Bank Charges - on jobseekers allowance.

[hillnoeyes]

Could someone advise me on the current state of play with regards to bank charges.

 

I have just logged in to my online banking and I see that I will be charged a total of £110 on the 22nd.

 

These relate to 2 paid card transactions @£25 each (within about 30 mins of each other, one for about £4 the other for £6 - I thought if I had no money in the account the transactions would be declined).

 

And a £20 arranged overdraft fee, and a £40 unarranged overdraft fee. (And as intimated above, I am quite sure I was only into the realm of unarranged overdraft because they cleared a card transaction when I had no money.)

 

At the moment I am unemployed and on JSA, so I get about £140 each fortnight, and so my lovely bank has just taken almost half of a months money from me.

 

Is there any way I can proceed with this? I have checked a few websites, but nothing seems clear - there seem to be a lot of websites set up before the 2010 ruling and it is not clear what still applies.

 

I will be honest this has reawakened the ire I had when the OFT deliberately let their friends in the banking racket off on a technicality at the high court - but surely the contract law about penalty charges still applies here...there is no way paying two transactions of less than £10 cost them £50.

[Conniff]

You have an arranged overdraft for how much?

 

The amount of unarranged overdraft used is how much?

 

 

How much and to who are these direct debits ?

[hillnoeyes]

You have an arranged overdraft for how much?

 

The amount of unarranged overdraft used is how much?

 

 

How much and to who are these direct debits ?

 

Many thanks for the reply.

 

My arranged overdraft is £350, and so I went about £8 over this.

 

The payments were not direct debits, they were card transactions to my local shop.

[Conniff]

I really can't respond to that, it could be classed as using the card knowing there were no funds to support the transaction.

[Klandestine]

I thought most banks don't charge fees for going £10 over your arranged limit.

 

Either way it is up to you to manage your account and check your balance. You have internet banking so use it!

 

What happens when you have insufficient funds is stated in the terms and conditions which you agreed to. Ignorance of how this works isn't an excuse to get out of paying.

[citizenB]

You could have a read of the BCOBs articles, highlighted and linked in my signature.

 

It does seem very unfair that charges are made whether you are £1.00 or a £1,000 over the limit. Some banks do allow some accounts to go over for either a very short time or for a small amount.

 

You could ask your Bank to show some forbearance and refund all or some of the fees if this is a one off occurrence.

 

TBH, there is only one way of not attracting fees and that is to not go overdrawn.

[NodNodWinkWink]

Hi hillnoeyes

 

I have read this thread and your comments, and can truly understand your utter frustration of being dealt over the top charges for such a small overdrawing.

 

Most banks will honor an authorization from the account holder (as is your case) to draw on his/her account with 0 funds available to draw upon.

 

On the bright side, it could be that you were in desperate need of the cash at the time. So the Bank gave you the money you requested. Fair play.

 

On the downside, it has cost you very dearly.

 

It seems you have an excellent case in respectect of these dis--proportionate charges being reduced for the small sum 'borrowed'.

 

Might I suggest a simple letter to the Branch Manager highlighting again that the charges are really over the top.

 

Do not lose your temper with the Bank - play it cool man - highlight the total charge again compare to amount borrowed - even to the extent of calculating the effictive APR % that these charges produce.

BTW your comments (Your post at 4-00 this rmorning - rings bells in my ears too....sometimes it pays to bide time if moderating / advising to delay responding until issue fully appreciated and understood.

 

Do not lose heart - press on with your counter claim of unreasonable charges costs ....

 

NNWW

Edited October 20, 2013 by NodNodWinkWink
Spelling - as usual :-) :-) !!!

[Conniff]

Stop being aggressive. I didn't want to respond to your second post as using a card without the funds to back it up is classed as fraudulent use and I really didn't want to use those words.

Saying you didn't know there were no funds is not an excuse as you say you use online banking and you could have had an instant balance by using any atm.

 

My way out of this would be to open an account at another bank and have your jsa paid into there, then write to your existing bank and tell ask them to stop adding interest and make a payment of say £10 per month to clear the overdraft.

[ims21]

I have tidied this thread up.

 

To the OP, you would need to have a read up on BCOBS (as suggested earlier) and couple that with the fact that you are in hardship.

 

Again, as has been said, approach your bank with this and see what comes back.

[hillnoeyes]

I do not see that this constitutes a 'tidying up' the thread has been hacked to pieces by a mod who misread the original post and then sought to give bad advice and then harass me when he realised his mistake.

 

There were two thrusts: I take on-board the BCOBS I gave that consideration, and will give it some more; but the second thrust was lost the midst of one of my posts which has been deleted and that is:

 

The OFT test case ruled on whether the OFT could judge the fairness of bank charges. I am not the OFT; so how does that court case stop me from making a representation to the court with regard to disproportionate fees? I do not see how - but so many websites are unclear on this AND they seem to imply that the small claims court/disproportionate penalty charges route is now closed. My question was is this the case?

 

Another thing that was lost was my thanks for citizenB (advice taken on board) and I would also extend thanks to NodNodWinkWink - again this advice seems to be great, and kind words too.

[ims21]

If you wish to issue a county court claim to get the charges back then that of course is up to you.

 

However, using the original arguments which did have some success prior to the OFT case you would, I would suggest, lose.

 

The Supreme Court ruling on bank charges effectively closed the door using these old arguments.

 

If you wish to go down the court route and sue your bank then you may have a better chance using BCOBS and sue the bank for their failure of statutory duty to treat you fairly.

 

I would have thought that entering into a dialogue with your bank is the first port of call though and fully explain your situation and detail what you want them to do. In that letter you can quote the relevant sections of BCOBS to help you.

 

One thing that I would ask is "did you know there was no money in the account when you made these card transactions"?

Edited October 20, 2013 by ims21
Spelling

[NodNodWinkWink]

Hi hillnoeyes

 

I very much agree with the point you make concerning the removal of your post timed 0400 hrs this morning.

 

It was polite and made the point about your situation clear.

 

Coming back to your issue - It is not a question of you wilfully creating a debt situation - it is more about you wrongly beleving that the second purchase would not be honoured by the bank.

 

A common practice and misunderstanding of your contract with the Bank and credit Card supplier.

 

Clearly you placed yourself into a possible conflict with the trader from whom you purchased your goods and the Bank's credit card company who honoured the payment on your behalf.

 

The point about this issue is this - Were and are these Banks charges excessive in this particular instance ?

 

I believe they were, and so do most others in this thread. The Bank can only recover the reasonable expence of the administration in processing the payment on your behalf

and the costs of providing that service for you.

 

Advising A High Court Action - is utterly ridiculous and debases the purpose of the forum in these circumstances.

 

BTW I do have a full copy of the URL page of your post and have re-read it.

 

As I only have the one copy taken at 11-15 am this morning, I am unable to see if changes to your post were made without your consent.

 

As I said earlier - Keep on pressing on and DO WRITE letter to the Bank - get on with it tomorrow - you have had good advice - now use it to your advantage :-)

 

NNWW

Edited October 20, 2013 by NodNodWinkWink
slightly mod & of course spelling!!!

[dx100uk]

satans bank have more than once caved in on bank charges when the KNOW your income is benefits

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?353395-Letter-to-send-if-you-are-being-charged-bank-fees-whilst-on-benefits

 

I strongly suggest you follow this route

 

dx