Bank paid a standing order and charged me....

[amartin1908]

I had forgotten about a standing order that was due. The bank paid it, despite the fact that I did not have enough in my account to cover it, and IMMEDIATELY debited my account with a £25 charge for going overdrawn! They are now charging me £5 a day while I am overdrawn.

 

Firstly I thought they had to give you so many days notice of charges due to be applied.......in this case they havent. Secondly I offered to clear the charge with my credit card. They apparently do not take payments over the phone and advised me to go into my branch to clear it. I advised that there is not a branch close enough to my work for me to go in at lunchtime, and its closed by the time I finish work. I was advised to do a transfer from credit card to bank account which would take a minimum of three days and they will continue to charge me £5 per day!

 

I think by refusing to accept telephone payments to clear charges, is their way of earning more money out of us. They know most people cannot get to a bank in their lunch hour and have to rely on transfers....so they continue making money!

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[BankFodder]

Are you sure that the charge was not levied in relation to some earlier "transgression".

Check your last monthly statement to see if they advised you of a forthcoming charge.

 

If there is nothing there then come back here.

 

I agree about not accepting a payment on the phone.

I think that you should ask where does it say that payments by phone are not accepted. I expect that they will not be able to identify the actual term in theri contract.

If they refer to the T&Cs then press the point and say that you want to kow which term.

If they say that it is policy then ask them for a copy of the policy document.

If they way that it is confidential then aslk for the date and reference number of the policy document.

 

If you can, record the call. If you can't record it then get the name of the person you are speaking to and then log the call and note dow everything which was ssaid in great detail and also note down the date and time and then come back here.

[amartin1908]

Hi bankfodder

 

There was no earlier transgression. They told me directly today that they had paid the standing order and the rest of the money I was over my overdraft was due to the £25 charge they had levied due to having to pay the standing order when there was insufficient funds.

 

I have since taken your advice and spoken to them about telephone payments, and they said as a bank they do not and have never had that facility. She referred me to the terms and conditions relevant section detailing ways to pay money into my account and it does not include making payments over the phone.

 

There was a section stating that on a payment review they will debit the fee immediately - however, if I lived in northern Ireland, I would have been given 14 days notice. I feel like I am being discriminated against for being english. Its the same bank and it should have the same policies regardless of where you live!

Edited February 15, 2010 by amartin1908

[BankFodder]

Have you seen the relevant T&Cs yourself? or are you just taking their word for it? I have found that bank staff will often refer to T&Cs just to get people off the phone but that they are often wrong. Have you actually checked them?

 

Get all of the blurb about your account - T&Cs, also the banking code. The banking ode at least says that they will give you notice of charges. Get the code and find the para which deals with this. Check your T&Cs and also their website. They are not allowed to have T&Cs which conflict with the code.

 

Get this info and we will understand where to go next.

[amartin1908]

I have seen their T&C's as they are accessible on the website.

 

However I have trawled through the banking code and I cannot really find much apart from it states they have to let you know about charges.

 

My banks attitude is that they made me aware of charges at the outset, and in this instance they have notified me of this charge as they have written to me. The letter went out at the same time they debited my account and I still have not received it yet

[BankFodder]

Download a copy of their T&Cs. Make sure that there is no reference to phone payments in them. If there is no reference then it seems to be unreasonable and unfair for a banking organisation to block them.

Do they list other methods of payment - or do they not mention it at all?

It also is unfair for them to tell you that it is policy. It must be in the T&Cs.

 

What do the T&Cs say about warning you that charges will be levied?

 

Exactly what words are used in the code in respect of giving advance notice of charges?

 

The code says that they must give you warning so the bank is in breach of the code there.

 

If payments are not listed at all then there is a good case for alleging unfairness there.

 

 

If all of the info stack up, how do you want to deal with this? - the slow way or the quick way?

[pandaspot]

i have also been charged £25 on numerous occasions for the pleasure of them allowing a d/d out of my account when there wasnt enough funds to pay for it. And subsequently charged £5 per day. The charge of £25 is a fee they charge to honour the payment. i have rang them to question why they allow a payment out if there is not enough funds in the account and then have the cheek to charge £5 per day for allowing this payment.

 

I only have a basic bank account and no overdraft facility. They did eventually refund all charges and leived them for the next 3 months for me, thanks to a very helpful advisior who amazingly understood my situation.

 

hope it all works out for you

[disgruntledofcornwall]

i have also been charged £25 on numerous occasions for the pleasure of them allowing a d/d out of my account when there wasnt enough funds to pay for it. And subsequently charged £5 per day. The charge of £25 is a fee they charge to honour the payment. i have rang them to question why they allow a payment out if there is not enough funds in the account and then have the cheek to charge £5 per day for allowing this payment.

 

I only have a basic bank account and no overdraft facility. They did eventually refund all charges and leived them for the next 3 months for me, thanks to a very helpful advisior who amazingly understood my situation.

 

hope it all works out for you

 

I too have been shafted many times. the latest when they instantly charged me £25 for a £2 standing order.

 

They give no notice.

 

They order the charges to generate more charges, for example, 2 DD's going out, enough money to pay both minus £2 something. DD 1 goes out, charge applied prior to this on the statement, DD2 goes out, further £25 charge. £50 for £2.x is standard. Then the next day they will charge again.

 

However, on many occations, each time you look at your account, bearing in mind it is online only, the amounts are reordered.

 

I have been gathering evidence for over a year now. I have printed off as pdf's statements twice a day and taken an ATM print out and they all have different running totals on them.

 

One day they actually showed a payment of over £400 going in first thing, from the previous days banking but delayed for no reason. Later that day all the payments due to go out were listed BEFORE the £400 with a list of over £75 in charges....

 

I have gathered my data, evidence and statement very carefully, issued a complaint, followed by an LBA based on the Govern Law Centre documents in December. I am about to take the plunge now and file in court, I have a thread for this action I need to update.

 

I do not see how I or anyone else can operate the account when you can never be sure of the amount of cleared funds available. They are utterly dishonest but I will extract my revenge and over £700 in charges and interest in the end. Never give up!