Bank charges

[hillsy]

Hi all,

OOps! I forgot a direct debit was coming out yesterday, for £15.00 and I did not have any money in my account. My fault I know, but have had a tough month, luckily hubby and I got paid today. What I can not understand is the extortinate amount of charges the banks charge for going overdrawn. I have been charged £38.00, which they have taken straight from my account with no letter or phone call of warning. How on earth can they justify this amount of money. I have phoned them up and all they can say is "it is a standard charge", it makes me so angry sometimes. It is my only hic up in over a year with this bank namely RBS. Now thanks to them I am £38.00 short this month.

[Tifosi1]

Its so wrong!!!

I am with Barclays at the moment and in the past they have charged me up to £ 65 for a single payment that took me over my O/D limit.

Just a few weeks ago a DD went out on the same day i got paid and they charged me £ 30 as apparently i went over my OD limit before my salary funds hit my account!! I soon called them and said what i thought about that - luckily they agreed to refund it.

Another case i had was i cancelled a DD the day before it was due but they still processed it, taking me over my OD limit - another £ 30 charge - and it wasnt even my fault! But again with a phone call it got refunded.

I dread to think how much i have been charged over the course of the last 3 or 4 years between my two bank accounts with them. I just hope the OFT could rule it all unfair and make the banks automatically refund all charges.

I am just signing up with Co-Op bank and while you still get charged for returned payments etc i have noted that their charge is £18 - at least that is something, although i dont plan on ever getting into that situation again

[emma_t]

Hi hillsy,

Try and ring and explain it was a genuine error and the difficulties it will cause you being short by £38 for the month and they maybe sympathetic.
I had this with the co op a while ago where my salary was late and my ddebits came out, but they refunded all the charges as they could see since I had my account open with them I have never gone overdrawn and they were very reasonable.

Worth a go[:D]

[kallis3]

I was with Barclays, and a couple of times I went overdrawn without realising it. They refunded me every time.

If you explain, RBS may well refund your money.

[Lisa2009]

We have TV License paid by direct debit.
I transferred money from one account into the other at about 2am ready for it be to paid and start of business.
Next thing we know is we have been charged by the bank for the funds not being in the account even though i knew i had put it there.
Hubby rang the bank to be told that they tried taking the payment at midnight and there wasnt enough in the account.
He explained that the money had been put in in good time ready for start of business and asked, who in the right mind pays bills at midnight.

Anyway, the charge was dropped thankfully.

[CJ08]

I once worked for a bank and unfortunately on the "bacs run" thats the tape they run electronically at midnight for all incoming and out going payments.... this particular bank lets the debits go out 1st then the credits come in and then the run was completed by 3am if by 3am the credit wasnt in (or time their run ended if changed now) then they would apply the charge and reject it! The reason why they put it out in the early hours is because they can show you what money you have at the start of the day and in away protects us so we dont get charges for making a mistake by spending the money mean for bills.... you know it only costs the bank 50p to bounce a payment and i hat the charges! If at any time a bank honours the dd payment and you cancelled the dd they may say its not done by 5pm (or end of their business day sometimes 330pm) but politely remind them about the direct debit guarantee!! Sorry to go on but im not standing up for banks tho their chardes are rediculous - as for RBS all banks have to give you some form of notice if they are going to charge you unless its in their "small print" that they reserve the right but i still think that is wrong if it is!

[Soulgrowth]

I have very few DDs on my bank account now, just the bare essentials ... mortgage, mortgage payment protection etc. ... I pay my bills when I choose to, and when I know the money is in the bank which protects against incurring charges such as this.

Debbie

[Lisa2009]

Well its certainly made us be more careful about timing with the direct debits.
We just assumed that as long as the money was in the account before open of business that we would be safe. Anyway no harm done fortunately.

[Jan01]

We had a DD refused last month and reading CJ08 last message I know why as money was being paid into our account the same day as the DD was due out so it seems the money being paid in wasn't there before the DD was paid out. We were fortunate that the bank although they refused the DD did not charge us.
Jan

[CJ08]

Yeah i know what you mean we use to advise customers make sure your money is in by midnght the day it was due but i have no choice but to pay my council tax by dd and that falls on my payday! because if i move it the 5th it triggers 2 payments in a short space of time!! but for some people it cant be helped! Does anyone know when the OFT report willcome out about these charges and if the ruling goes that they are illegal coz to hell they are!

[Tifosi1]

No idea when the OFT report will be available. All i know is that there was some court case and all bank charge refund cases were suspended until the ruling?

I realy dont want to try and work out how much in charges i have been charged over past few years, too scary. Doubt i have any chance of getting it back either. Cant't beleive it only costs the bank 50p. Its disgusting

[CJ08]

yeah that what has come out.... when it was a manual system they could reject 1000's in an hour at a press of a button and print the letter and post it for what 22p 2nd class!? Banks are not allowed to profit from customers mis-fortune and they suggested £10 - £12 is reasonable as when things like this happen more people are on hand to service the account i.e. people calling etc which is fair enough the company i work for reduced their charges when a customer's dd failed to come to us to £12 opposed to £15 but that was because the bank charges the companies as well for the customers mis-fortune around £12 per one! so we have to pass the charges on! so they have people both ends and making money i feel is illegally! the reason i left the bank was they messed my pay up and i had my dd's bounce and they insisted i had to pay them even tho they messed up my wages!!

[kallis3]

Barclays always used to charge us, and then write to let us know they had done it.

I know that we have had a lot of charges over the years, but I won't be going through the rigmarole of trying to get it back. The bank would keep it anyway as I am in an IVA.

[angela18]

i try to get everything to go out on 1st of the month.. then I know its paid and whats left.. it isn't pssible with some so constantly checking bank.. its tight enough without paying charges!!

[kallis3]

Just re read my last post - I meant to say that the bank who charged me over the years was HSBC. Barclays always refunded the charges as the transactions were usually quarterly ones which I had forgotten about.

Angela, the majority of mine go out at the beginning of the month with just a few in the middle. The last one is on the 20th (Council Tax). Once the majority have gone out I work everything out to see if I have to pay any of hubbies benefit in to cover them.