paulr

My fault i know,but i lost track of my current account and have gone £106 overdrawn.Thats 4 switch transactions with a £39 charge on each one.I didn't have an overdraft facility (i do now,but its a bit late).
I'm annoyed that the bank didnt tell me or that no-one said when i used my switch card.If i hadnt checked today they'd have let me carry on.

Ant tips or advice on getting out of paying £117 in charges (they refunded one as a matter of goodwill)

Its the Halifax.Been a member for donkeys years,everything with them,never a late charge or anything before.

Brendan Hughes

Tell them your wife was driving.

drumsterphil

iTrader: (1)

Had this a couple of months ago - went in and stated it was just an oversight - they refunded the charges (two items had gone out of my account ) however they said that no further items would be refunded if I did the same.

You have nothing to lose (and £117 to gain) - they can only say no at worst!

paulr

I was in the bank today but they said they will only refund one of the 4 charges.
More than anything i'm annoyed that i could have carried on using my switch card,accumulating charges and not been told.

2000TLondon

Thieving b@st@rds

Just close the account mate, or threaten to. You should get every penny back! It's disgusting how they fleece you for this, in the hope it will continue to cause you to go overdrawn and bring more charges and fees.

It's absurd how they have now given you an overdraft, they couldn't just give you an overdraft in the first place instead of charing you!?!? Leave 'em!

Scooby Soon!

I have never paid any bank charges in my life, I have always got them back. But after speaking to friends it seems that if you are often going over drawn or dont normally have much in the bank you have no chance.

paulr

Never gone overdrawn in 20 years,and have *a lot* in the bank.

Whats the best way to complain,ranting at a till assistant isnt my thing.

Scooby Soon!

Whats the bank?

First thing I would do is call phone banking or similar (customer service) and ask them about it, say your VERY unhappy but don't be angry with the person on the other end of the phone (remember you want them to HELP you). I have done this successfully with Capital One, Lloyds TSB, Halifax, Abbey and A+L

Im guessing that the *lot* of money you have is in another account (with the same bank?) otherwise you wouldn't have gone overdrawn

Make sure you link over to the other account in conversation like "Its not like all my accounts with you are empty my other account has about xx thousand in it" as you are speaking to them on the phone they should be able to see your other accoun with all the money in, something they probably wouldnt be able to see very easily in the branch.

If this doesnt work go to your bank and ask to withdrawer what ever is in your account in cash (regardless of the amount, even if its 100k) when they ask tell them about the charges. They WILL refund them

paul-s

I work in complaints for a bank, best thing is to go into branch again, say your not happy and if theyre gonna say no again that you want to lodge a complaint.

fsa regulations stipulate you must receive acknowledgement of your complaint in 2 days. once its reached that stage and someone is allocated the task of resolving it, they will judge it not commercially viable to uphold the charges and lose a good customer. for the sake of only 100 quid anyway.

more than likely this will work, you just have to lodge it as a complaint.

LG John

This happened with me last year and I'm with the halifax too. I wrote to them and they dropped all the charges. It has recently happened again but this time it wasn't my fault and the charges are excessive to say the least. I've written off to them again but expect to meet resistance. Following that my 10 year relationship with them will end.

douglasb

Seconded!

A few years ago, I had a cheque bounced by the Halifax. The cheque was for something like £27 and was presented on the 26th of the month. The account only had about £5 in it at the time, but a monthly standing order for £30 went in on the 27th.

When I got a letter saying that the cheque had bounced and I was being charged for it, I wrote a polite letter to the branch manager saying that I reckoned that their cheques must be cleared by computer as a human would have known that a regular standing order that would cover the cheque would be payed in a day later and that the human would also have noticed that I had a savings account with £xx thousand in it. I also politely pointed out that while they could charge me, I could also close my accounts.

They dropped the charge!

It's probably not something that you can make a habit of, but if it's the first time and you've been with them for yonks, the threat of closing accounts can concentrate their minds.

Fuzz

I had this over Christmas, some scottish geezer phoned me up saying "did I realise I was £998 quid over my overdraft and that I'd incurred £198 in charges from the 22nd Dec...
He rang to tell me this on about the 4th Jan.
I'm with HSBC.
It would have been cheaper if he bounced the fooking Direct debits / Debit card transactions

Cheers HSBC..


Andy

paulr

Thanks guys.

Yes its the Halifax,been with them since i was 10,have a 5 figure ISA account and web-saver.What took me over was a £200 standing order from my Halifax current account into a Halifax regular saver.

Paul-s......if i go into my bank,who should i ask to see.I just spoke to a till assistant today.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Threaten to take your overdraft elsewhere !

paul-s

speak to someone on the main desk to start with, or branch manager/assistant. state you want to complain about the charges, and feel they are uncessary. If they decline to refund state you want to exercise your right to complain. it will then go off to the relevant department.

failing that, you could just phone their callcentre (assuming its in england) and state you want to make a complaint about charges. They must log it as such, and you will receive a response once reviewed.

I work in mortgage complaints, and there are 3 levels. If the branch say no, and you dont accept this, it will be escalated. Somewhere along the line it will be assessed as not commercially viable to lose a customer over.

Slartibartfast

What's the point. You know the rules. You've got to take responsibility for your own (in)actions.

paulr

cheers Paul.

CooperS

Go in and Kick off, that's what I did, they soon gave it back