account closed, need advice urgently

[sgar]

A&L have closed my account due to me being overdrawn because of £80 unauthorised overfraft they charged me this month. recieved letter 22 feb letting me know of charges and to pay in full or get in touch, i contacted them and informed them my wages would clear this at end of month, which it did. another £88 charges this month and letter on 19 march stating account closed and all direct debit cancelled, been with this bank for over ten years and last year started claim for the £5000 they have taken in charges. as i have no other account as yet and wages due to go in A&L account at end of month i could do with some advice on what to do. i have tried to contact A&L but cant get through as they say phone pin not valid. also child benefit has been paid into it recently which will have put acc into credit but cant use cashcard to take it out as letter states i will be committing criminal offence under theft act if i try to make any further transactions.

[**Tilly**]

Hi sgar

 

 

here is a link i hope this helps and also a link for parachute accounts, if you ring the child beneifits agency and explain what has happened they will stop furure payments going into the account,if you open a new account you can have this and your wages paid into it.

 

 

What to do if your bank closes your account

Do you need a parachute account?

 

Tilly

[saintly_1]

I would also suggest a complaint to the FOS

[sgar]

thanks for that, just been online to apply to open a new account, im angry that things like my mortgage will probably be paid late due to A&L doing this because my employer will now have to set up new details for my wages which will probably take a while. its more frustrating that i cant speak to customer services, even though there is a contact number on letter to discuss this issue with them.

[sgar]

ive just realised that i can still email them through internet banking, although it doesnt show any details about my account, just says unavailable, but i can send them a secure message via email, any suggestions on what to say to them.

[midge61]

Hi

When A&L did this to me I went to CAB and they phoned on my behalf as I could not get at money.

I also have made a complaint to them AND fos.

[sgar]

ok, thanks, gonna email them now, see if i get a reply.

[loz]

They did exactly the same to me, with no notice, and I also had trouble getting to speak to somebody to find out what had happened. Eventually I got put through to the right people by calling the number for the internet banking helpdesk. Very helpful, not.

 

I've taken my complaint about this to the FOS and I encourage you to do so too - however I made the small mistake of not exhausting A+L's complaints procedure (which as we all know is a waste of space) and the FOS will not do anything until I've done that.

 

Best of luck,

Loz

[sgar]

thanks for that, looking at terms & conditions now regarding making complaint, it says to write or telephone them, i have emailed them as i cant get through on telephone banking due to them closing account, although i havent actually put in email that its a "complaint " i have told them how angry i am and have asked for answers. do you think i should resend the email with "complaint" in subject line, also when ive looked at terms and conditions it says they may close account if evidence of fraud or serious misuse, i have not done any of these, i only went overdrawn because they put charges on which took me overdrawn.

[loz]

Somebody may correct me but I don't see why the email you've sent shouldn't be considered sufficient complaint. However I asked the FOS whether my phonecall to them constituted an official complaint and didn't get an answer.

 

Have you quoted their T&Cs and the Banking Code to them, about 30 days notice of account closure?

[midge61]

Hi

I sent my initial complaint to A&L's legal department and got a swift response to say it was being looked at...........then another saying the same...............and again!

 

Once 8 weeks have passed the FOS will look at it so long as you send copies of the letters from A&L to show they have had long enough but failed to deal with it.

 

The last letter I had from FOS was end of Jan (I think) but not heard anything since.(note to self must chase this)

 

They "closed" my account in Sept 2007 so the complaint is taking it's time!

[sgar]

does anyone know of a contact number for A&L that doesnt require account details to speak to customer advisor, they closed my account last week, my employer had already processed my wages and they were sent to A&L, as yet these have not been returned so i can have them paid elsewhere. spoke with wages dept this morning who said they should have returned them by now and to get in touch with A&L, but cant get throught to them, the incompetence of A&L has now caused me to fall behind with things like my mortgage and car finance, and many other payments i make each month, which no doubt will incur charges from all these companies too. any advice please?

[midge61]

Hi

I went into the branch when they closed mine and they phoned through for me.

Try that if you have a branch near you and then lodge a formal complaint.

[manicmedium]

hello folksim having similar problems with a and l i dont know if this is going to be any use to you, but the fax number for the credit control office which is what you need is0151 9662936hope that helps!manic

[martin2006]

My account was closed by A&L after successfully getting my charges back in 2006. Had a parachute account with natwest which ive been using eversince but am about to start a claim with natwest for charges. So i opened a new account with A&L, no problem. Its a better account than the A&L account i had before.

Some might say why go back to A&L but at the end of the day they are close by so are convenient and we all need to bank somewhere dont we? However much we might despise them all!!!!