MrSandman and LloydsTSB

[Mr.Sandman]

Hello!

I opened a current account with Lloyds TSB in Nov 05, which was eventually upgraded to platinum plus. All was good before June 08. Thats where the problem comes, I left UK to spend sometime with family in Dubai leavin' my account £245 overdrawn in June 08. The overdraft was interest free so I didn't worry coz I was to return before 1st of July 08. Sadly, I had an accident leavin' me on bed for almost a year, durin' this time my resident visa expired. I had to reapply the visa & as you know it was a lengthy process, just got my hands on the visa last month. There was a monthly fee for the platinum account which kept goin' out of the account for almost 6 months takin' my account in an unplanned overdraft. Now I am worried about what will happen to me as I had only this account. My history would've been ruined by now, I guess. And I learnt that bank is goin' to charge me £6000. I am really in trouble. Can anyone help? I'd be highly grateful.

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Hello Mr Sandman, my sympathies of course! I don't know your circimstances, but £6000 does seem an excessive amount. It's up to you whether you give this information but it may be very relevant: what was the authorised limit of your overdraft and how much has been taken each month, over the 6 months, in monthly fees. Did you know, or should you have reasonably known, that there would be a monthly fee for the platinum account? Did you leave your address in Dubai as a forwarding address from your bank so you could see the monthly statements? It seems that, due to your accident, you haven't been seeing regular statements.

 

In my opinion, having had an accident (which is by definition an unforeseen occurrence) would constitute an exceptional circumstance for the bank to waive at least some and hopefully all of the charges due.

 

But I am not an expert on this: I'm sure others may be able to make a more expert or considered suggestion... Good luck!

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

P.S. - I think I should have said "unforeseeable" instead of "unforeseen" in the above message. PCB

[Poor-Credit Borrower]

Sorry, just one more post on this, before someone else answers. If the 'expenditure' or debiting from your account is purely from their monthly charges, and you have not voluntarily used the card for spending or used cheques on the current account, it's not like your having spent money you didn't have. I don't think that all platinum or platinum plus cards do attract a monthly fee, so think the onus should have been on Lloyds TSB bank to notify you there would have been a fee and the consequences of not having the funds to cover it each month.

[Mr.Sandman]

Thanks PCB!

I am really very grateful for your sympathies. You guessed it right that I didn't check my statements all this time coz of the accident. And as you mentioned that it was an unforeseeable incident, so had no arrangements with the bank to forwardin' any statements to Dubai. My authorized overdraft limit was £250 (Interest Free) & the monthly fees were £17. This monthly fee was taken from my account every month for 6 months leavin' my account in an unauthorized overdraft. The last transaction I made from my account was on 2nd of June 2008 before leavin' for Dubai. I didn't use my debit card, cheque, etc. It was merely the monthly fee which has left me in this very exceptional state.

[Ibsys]

Hello!

I opened a current account with Lloyds TSB in Nov 05, which was eventually upgraded to platinum plus. All was good before June 08. Thats where the problem comes, I left UK to spend sometime with family in Dubai leavin' my account £245 overdrawn in June 08. The overdraft was interest free so I didn't worry coz I was to return before 1st of July 08. Sadly, I had an accident leavin' me on bed for almost a year, durin' this time my resident visa expired. I had to reapply the visa & as you know it was a lengthy process, just got my hands on the visa last month. There was a monthly fee for the platinum account which kept goin' out of the account for almost 6 months takin' my account in an unplanned overdraft. Now I am worried about what will happen to me as I had only this account. My history would've been ruined by now, I guess. And I learnt that bank is goin' to charge me £6000. I am really in trouble. Can anyone help? I'd be highly grateful.

As you have a platinum plus account, the monthly charge should include travel insurance in the package, I believe? Therefore, why not claim on the insurance for your accident and consequential costs and throw it back at them. Lloyds are strenuously unco-operative, ignoring letters even when recorded, they don't like to comply with anything so you need to be ruthless from the start.

 

The Ombudsman is a [problem] so thats no use.