Under funding & overdrawn charges

[Panbun]

I had a premier 21 account which I rarely used and when I turned 22 last Nomber I stopped using it. My account had a small amount of money in (can't remember how much) so I left it with the intention of possibly using it again at a later date.

 

I then received a letter from A&L in May, with "Our records show you have not used your account for some time..." ..."if you do not respond to this letter, your account will go back to dormant status. This means you will be unable to operate your account and if your account is interest bearing, no further interest will be earned." and there was a slip at the bottom which I cut off and sent back indicating I would like my account to be closed and remaining balance transferred to another account.

 

Recently I received another letter from them, saying that my account had exceeded its overdraft limit without an overdraft limit in place. Phoned them today, and was told that the account I currently have (premier direct current account which I never agreed to) requires a minimum monthly deposit of £500, or there would be a £5/month under funding fee applied, which has taken me overdrawn since I never had an overdraft limit in the first place. They said they never received the form I sent back, and unfortunately I didn't send it recorded - stuck it in a stamped envelope and in the post it went.

 

I've been told over the phone that I owe them around £214 in under funding fees and overdrawn charges, and the latter is up to £5 for each day my account remains overdrawn.

 

They have now escalated this to some other department so I can no longer deal with it over the phone. I was told I'll receive a letter within 5 working days, but these daily charges are still being applied as I can't have my account frozen or closed until my balance is zero.

 

Would anyone be able to offer any advice? Are these charges reclaimable? Thank you in advance.

Edited July 27, 2009 by Panbun

[yourbank]

I answered you twice on MSE(lol, I get about a bit ).

[toasted]

I have exactly the same situation with the alliance and leicester except that after totting up £60 in so called under funding fees they withdrew my overdraft and starting charging £5 per day and when it reached £250, they wrote the charges off, closed my account and sent late monthly status codes to the CRA's which crippled my otherwise good credit rating.

I have now received all my back statements and the only activity on the account for the last 18 months is their charges. I issued proceedings in the county court on Saturday for an order that they remove the default against my file.

I would advise you to dispute your charges formally especially if you do not want an adverse mark put against your credit file.

 

I do not see why these charges would not be refundable, they will be subject to scrutiny by the Oft in due course.

 

If you can afford to, it might be worth paying up now and close the account.

Depending on the outcome of the test case you may be able to claim the charges back later, but will limit the damage if you cant.

 

i will post my progress with the courts on the site.

 

Good luck

[Panbun]

I answered you twice on MSE(lol, I get about a bit ).

 

I see thanks for your help on MSE.

 

I have exactly the same situation with the alliance and leicester except that after totting up £60 in so called under funding fees they withdrew my overdraft and starting charging £5 per day and when it reached £250, they wrote the charges off, closed my account and sent late monthly status codes to the CRA's which crippled my otherwise good credit rating.

I have now received all my back statements and the only activity on the account for the last 18 months is their charges. I issued proceedings in the county court on Saturday for an order that they remove the default against my file.

I would advise you to dispute your charges formally especially if you do not want an adverse mark put against your credit file.

 

I do not see why these charges would not be refundable, they will be subject to scrutiny by the Oft in due course.

 

If you can afford to, it might be worth paying up now and close the account.

Depending on the outcome of the test case you may be able to claim the charges back later, but will limit the damage if you cant.

 

i will post my progress with the courts on the site.

 

Good luck

 

Thank you for your info & advice.

 

Should I ring them up again tomorrow and pay it all off? Or wait for their letter first?

 

Phoned them today, turns out I need to pay £174.91 and not £214 (first advisor couldn't add up it seems). Currently my account is -£74.91 comprising of all under funding fees and with another £100 due to be added on 4th August for the past month (£5/day capped at £100/month).

[freakyleaky]

I answered you twice on MSE(lol, I get about a bit ).

Would you care to share this information here for the benefit of our users or are you suggesting anyone wanting this information visits mse?

[yourbank]

Would you care to share this information here for the benefit of our users or are you suggesting anyone wanting this information visits mse?

 

It's Bank Error and more specific issues have already been discussed with Pandun(link below if you would like see the dissection of his case that I did--which lead to my conclusions mentioned in the first few words of this post)

For others, here is the link.

Alliance & Leicester under funding and overdrawn charges - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums

 

 

I will take note of your comments and include and MSE thread link for future reference so all CAGGERS can see the advice given.

[freakyleaky]

Why not give the information on here when asked?

Your "conclusions" simply mentioned that you had answered elsewhere. That is of no help to anyone reading this thread.

 

So your intention in the future is to advise on MSE and simply provide links to similar questions on CAG?

 

Why can you not simply post the answers directly on here??

[yourbank]

Why not give the information on here when asked?

To be totally honest with you I had missed his thread on here but hadn't on MSE and he had received not one single response here so I replied as I had a groundhog moment("lol" was because the post was identical)

 

Your "conclusions" simply mentioned that you had answered elsewhere. That is of no help to anyone reading this thread.

I missed his original thread here and had responded twice by the time I had seen it here when he had received no replies.

So your intention in the future is to advise on MSE and simply provide links to similar questions on CAG?

My intention is answer a thread where I see it, wherever I see it, in a manner that I believe is right for the person who has started the thread.

Why can you not simply post the answers directly on here??

Because I had already answered him elsewhere. I have a good rapport with many posters across forums so there are times when I write on MSE "I've just read/advised you on your thread on CAG". It's not a one way streak but that is how I post. Only yourself and Scott have had a problem with it which isn't that big an issue.

[freakyleaky]

Only yourself and Scott have had a problem with it which isn't that big an issue.

Oh really?

And why is that not a big issue then? Do our opinions not register with you then?

Do you think we have raised this matter because we have nothing better to do?

 

In future if you have answered a users question on another site then please leave the question alone rather than linking to another site. There may be someone who could give a more comprehensive answer which will benefit other users on this site.

Or better still report it. (Red triangle)

[yourbank]

Oh really?

Yes, factually only you and Scott have mentioned it.

And why is that not a big issue then?

The contents of the post said, "i have answered you on MSE, lol" or words to that effect on the other thread. There is no hidden meaning but factual contents.

Do our opinions not register with you then?

It is no whether your opinion register or not with me, but if the Pandun had complained about it or continued to ask for advice on here as another person here has already done before, ie started on MSE and carried on here and I have responded the same.

Do you think we have raised this matter because we have nothing better to do?

I haven't questioned you raising the matter but merely the importance of the subject matter. I have not and do not intend breaching site rules with regards to "unauthorised links" on here. Furthermore, MSE is an authorised site.

In future if you have answered a users question on another site then please leave the question alone rather than linking to another site. There may be someone who could give a more comprehensive answer which will benefit other users on this site.

Or better still report it. (Red triangle)

 

I have to post as I see fit and whilst I take on board your views, I will have to in future refrain from helping if I am already doing so elsewhere. That would appear to be the simple solution for me to take on board.

[freakyleaky]

I have to post as I see fit and whilst I take on board your views, I will have to in future refrain from helping if I am already doing so elsewhere. That would appear to be the simple solution for me to take on board.

That is absolutely fine. If you are helping elsewhere then refrain from helping here. No problem. Just don't come on here linking to your answers on other sites all the time.

If you are not helping elsewhere then it would be great if you could help here.

You don't have to point out which sites are authorised to me.

[yourbank]

I have only put on links to MSE (no where else cos other posts would have and have been in the past cagbotted).

Those links were in just 2 posts because you and scott both brought up the issue of the content of the post so it isn't all the time cos otherwise I would never post anywhere.

[Michael Browne]

If you are helping elsewhere then refrain from helping here.

 

If you are not helping elsewhere then it would be great if you could help here.

.

Whoa!! Is this CAG policy, that users should only help exclusively on one site otherwise thay are not welcome or is this just a personal view?

[freakyleaky]

Whoa!! Is this CAG policy, that users should only help exclusively on one site otherwise thay are not welcome or is this just a personal view?

Not at all. Not CAG policy and not mine. I said nothing of the sort.

If you are answering a question on one site how can you answer one on another at the same time??

If you're not busy elsewhere then please help here. If you are busy elsewhere then that is understandable, but come back soon.

 

Simples!

[yourbank]

Not at all. Not CAG policy and not mine. I said nothing of the sort.

If you are answering a question on one site how can you answer one on another at the same time??

To clarify post two the word I used on it was the past tense "answered" as opposed to the present tense "answering".

If you're not busy elsewhere then please help here. If you are busy elsewhere then that is understandable, but come back soon.

 

Simples!

I have multiple windows opened which means I am logged into multiple sites(being male, I can't multi task) but I can be answering or helping on a number of sites at the same point in time.

[Michael Browne]

Would you care to share this information here for the benefit of our users or are you suggesting anyone wanting this information visits mse?

I don't see what's so wrong with that, it happens all the time across all the sites. It's quicker to post a link rather than cut and paste all the multiple replies

 

Why not give the information on here when asked?

Why can you not simply post the answers directly on here??

See above

So your intention in the future is to advise on MSE and simply provide links to similar questions on CAG?

It wasn't a similar question it was an identical question by the same OP

 

There may be someone who could give a more comprehensive answer which will benefit other users on this site.

Interestingly the OP posted on CAG at 1.36 on July 27th and then on MSE at 3.19. It was answered there within an hour and a half. 2 Days later there has been no 'more comprehensive answer' on CAG, indeed the only answer of any use to the OP is on MSE. It seems quite likely that had YB not replied here, that this would have been one of the large number of unanswered posts which would have benifitted neither the OP nor other users of this site.

[freakyleaky]

I don't see what's so wrong with that, it happens all the time across all the sites. It's quicker to post a link rather than cut and paste all the multiple replies

Personally I find cut and paste extermely quick and easy.

 

See above

See above

It wasn't a similar question it was an identical question by the same OP

I hadn't realised it was cut and pasted word for word.

Interestingly the OP posted on CAG at 1.36 on July 27th and then on MSE at 3.19. It was answered there within an hour and a half. 2 Days later there has been no 'more comprehensive answer' on CAG, indeed the only answer of any use to the OP is on MSE. It seems quite likely that had YB not replied here, that this would have been one of the large number of unanswered posts which would have benifitted neither the OP nor other users of this site.

Who is to say whether it would have gone unanswered?

That is your assumption.

I still think a simple answer to the question rather than a link to another site would have been just as easy and would have benefitted both the op and other users.

 

That is just my opinion. I apologise for having one.

 

I will say no more on the subject.