concluded, the outcome will be notified to you in writing.

I do hope you find the above information useful, however, if you have any further questions or need any more help please visit our ‘Help’ section online or contact us again.

Kind regards

Customer Services
Alliance & Leicester plc


Clock is ticking . . . . .

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You must be in the minority on this forum, davydee, if you think A&L are "a good bank, with great online banking"!

Most of us think they are average at best - all banks being more of less the same - and that they are consistently too slow in updating transactions, including the online statement!

Hmm.. . maybe its because ive only been used to online banking my the first trust bank. There service is pretty poor.

Using 1 of the bigger banks like A&L I thought was great as it updated my statements during the weekend, something FT never done. Also direct bank transfers to other peoples accounts is a new feature for me. Full control of direct debits, standing orders, dates they are coming out etc are also all new. Something the FT never offered.

Ah well, each to their own opinions. They'd be even better if they refunded my fee's without any hassle

As long as you're happy, that's all that matters!

You are aware though that A&L close down the accounts of those who claim their money back, aren't you?

Best to open a parachute account ASAP, in case it is needed.

Really? Did I not read somewhere that they werent allowed to do this?

hi davy,the err sort of rule is that they are not suppose close accounts in retaliation from your having complained about charges however, no one can force the banks to keep your acc open even if the Ombudsman finds in your favour. A&L has been found against by the ombudsman at least once i say this because having been on the ombudsman's site and read the transcripts, the reasons for the acc closures were exactly the same (word for word) so it leads me to believe that its A&L.

The Banking Code says they have to give you at least 30days notice before they close your acc and if you believe they closed it because you complained about your charges then you can complain to the financial services ombudsman who will investigate, if you will there is a chance you will get some compensation for the effort you will have to put into finding another acc.

PS i called A&L, told them i wanted to reclaim my charges and they told me they would close my acc if i did so, the ombudsman already have my details, i've written to A&L asking them to confirm in writing that its there policy to close accounts and if they are going to close mine>

Hope this helps

I think the moral of this story, davydee, would be to open a parachute account somewhere, then you have it ready if A&L do close your account.

You needn't use it if for whatever reason you find you don't need it.

you recommend a bank to go to?

All much of a muchness, dd. Do you think you'll have a problem opening an ordinary current account?

yeah, ive tried opening Nationwide and Halifax and both got turned down

How about Natwest step acc? if its easier, apply online, if no joy is there someone you trust who's acc you can use (but that is further down the line hopefully it will get sorted) best of luck

Or the Co-op?

Just got accepted for a Nat West Account. Havent read much of the paperwork though thats just came. Is this an account without a debit card/cheque book/credit card?

I just something about a mobile phone on the application. Whats that about? lol

Mines a step account but not 100% sure what that is lol. Suppose I may as well read up on it lol.

Just an update here.
After corresponding with them via their secure emailing system with the templates from this site, I am now ready to proceed so I am sending them a formal lba with list of charges form excel spreadsheet.

When their time is up, a small claims file online will be filed instantly. They have already closed my account due to it being in the red so I now have nothing to lose and £1050 + interest + fees to receive!!!

Gonna get this up and running again as I havent done anything about it yet. Can anyone point me to the links to the lba letter so I can get it off to them. Cheers.