HBOS broke its own T&C?

[Marushi]

Hi everyone, new member here just came across the site, some great stuff here

 

So, my problem. Bank charges. I've had a load over the last few years and also received numerous over the last few weeks, the usual £35 and just now, a £28 unarranged overdraft fee + interest. I called up to see if i could get any waived as i've had one or two done in the past (I guess you just need to find the one person in the entire bank that's even a little bit considerate, eh? ).

 

Anyways, they kept turning me down, throwing the "you agreed to it in the terms and conditions when you opened the account", so i asked for a copy of said T&C sent to me. They've arrived the other day and I've been reading through.

 

Now, from 4 years ago and up until about May, I had a student current account with the bank, and graduated in June. Since then, I moved onto the 'Ultimate Reward' account.

 

The terms and conditions (marked april 2009) state that bank fees for Ultimate reward, High Interest and Current Accounts are £35 and can be applied three times per day. However, as a student, the charges are £20 and can only be applied once per day.

The term Student is defined in their Bank Account Conditions, which they were nice enough to send along with the T&Cs and state also that the bank considers a consumer a student up to 1 year following graduation.

 

What I'm looking for is clarification here that what I've read means 1, that the banks gone and broke its own terms and conditions and 2, I can use this as ammo in a claim.

 

A lot of reading, but thats for stoppin by

Edited August 3, 2009 by Marushi

[yourbank]

I would question the bank as to the dates it had marked on your account for being a student, for example, if you changed courses after one year but didn't tell the bank, then you haven't really got a case apart from them changing your account back to a student account for a further 10 months.

[Marushi]

Registered with them as a student before leaving, never changed courses or dropped out or anything. Been a student for my four years, and the bank told me that they give people a year after graduation to clear their overdraft. Will stop by this afternoon and check if i still am.

 

Assuming I'm still a student in their eyes, does this appear as a breach on their part?

[yourbank]

Registered with them as a student before leaving, never changed courses or dropped out or anything. Been a student for my four years, and the bank told me that they give people a year after graduation to clear their overdraft. Will stop by this afternoon and check if i still am.

 

Assuming I'm still a student in their eyes, does this appear as a breach on their part?

Never assume anything when it comes to a human being entering information on a computer to open an account. Ask the question and then you can go from there because if they tell you that they have it wrong then you have bank error and automatic REFUND

[Marushi]

Awesome. Went in before work this morning, apparantly its not the kind of information they're asked for often and will have to send my request off to some processing centre. Takes 5 days apparantly, lol.

 

Fingers crossed!

 

Thanks for the info yourbank

[yourbank]

Awesome. Went in before work this morning, apparantly its not the kind of information they're asked for often and will have to send my request off to some processing centre. Takes 5 days apparantly, lol.

 

Fingers crossed!

 

Thanks for the info yourbank

 

That sounds quite frankly crap from them. When I used to work in NatWest I could find the information in roughly 30 seconds, lol. Oh, well, clearly they work differently for now(albeit their head of IT is a former RBS Group IT man so hopefully it will improve

[rickyd]

Take a look at the statement for May and check what the name of the account is.- simple eh?

 

If it wasn't a student account or an Ultimate Reward a/c, then what was it?

[Marushi]

Take a look at the statement for May and check what the name of the account is.- simple eh?

 

If it wasn't a student account or an Ultimate Reward a/c, then what was it?

 

Aye it was a student account, then in May i switched. Fact is that according to the Account conditions leaflet, you're still considered a student up to 12 months after graduation. If they considered my changing accounts as me having finished uni, I'm still to this day a student according to their own Terms.

 

I wanted to make sure that my logic makes sense/is sound before I take it to the bank.

[rickyd]

I think you've caused your own problem here if i understood this correctly. I reckon you could have kept the studnet account for another 12 months after graduation but as you switched to the ultimate reward account, you're now bound by the t&c's for that. If you hadn't switched a/c types you would still be on student terms.

 

No doubt the ultimate reward offers benefits that a student account doesn't but the extra benefits will doubtless bring etra costs and/or responsibilities.

 

Perhaps the bank will consider allowing you to switch back?

[Marushi]

Ok, i've found some of the info online. Heres a link to the account fees page: Bank of Scotland - Interest rates

 

And the account conditions are here: http://www.bankofscotlandhalifax.co.uk/HelpCentre/pdf/1_450073-5.pdf on page 19, section 31.

 

According to the table about the fees, I can still be a 'student' with the Ultimate Reward account, and the account conditions can confirm this.

[rickyd]

Reading through these two documents I can see why you would think that but moving to an Ultimate Reward account overrides your student status. It says (in the interest rates sheet) that note 2 applies where note 2 advises that studnent status is defined in the Bank of Scotland account conditions. What they are saying, in a very unclear and clumsy way, is that the bank regards you as a student only if you have a student account. I know this because RBS have the same rules but their explanation is clearer.

 

I'd be interested to know if anyone mentioned that you would be losing the student benefits when you switched to the Ultimate Reward account? If they didn't you may have a case against them for that.

[Marushi]

The only benefits I was made aware of when upgrading to the student account, was that I'd get a free overdraft of up to £3000, although I never had it set higher than maybe 1500. So, after your post, rickyd, I've sat and read that leaflet cover to cover, twice (I really want to be right on this).

 

Section 31 states that if you have a BoS Current Account, you can be referred to as a student. Section 1.1 states that a BoS current Account is an Ultimate Reward, High Interest, Moneyback or standard Current account (incl. Student). It also says that they may still apply if the name or number of the account changes.

 

The account was upgraded to a student account some time in 2005 if memory serves, and to do so, a confirmation of acceptance letter from the university I attended was required. I incurred some charges throughout every year of my uni attendance. Some I managed to have waived, some I didn't, and every charge as far as i can remember was £35, as opposed to the proper amount of £20.

 

When I was talking to the fella in the bank about upgrading, I was never told that my student status would be revoked. Upon reading through this leaflet I'd say that I still am, and would find it hard for the bank to disagree. Also, the information on the seperate current accounts do not state that using those accounts would revoke any student status and do not state that it's not possible to be considered a student with any of them.

 

What do you think the best way to take this complaint to the bank is? The method in the FAQs; Subject Access, First Letter, LBA etc?

 

Once again thanks for the help on this, its really appreciated

Edited August 7, 2009 by Marushi

[rickyd]

I'd start by being nice and go ad ask them why you're paying grown ups charges whilst you're still a student. If they tell you its because you no longer have a student account show them the t&c's and register a formal complaint.

 

I generally find that a pleasant face to face approach pays dividends rather than going in with all guns blazing. Most people will tyr to help but get really defensive if you start off on th wrong foot.

[Marushi]

Went in this afternoon, bank confirmed exactly what you said ricky, can't have student status on the reward account. Gonna wait for pay day and get my DPA request in. Thanks for your help mate.

[rickyd]

no worries - feedback is always nice.