A&L Unauthorised Overdraft Charges

[shortrob]

Hi All,

 

Could do with some advice on this one.

 

I received a letter dated 16/11/2010 stating that I was overdrawn by £153.99 on my Alliance and Leicester (A&L) Current Account (with an additional £100 to be charged in December), to which I had no prior knowledge. I have not accessed the account for a number of months.

 

I (stupidly) was not aware of the £5 monthly 'under-funding fee' which had been charged and had slipped into a negative balance of £3.99. Since I did not have an overdraft facility, I was hit hard. I believe that charging £45 for a £4 debt is bad, an additional £100 for £9 debt is worse with a £250 total bill for £13 being simply ridiculous.

 

The costs are huge, for the total debt of 3.99, rising by £5 each month for 2 months as the underfunding fees hit was small and to me I would have happily paid the amount and gone about cancelling the account.

 

The crux of the issue is that upon ringing the helpline, I should have been informed of this through my bank statement. Little did I know that I was supposed to be receiving these through the post. I, for some reason, assumed that since I had never recieved one through the post that I must receive them online. But no. The online platform had no messages warning of the issue, stating I had been charged a fee, was overdrawn or anything of the sort.

 

So, how on earth do I prove that I have never received a statement or information regarding the debt from A&L other than the notice that my account will be limited? My first action when discovering the debt was to fund the account and that is exactly what would have happened when slipping £3 overdrawn!!

 

I appreciate that this is based purely on my word but I have kept every other piece of documentation across every other bank/savings account which I own!

 

Does this aid in my pursuit of a claim?

 

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks,

[rebel11]

Hi short

 

Welcome to CAG

 

The guys will advise as soon as they are available.