Urgent help needed- Students being abused

[Used&abused]

Hello Everybody,
My boyfriend and myself had opened an Premier Online A&L account last year in June. As per T& C we had to put 500£ min in the account every month- which we did. (Recommended by Which?- which very funnily seems to be sponsored full on by A& L- all ads are theirs!)

2 months down the line, they call to inform us that we now have been granted a free £100 overdraft facility. Since having that overdraft, my partner and I have been charged a total of 300£ in 6 months for charges of exceeding overdraft limit, returned direct debit, and so on.

Most of the time, the problem with Alliance & L online Banking service is that it doesn't actually reflect the balance until a 5 days later. So when you do check your balance before you go out, it's fine, then after five days we find out, there was like 3 payments pending, which they hadn't authorised until we had used our money, so they could charge us for not having money in our account.ITS ARE VICOUS CIRCLE- AND NOW ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Then they would charge you on top of that for not having enough money to cover the charges.
As soon as our money: student loan and part time earnings go in there, it automatically deducts money it is due for charges!!! So in the end we are always short for rent or food. We have no social life what so ever now- they are literally bringing us to the street.

Last week we got charged for being short 1 penny, and when i tried to transfer the money from my saving, it was too late!! And now I want to close my account and I want all our money back.
When we started getting charged, we stopped using the account as often, and it seemed we were getting charged unfairly. And when we call them up, the cheek of these rude Liverpudlians who said- 'You can go somewhere else if you're not happy!!- That's what they said!

I am near tears every time I talk to them- not to mention the amount by which our phone bills increased - since you can't deal with them in a branch- it's an exclusive online account!!

We are only students, and also work part-time- all we manage nowadays is pay rent and charges- every month. It un-livable! Please help we do not know what to do.

We sent a letter requesting refund of fees and closure of account based on the design provided on this site, claiming back our money, now they have replied saying

'A& L in line with other financial service providers, have asked the FSA to suspend timetable for dealing with complaints in relation to fees for unauthorised overdrafts...and although we don't know how long the test case will take...'- blaming it on the test case currently going on! That's what they have been doing from the beginning!!

All they are doing, is collecting interest on our money, which they unlawfully took away from us!
Please help someone, how to reply, what to do next. 300£ in a students purse pays for 3 months rent! Some help. You are our last hope.
Thank you.

[maroondevo52]

Hi, Used&abused.

Continue with your claim, have you read this.......

Example Step-By-Step Instructions - Now updated to reflect the OFT court judgment

Just follow the instructions, letter by letter, keeping to the timetables.
They will stall you all the way, Have a look at this........

OFT Test claim: What this means for you/timescales

Regards.

Scott.

[Used&abused]

hello Scott,
Thanks for your advice,
I have received a letter from them exactly as predicted claiming that
they are waiting for OFT Test Case result blah blah blah! And they've startesd bombarding us with charges too! coming from nowhere, I'm now sending out my letter before action. Let's see what happens!!
Cheers,
U&A

[maroondevo52]

Hi, Balsheel.

Keep at them.

Good luck.

Regards.

Scott.

[Carriep]

Hi Used&Abused

I work for a BBC1 consumer affairs programme called "Don't Get Done, Get Dom", in which presenter Dominic Littlewood attempts to resolve issues that have arisen between consumers and companies.

Having read your story, we would be extremely keen to hear from you to see if there is anything we might be able to do to help.

If you would like to talk to us, please get in touch at:

dom@flametv.co.uk
02072785052

Thanks very much,

Robert Gershinson
Don’t Get Done, Get Dom (BBC1)