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Ok im getting slightly confused. I have a personal bank account and i am just waiting for the Halifax to pay up. With regards to my business bank i am just a little unsure as to what is 'unlawful'. If those items, as you say, are a service then surely the referral charges i have been charged each month of £150 are also service charges to increase or decrease my overdraft?
I agree with Lou here. The charges you state are not unlawful. 40p is not an unreasonable cost to charge the company for the servicing of a direct debit.
The argument with referal fees is that we all know it doesn't cost £30 etc to bounce a direct debit. These arguments and others are in the FAQ section of the forum. If you are going as far as court action you must be fully aware of these arguments.
Thanks for answering that question about my first post. The referral charge is my confusion now though. I do agree that the other charges on bankings and direct debits etc is ok and not unlawful but what about the referral fees. I am charged £150 each month for this and dont really know what it is for. The overdraft is not updated that much. As for going to court, i havent even issed my first letter regarding the business accounts as i am not to sure i have a case. The court issue is with my personal bank account and i have read all the faqs and understand them completely. It is the business side i am now researching, so i was just enquiring as to whether 'referral charges' are lawful.
Most Business users have a annual review and then it costs them a %. Like I say Im surprised you are charged these fee's of 40p ect then another £150 on top of this....
What bank are you with? I will look into it for you...
Banking method Standard menu tariff Auto free tariff
Payments out:
manual 67p each 75p each
Payments out:
standing order 40p each 0p each
Payments out:
Direct Debits 38p each 0p each
Payments out:
other automated debits 40p each 0p each
Receipt in:
manual/automated 70p/20p each 75p/0p each
Cash in - branch 57p per £100 90p per £100
Cash out - branch 57p per £100 90p per £100
Cash exchange £1.60 per £100 £1.50 per £100
Cheques paid in - branch 28p 30p
Autopay payments 28p each1 0p each1
Night safe deposits £1 each £1 each
Account maintenance charges £5.75 per month £3.50 per month
Current Credit Interest Rates* Gross per year AER
Business Current Account 2% 2.02%
Charges are applied monthly calculated on the services you've used. You'll be given around 14 days' notice of amounts to be charged, along with details of our calculations.
Charges for additional services
Management time, statements, returned cheques and letters about your loans or overdraft no charge
Stopping payment instructions (eg. cheque2) £10
Obtaining a special cheque clearance £15
Credit opened £12 to set up
Duplicate records (eg. copy of statement) £5
Certificates of balance £8 each
Business audit certificates £27.50 ex VAT (free for clubs, societies and charities)
Banker's opinion £8.50
CHAPS £23 (to pay into another UK bank)
£21 (to pay into another Natwest branch)
Obtaining a banker's draft £12 each
Returned items 'outwards' £35 each
Paid referral fee £25 each day an item is referred prior to payment
Sorry it seems muddled, but i copied this from their website, can you identify which charges you have had?
Here is a typical months charges (and how its written on the bank statement):
The charge is calculated as a per price item as detailed below: £400.32
Plus an account maintenance charge/fixed fee of: £5.75
Account charge to be deducted: £406.07
Activity Charge
BACS Direct Debits 11 @ 0.38 = £4.18
Other automated debits 5 @ 0.40 = £2.00
Standing orders 7 @ 0.40 £2.80
Cheques and other debits 27 @ 0.67 = £18.09
Manual Credits 18 @0.70 = £12.60
Cheques paid in - branches 5 @ 0.28 = £1.40
Cash paid in at branches £37,051 @ 0.57 (per £100) = £211.13
Cash exchanged at branches £8,470 @ £1.60 (per £100) = £135.52
Autopay payments 45 @ 0.28 = 12.60
Total Item Charge £400.32
That amount is then taken from bank about 14 days after notice. I am then charged a 'referral charge for the month of xxxxx' of £150 every month. THEN I am charged interest on the account of £406.07!!!!!
Im not necessarily disputing the charges as discussed previously, but the other items are surely just lining the big wigs pockets?
WOW! thats alot of cash! Isnt there a cheaper alternative? Or do you have big borrowing?
Ok, The 1st fee's seem legal
Claim the 2nd and see what happens.
Like i said before most people pay an OD review fee each year and its like 1% or 2% or something. Can you actually call them and ask what this is for?? Its not listed ANYWHERE???
Claim it if in doubt, they can then explain what it is cant they!
You're being a great help. Here is the story.. i am the company accountant of 6 Limited companies. I have started looking through the bank statements, hence the reasons for all my posts today.
Basically, 5 of the companies are bars or clubs and the other one is a magazine company. That is the reason for all the transactions. I have skimmed through the bank statements of the other companies and again the normal charges are paid out (d/ds and s/os etc) then they also have referral charges each month. They vary in amounts, two being £80 per month and one being £12 per week. I havent been through the last two companies but im assuming they will be the same. They are all Natwest accounts too.
I will get one of the Directors to call the Natwest tomorrow to ask the question as to what the 'referral charge' is for. If he doesnt have any luck then I will just try and get those amounts back. I will also look into the interest charges as to when and what they are for.
Im getting soooo confused!! lol
The amounts in the accounts for bank charges and interest are just so excessive its unreal!
I would say they are excessive, christ they make a fortune from you!
Like i said you really should look at changing banks, now I know this is not easy, but i bet theres a few banks out there who would like to have your business and can offer you a better deal.
Unless you feel the service is good enough to justify the charges of course....Call them and bloody complain, after all they earn enough from you!
I have just checked one of the other bank statements online and they also have referral charges of £125 each month as well as the normal bank charges and interest!
We are currently looking into changing banks, hence the reason for me looking into getting the charges back as it wont matter if they close the account or not.
I will let you know tomorrow their reasons for the 'referral charge', if indeed there is one!! lol
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