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Another overdraft thread...although slightly different!
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Howdy.
I posted off a letter to Lloyds TSB and got my default charges as well as the 10squid to subsidise the admin fees. That was fine, I posted them a letter back saying I wanted X amount reimbursed to me as their fees were ludicrous as per the templates on MSE.
They sent a letter back soon after explaining that the charges were applicable, fobbing me off saying if I wanted my bank charges detailed and sent to me I had to pay 10squid again. I took this as a generic letter they use to deter people pressing the matter.
So I sent them a letter back explaining that I wanted X amount reimbursed with interest and will charge them the fees if they ignore this letter once it goes to a small claims court blah blah (as per the MSE letter). I haven't had a reply and we're now on the 15th day I sent that letter (threatening them with 14 days to reply with a resolution).
NOW! They have sent me a letter the other day saying I owe them 200quid (although I am only 80quid overdrawn?!) The reason why I am 80quid overdrawn is because I didn't have enough money in my account to subsidise these costs when I used more than what I had thought I had in my account.
Now I did get over 80quid reimbursed back into my account to cover these (money refunded to me from Amazon and ASOS), but again the overdrawn charges were whacked on and now they are saying I owe them 200quid and if I don't pay within 28days and take this letter seriously they're forwarding my details to Equifax and that due to bad debt and charging me 121quid each month on top for interest!
Bear in mind my request to have my charges reimbursed back have been completely ignored! Would it be in my best interest to pass this scenario to the Financial Ombudsmen poste haste?
Cheers.
I posted off a letter to Lloyds TSB and got my default charges as well as the 10squid to subsidise the admin fees. That was fine, I posted them a letter back saying I wanted X amount reimbursed to me as their fees were ludicrous as per the templates on MSE.
They sent a letter back soon after explaining that the charges were applicable, fobbing me off saying if I wanted my bank charges detailed and sent to me I had to pay 10squid again. I took this as a generic letter they use to deter people pressing the matter.
So I sent them a letter back explaining that I wanted X amount reimbursed with interest and will charge them the fees if they ignore this letter once it goes to a small claims court blah blah (as per the MSE letter). I haven't had a reply and we're now on the 15th day I sent that letter (threatening them with 14 days to reply with a resolution).
NOW! They have sent me a letter the other day saying I owe them 200quid (although I am only 80quid overdrawn?!) The reason why I am 80quid overdrawn is because I didn't have enough money in my account to subsidise these costs when I used more than what I had thought I had in my account.
Now I did get over 80quid reimbursed back into my account to cover these (money refunded to me from Amazon and ASOS), but again the overdrawn charges were whacked on and now they are saying I owe them 200quid and if I don't pay within 28days and take this letter seriously they're forwarding my details to Equifax and that due to bad debt and charging me 121quid each month on top for interest!
Bear in mind my request to have my charges reimbursed back have been completely ignored! Would it be in my best interest to pass this scenario to the Financial Ombudsmen poste haste?
Cheers.
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Comments
:yes:
I have nothing helpful to add, other than to say poor you hun, and that I agree, Lloyds are awful. They mess my friends around something ridiculous for all sorts of non-sensical reasons. Give them hell.
Hope you get it sorted easily and soon!
'As you know we've been trying to contact you for some time. (only your standard letter saying I'm overdrawn with charges being added on yada... Which I 'overlooked' as I was having the funds placed into my a/c to counteract my being overdrawn)
We wanted to help you to get your accound running smoothly and we wrote to you a number of times about it, offering our help. Because we have not been able to come to an agreement that we are both happy with we would not like you to pay the 204.39 you owe us.
We will add the charges and interest of this of 121.04 to this every month, based on your present outstanding balance and interest rate (I'm overdrawn just now with 83.25 with another 90.00 charge looming around the 3rd of July - which in my own fault I should have contacted them via telephone but I ignored as I thought the bank charge fiasco would be over by then, and these charges cleared as this has been ongoing since April 16th.) This sum may change as your balance alters, e.g by the charges we have added or if interest rates are varied.
It is very important you take this letter seriously.
We need you to pay back the money you owe us within 28days. If you do not, the next thing we'll do is register the details of your debt with the credit reference agencies, Experian LTD, Equifax PLC and Callcredit PLC. This information will stay on their records for 6 years.
This could mean you will have trouble getting credit elsewhere because most businesses such as banks and building societies use these records to judge how you manage your money and if you are a good risk. Sometimes your credit rating can even affect members of your family or any business associates.
This is why it is so important that you pay us what you owe us within 28days. This will stop us from contacting the credit reference agencies about you.
Let us reassure you that our aim has always been for you to be happy with your account and to help you run it smoothly. So please do call us if you think there is anything you could do which will mean we will not have to take the steps we've just explained.'
Yeah, I'm pretty rooked just now. I think I'll fire another letter to them, give them a week to sort it out. Failing that go on the telephone to the Financial Ombudsmen and get them to act on my behalf? It's just in the letter they've sent they've not even stipulated what the charges are for on top of this 200+ quid I owe them.
I'm unemployed just now, (but possibly only for another 2 weeks at most) will this make it more difficult to open up a bank account somewhere else? Can I get one opened up on the same day and also what one would be the best?
Good luck Becky with sorting this faff out. What a pain in the arse, but youre totally doing the right thing.
Brilliant, thanks a bunch for all this. I'll go with Barclays I think. I've been with BOS and as they're with Halifax they were terrible and I'm claiming back o/d charges with them too. Would I be best to just state the situation to the financial ombudsmen or would it be best to deal with the letter to Lloyds firstly?
Brill. Thanks again, Ellie.
Ive been with RBS for years and have never had a problem at all, and ive gone over my overdraft many times. They have put on charges but theyve taken them off if ive gone in and explained myself etc, and thats before all this new stuff with bak charges what they can and cant do came in. Maybe thats just my branch though?
They have one of the best reputations around from what I gather.
'I refer to default charges applied to my account amounting to £785.00 which I have requested you pay back.
I wrote to you on 28th May 2007 making the original request for a payment in settlement of my claim. As I have not received a satisfactory response, I wrote on the 11th of June informing you I intended to claim the full amount claimed together with interest (which at the moment stands at £888.07) up to the date of judgment and court fees in the proceedings through the county court.
This is based on the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations, as I believe these default charges are unfair and not proportionate to your costs, and therefore the court will rule in my favour.
Since this letter was sent to you, I had received a letter from you on the 16th of June stating that I owed you £204.39, even though on my most recent bank statement - which I have included a copy of - that I am only £83.25 overdrawn. On top of this letter you have sent me, you are stating that I will be charged an additional £121.04 each month.
However, you have not indicated what these charges are for, plus you are explaining if I ignore your wishes you will endeavour to forward this situation to various credit agencies which ultimately will present me with a poor credit rating for six years.
This threatening letter was sent to me approximately four days after I pressed the matter via my own letter to your company claiming my charges back (11th of June).
This scenario is completely unacceptable and as you are more than aware of I have already attempted to claim back my charges from the 29th of May, to which you replied with a letter stating that the charges were applicable to my circumstance.
I did initially read this reply for verbatim, however upon reading the letter further you wrote that if I wanted my defaulted charges listed, I subsequently had to pay £10.00 which I had already sent to you on the 16th of April on my first letter and received the list of charges! It was then noticed this was a completely generic letter to deter me from pushing the matter again.
I had offered your company an adequate amount of time from the letter dated the 11th of June ? 14 days - to finalise an agreement out of court. I haven?t received this but a letter expressing a outlandish amount of money I have to pay before the 15th of July.
I am giving your company one final chance to resolve this situation as I am not being unreasonable in requesting my charges back. I am giving you one week from the date of this letter - 26th of June - to come to an out of court settlement or I am taking my situation which you so liberally overlook to the Financial Ombudsmen.
I expect to hear a reply before the 3rd of July 2007.
Yours faithfully,
Rebecca Maxwell'
:thumb:
Nuts. Banks just rile me up senseless. :razz:
Okay, I caved a bit. I contacted the Financial Ombudsmen and I'm getting a complaints form to get my money back from them tomorrow. I've also been issued a reference number from them. However, I won't complete the from until I hear from Lloyds TSB within a week.
Should I include this in the letter?
I'm currently temping for them. And their inhouse homepage has an enitire section about dealing with customer complaints about fees (or service charges as they like to call them) and its all utter corporate bullshit.
My account with HSBC is overdrawn and they've charged me hundreds of pounds in fees the last few months because of things going out and taking me over my agreed overdraft and my money going in being stalled HB being the major one. Can I use one of these basic accounts to get my direct debits paid out of, for rent + bills etc?
And, if I send HSBC one of these letters to try to get my charges back are they going to ask me to pay off my overdraft and credit card or what?
Do open one, because HSBC will continue to freeze your money. If you do send the letter the bank may threaten revocation of your overdraft, but that's threatening behaviour in the face of a customer complaint and is very much against the Banking Code. HSBC may very well offer to pay out- we've just had a letter offering a full and final settlement of £920 for £1050 overdraft charges, which will do nicely.
These all have similar charges for things like unpaid item or going overdrawn. Do you recommend these acccounts more so that people have somewhere to bank from while they deal with their old bank, or am I missing some vital point?
If they do that, offer them a repayment plan of what your old monthly payment was, and report them to the Ombudsman. The worst sanction they would have is a CCJ, and that's fairly straightforward, just a bit annoying.
The most important thing is to move your income to another bank, so that you have your money and control how much goes where.
I think a mistake I've made is to not view my overdraft a s adebt, because it just seemed like a part of my bank account. I haven't been out of my overdraft for... er... a fair few years. This basic bank account should help me break that habit though me hopes. Just got to get all my payments switched over with no hiccups. Ought to make a list and cross them off, but I cba.