Bank charges

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AHarvey

AHarvey

AHarvey

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hi all,

just after xmas the wife remembered the tax was due (the day after it ran out) so I jumped online and got 12 months again and paid from the joint account instead of my own.

Wasn't aware the balance and it took us overdrawn by £64.07 and it was 4 days before we noticed. Transferred a few hundred from mine to cover bills etc until both of our wages went in. First time its ever happened in 5 years.

Just noticed on the 3rd Feb HSBC have charged us £64 for "PRE-NOTIFIED
FEES & CHARGES", we've had no explanation as to what it was for, no emails or letters, I am just guessing its about being overdrawn.

Isn't there rules now on what can and cannot be charged for and how much can be charged?

While we are at it, can anyone recommend a decent bank with decent call centres? Tried phoning HSBC before and you just get some Indian call centre that are useless. They took £25 from my account for reviewing it, no warning or being asked too. I am just fed up with them now!
 
AHarvey said:
Isn't there rules now on what can and cannot be charged for and how much can be charged?!
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As long as it's in the T&C's of your account, which it will be, the bank can charge whatever they feel like. There was a court case, the banks won.

In terms of banks, NatWest are good, as are Loyds.

Before you go changing banks just give them a call, if you don't want to do that go into a branch, if its your first charge ever/for a long time, I imagine they will be reasonable.

End of the day, don't go overdrawn, it's their money you are spending if you do after all.
 
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HSBC are morons when it comes to charges, but every bank is pretty shocking at this so I guess you just dont go overdrawn to avoid this
 
Not sure on the legalities. Call into a branch or book an appointment with an adviser. Explain the situation and lay it on the table that you'll take your business to another bank if they don't refund the charges. Don't be afraid to demand the balance of the account in cash an close it there and then.

My 2p
 
The reason I went overdrawn was really because they've screwed up my debit card. I bought a load of camera gear on it and they must have blocked it now as other than getting cash out of the machine I can't use it online or in shops. Forgot about that until now.

haven't had time to call due to work, will jump on it later.

Just fed up with them, they've been nothing but a pain, and when we went and opened the account the bank manager was so rude because we hadn't taken our mortgage out with them. Should have closed it then really.
 
If you ask nicely for the charges to be refunded and explain what happened they will refund you.

My ex-gf was in exactly the same situation and got refunds _twice_.

edit: she uses HSBC
 
It can be a good idea to have your savings account with the same bank your current account is with, you can use it as leverage in cases like this.
 
When it happened to me I sent an email saying that the Office of Fair trading had said that charges should only reflect the actual cost uncured by the bank, which is around £3

Then cut the charge from £25 to £12-50 .... better than nowt.
 
Assuming there's no overdraft arrangement, you borrowed money from a non-facility account and expect that for free? Who does that work?

No bank will let you borrow for nothing.

It's worth contacting them when you do get through. They may waive the fee if they feel you have a good record. [edit - as above posts have already mentioned]
 
Do banks even allow you to put a block on accidently going into overdraft?

I once paid for something using the wrong Paypal account which was linked to my business bank account (empty at the time) and that racked up > £100 charges in just a few days because it overlapped 2 calendar months. It was only my ADSL bill I paid lol.

Then they wacked on another huge charge when the interest on the initial charge took the balance below £0 again after I paid the last charge but before the interest showed on the account.

That was with HSBC btw. They did refund some but not all of the charges and only because they got caught out when one one of their staff gave me incorrect info.
 
I would suggest calling them, or put it in writing.

If its a first time offense, generally they will as a gesture of goodwill refund the penalty.
 
holymonk said:
I would suggest calling them, or put it in writing.

If its a first time offense, generally they will as a gesture of goodwill refund the penalty.
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This I've had them refund the fees for things like this numerous times, I point to my years as a loyal customer and my savings balance which is usually enough to get eht 'goodwill' gesture.
 
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