Hi, I had the same problem except I closed my account 18mths ago in the branch and they wrote to me March 09 to say I was overdrawn and they were charging me £5 per day blah blah blah. Still complaining and have written to Ombudsman so waiting to hear back. A&L are illegal traders in my eyes, I will never do business with them again. Kevrah

Hi, I have had a similar problem. I had a premier direct current account and actually withdrew my balance in the branch and asked them to close the account at the same time. This was back in July 2007. I then receive out of the blue in March 09 a letter saying I owed them £170 in unauthorised overdraft fees and must pay this back. The letter aslo stated that there may be further charges of £5 per day etc. So as far as I was aware, my account had been closed and I received this letter 18mths later. I complained and they responded to say they had no record of account closure request. I asked for further info on: When I last paid into the account; When I last had a balance of £0 and When I started incurring fees. This was confirmed as: The last payment made into the account was in July 2007 £352.89. On 2nd August 2007 £53.79 was withdrawn from the account in cash leaving a balance of £0. From September 2007 I was being charged £5 per month as an underfunding charge. I don’t know how a bank which claims to “try to offer help and advice to ensure that you are able to manage your finances in the best possible way”, would leave it 18 months to contact a customer about unauthorised overdraft fees and explain this as “being an online account where the customer is responsible for managing their account” can operate fairly under FSA rules and guidelines. I was extremely angry and wanted to speak to a manager, which Ian told me was not possible and I let my mobile number and was told someone may contact me today or tomorrow but he could not confirm when. I then spoke to credit control who told me the balance was £172.92 plus further charges of £5 per day for being overdrawn for 9 days and then a further charge for something else which would bring the total to just under £280. I was completely flabbergasted. The letter dated 21st March 2009, as well as the one dated 12th March 2009 states “depending on the account you hold, we may now charge you an Exceeding Overdraft Limit Fee of up to £5 for each day your account stays overdrawn without arranging an overdraft facility”. The key word being “may”again A&L trying to illegally charge its customers. I am now baffled as to how they can charge me as well as £5 per day for being overdrawn? Does the word “may” have any legal standing in applying charges? I mentioned that I was not prepared to pay anything on the account they explained the account would be frozen and investigated and only charges up till today would be applied to the account. They mentioned that it would also be logged as a complaint. Not the best of responses as I would have preferred the account to be closed (for the second time) and to have no further dealings with A&L or Santander Group. Sorry its a bit long winded. I have no proof of account closure but do have a letter confirming closure of the regular saving account which had a special interest rate. Any advice on where I stand legally? I have written to the Ombudsman too. Thanks Kevrah