Lloyds TSB Scam or honest mistake? You decide

[elsinore]

Ask your manager when the start ot the day is!

 

I just took a look at their Online Banking website which offers up this little gem of obfuscation:-

 

Overdraft excess fee

Charges

We charge this when you go overdrawn and don’t have an overdraft facility, or if you go overdrawn above an agreed overdraft. We will charge this fee again on each day we make a payment for you that increases your overdraft.

£30 a day (maximum of 3 charges in any one monthly charging period - maximum of £90)

Returned item fee

Charges

You'll be charged this fee whenever there is not enough money in your account to make a payment such as a direct debit, cheque or standing order.

£35 (maximum of 3 charges a day)

 

 

We will write to you every time we are unable to make a payment for you, or the first time you go overdrawn without agreeing it with us in advance. We use the balance on your account at the start of the day* to make decisions on whether or not to pay cheques and other items presented for payment that day.

Please make sure you have enough cleared money in your account at the close of business to cover any payments you have made (or cheques you have written) for the next day. We pay some cheques the same day as they are paid in.

 

*The start of the day is when we start processing. This is before any Lloyds TSB branches open.

Elsinore

[tifo]

it's a con.

 

my account was about £10.50 overdrawn last week for ONE DAY and Lloyds wrote a letter that they had 'allowed' a payment to go through and in future they would charge me.

 

Today rec'd statement and it says '£30 charge'!

 

The point is, this was a debit card payment and if they had refused it they could not charge me. They've refused it in the past and i get no charges, so in this instant they paid it so they could charge me.

 

Anyway, they'll be getting a letter today telling them what i think of their charges.

 

I suggest you also write them a letter detailing that charges are unfair under CCA etc and this is in fact a penalty and you are not happy to pay it.

[Aunty Usary]

Lloyds TSB did something similar to me in June 2006. I arranged a transfer by internet banking to be paid and I was sure there was money there but somehow this resulted in a penalty charge as they said there were no funds availble at the time they paid it. I said that I arranged for it to be paid "As Soon As Possible" which I took to mean only "When Money Was Available" and if there was no money availble they should not have sent it. The reply was something like they treat Internet Transfers & Payments as "Standing Orders" and so the same penalties are incurred - so yet another £35 was taken!

[NO_Overdraft]

I've just spoke to someone on the phone about internet banking. The guy checked the date and time i transferred the money that cleared the overdraft and he admitted that i cleared the overdraft excess on the same date that i went above my agreed overdraft limit and that the date of the transfer showing on the statment at the time was the same date that i went overdrawn (18/12/06).

The date was later changed to the next day because i transferred the money after business hours he said.

 

So they CAN and DO change the dates on the statements.

 

It seems i have to pack in my job and make sure i'm sat infront of my computer every day before 5:30pm comes around.

 

They really should change it so you have to clear your overdraft excess within 24 hours of going above your agreed overdraft limit.

As it is now, there could be a situation where you go above your overdraft limit at 5:25pm leaving you only have 5 minutes to notice this and to clear it!

 

If the world come to an early end, it will be because of scams like this and because of T.V. turing into nothing but phone in shows lol

[meagain]

Maybe they'll get the BBA woman on the next series of The Real Hustle?

[Mindzai]

They really should change it so you have to clear your overdraft excess within 24 hours of going above your agreed overdraft limit.

 

But that would be crazy, it would create a situation where consumers have some control over their own finances. You are aware aware of Lloyds' business ethic right? "Us first"

 

As it is now, there could be a situation where you go above your overdraft limit at 5:25pm leaving you only have 5 minutes to notice this and to clear it!

 

And notice how often it happens late on in the day too.

[Aunty Usary]

This is from the website of a bill I paid recently

 

Payment Received

Date and time:22 February 2007 00:59:05 GMT

(This is the date company x received your payment.) Form of payment:Credit Card Visa Amount credited: £xx.xx

 

below is an extract from my bank statement

 

26Feb07 DEB company x CD ???? xx.xx xx.xxDR

 

I have changed the name to "company x" and blocked out the amounts cos I dont want them to know this is me!

 

So the money went out on 22/02/2007 but the money was showing as still in my account and available to be withdrawn up until 26/02/2007. So if I had not realised this and made a withdrawal I would have gone over my overdraft limit and they would have got another penalty charge.

 

Isn't this illegal or something?. Don't we live in an age when you can get real time up to date statistics?

 

Since I started reclaiming charges, they have also refused my phone calls, left me on the line for 10 minutes after being told I was being put through to a special department who deal with this issue and a cash deposit has been treated as a cheque and been unavailable for days until it "cleared". Good old Lloyds TSB.

[Guest NATTIE]

That is 3 working days for a transfer via bacs so not sure on the example above, seems standard to me.

[Aunty Usary]

Not sure if you are referring to the cash deposit or the transfer in my post above.

 

Re the transfer to pay the bill shown above, I have a receipt from a cash machine showing the funds still "available" in my account on 24/02/07. I think this is very misleading.

 

Re the cash deposit taking days to clear - I put cash into abank deposit envelope and deposited it in a cash machine and they treated it as a cheque.

[Aunty Usary]

Being charged three separate charges for returning 3 direct debits on one day - although it is shown on my statement that I put money into my account later on that date. Also a monthly charge and interest.

How can the OFT, FSO etc allow this?