Are the Banks allowed to "profit" from charges?

[GSMGuy]

Hi all, not posted for a while, but got a "bee in my bonnet" with Barclays of late..

 

It concerns their £30 "referral fee" on our business account..

 

Basically, money gets paid into our account every day, apart from Sun & Mon, from credit card receipts. Now, strangely, the "debits" got applied before the "credits" meaning the account would momentarily show as overdrawn occasionally, by a few £. I must add that no payments from the account have ever been "returned unpaid" and that we don't use cheques.

 

Doing all of my banking "online" and "paperless" it wasn't until I received the first "end of year summary" last year, that I realised I had been charged not only the £6.50 per month "account fee" but also in the region of £1200 in "referral fees" of £30 each time. I made a complaint to Barclays, and they refunded the fees without protest. They also "admitted" that there was a problem with the mobile app and the way credits were applied after debits, telling me they "are working on it, but do not know when it will be resolved" They also offered me a "fee free £25 buffer" to prevent this from happening.

 

Anyway, long story short, and I've been charged 3 times this month, so my question is - Can they charge more than their actual incurred costs for this "referral fee" I think that £30 is excessive, but do they have to tell me the actual cost?

 

Regards

 

Mike

[Andyorch]

https://www.barclayscorporate.com/content/dam/corppublic/corporate/Documents/our_charges/9972584com_business_tariff.pdf

 

They wont tell you the actual cost...but its still a rip off....look elsewhere Im sure there must be free Buisness accounts.

 

Andy

[GSMGuy]

https://www.barclayscorporate.com/content/dam/corppublic/corporate/Documents/our_charges/9972584com_business_tariff.pdf

 

They wont tell you the actual cost...but its still a rip off....look elsewhere Im sure there must be free Buisness accounts.

 

Andy

 

Thanks for that, what I was trying to find out was if they can only charge a "reasonable" fee that reflects the actual work they do, a bit like when we all started our charges claims years back, I recall some wording from the initial letter along the lines of "please provide details of all interactions carried out in relation to returning/authorising payments, and the associated costs" or something like that..

 

Mike

[slick132]

Hi GSM,

 

Firstly, I'd call the bank and complain again about the charges and ask if they can be refunded, particularly if they arose in the same manner as before - ie due to debits being processed daily before credits. If you have a local branch where they know you, a visit to them could be useful initially.

 

Regarding the actual amount of the charge, the Supreme Court decided (OFT v Abbey National and others) ruled that default charges on current a/c's couldn't be challenged for fairness by The OFT. Since then, the banks have been free to continue charging what they like without having to justify their actual costs.