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Originally Posted by Bigsby  Aye, was looking to move to another bank, although the rest will probably follow suit. 
Checked my bank account yesterday to discover that I had inadvertantly gone over my agreed overdraft by charging 3 items to my debit card. HBOS decided to charge £35 for EACH breach, ie £105 in total, PLUS £28 "for going into unauthorised overdraft". Um, wasn't that what the £35 charges were for???
In the end a grovelling phone call saying it was a mistake on my part and pointing out that it had never happened before got them to drop all but a £3 interest charge. Phew. |
ok, i'm going to try and help a little bit in this thread seeing as i work in a high street bank.
the £35 is either a paid referral or a guaranteed card payment fee. this is charged for the bank paying a transaction when there was no money available. the £28 is the unauthorised overdraft fee which although caused by your transactions is seperate from the other fee's as it could be caused by a number of things. in the bank i work for these are not daily charges. all our charges have been reduced, some to as low as £5.
you're very lucky to have got them back and i think had it not been your first charge in a very long time, you would not have got them back.
i'll try and address a few points as best i can, i'm not going to debate the fairness of the value of any banks charges though as this is being decided by courts and i don't want anyone coming into my bank saying "dave said he agrees that the charges are too high" or something like that.
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Originally Posted by Le Stu Yeah, I've never been sure what that cryptic 'monthly overdraft fee' bullshit was about. I already moved my account to another bank (and a solvent one at that so I'm hoping they'll leave me alone.) and I'm just waiting to get my hundreds back that they already stole before closing the HBOS one. Was there a verdict on the court case yet? Anyone know? |
The court case is ongoing and as such if you make a complaint about bank charges and claim them to be unfair then you will not get a decision until the case is resolved. should you wish to complain about bank charges to any bank then you should to it politely and factually, most bank staff will work harder to get your charges back if they empaphise with you a bit.
As for the stolen comment, bank charges are applied usually when someone spends money they don't have on something. This is basically theft as they have made no agreement to borrow this money and the bank has had no warning of it. The charge is the same for 10p or 1000 pounds or even more as the bank must be seen to treat everyone the same. Although charges are frustrating they are there for a reason, the easiest way to avoid paying them is to keep track of your spending and get in touch with a bank or family if you're going to go over your limit, they might be able to help before charges are applied.
I'm not singling these two posts because they were bad but they caught my eye and allowed me to address a few points quickly. As with any retailer you get the best deals if you shop around, compare bank accounts and put some time into your research and you will find yourself better off. Speak to the advisors at the banks and remember to say 'No' or that you'll think it over, don't let people talk you into things if you're not comfortable but do listen as they can usually save you money on things as well.
The debit card thing for Original Spies, not sure why that would be. Debit cards usually have a cheque guarantee facility attached to them and as this is a type of credit facility then this could be your stumbling block if you have a poor credit rating. It may be that if it's a newish account there hasn't been enough activity on it, or it may also be that the person you've asked doesn't know what they're doing. Try seeing if they have a debit card which doesn't offer a cheque guarantee with it, like a Solo card.
Anyone want to know anything? I'll try and help, I hated banks before I worked in one(not particularly over the moon with them having worked in them either) and have had plenty charges over the years and i don't think i ever fully understood the workings of such things.