Unlawful bank charges

[tim123]

I know there are a couple threads already on this forum about this BUT I cant be buggered finding them.

Anyway, after a three month fight I finally got my fees returned on the 20th. Wasnt much, £205, BUT it was the principle of the matter that really annoyed the hell out of me!
Mailman

Am I the only person sitting, wondering why, a freelancer on loads of dosh per hour is running his current account in a manner that leave him open to being charged in the first place.

They are not hard to avoid, positive balance equals no fees. If you have so little spare capital that you can't keep your account in credit month by month what do you do for cash when between contracts?

tim

[ASB]

Doesnt Alliance and Leicster charge charges on top of their charges once you go OD?

Hear some horror stories about people getting OD by a few pounds then get the £35 automagic OD fee, then a couple days later get another fee on top of that!

Before banks stop this kind of carryon its going to require someone to take them to the high court and create a legal precident...only then will banks stop chargi
ng like a bull in a chingaling shop!

Mailman

The banks are very unlikely to let it get to he high court, and the plaintiff can't force it, hence it will be difficult to establish precedent.

I can't find it now but somebody produced a table of "the good the bad and the ugly". The worst offenders were ending up charging literally hundreds of pounds in the sort of situation you describe.

[ASB]

Am I the only person sitting, wondering why

Nope.

A chap I know was obsessive about maximising the interest on his spare cash. So he kept opening different accounts with whoever was paying the best rates and hoovering up all the cash into that. Of course as a result of this he was unable to make instant transfers back to his current account when he needed to. Overall he was well down on the deal becaue he just wouldn't leave a bit of spare in his current account. Whenever he was a day late making a transfer, or similar he was getting unauthorised OD charges. Easily wiped oout the small gain he made in interest.

[Mailman]

Am I the only person sitting, wondering why, a freelancer on loads of dosh per hour is running his current account in a manner that leave him open to being charged in the first place.

Maybe you are BUT I'm not a freelancer anymore (I jumped ship end of last year and joined the forces of good! ).

They are not hard to avoid, positive balance equals no fees. If you have so little spare capital that you can't keep your account in credit month by month what do you do for cash when between contracts?

tim

Whether you have a positive bank balance or not isn't the point Tim. The point here is that banks have a fee regime that is unlawful (at best) and damn right deceitful (at worst).

The banks know they cannot charge punitive fee's BUT because very few people know this they get away with it. Its even worst with HSBC because 80% of their business came from the pockets of normal people out there (compared with the other main players who made the majority of their profits from businesses).

But that's ok Tim, you just keep your head buried in the sand. I'm sure your bank will be most understanding should your account ever go in to the red

Mailman

[Mailman]

They are not hard to avoid, positive balance equals no fees.

Actually, sometimes fees are VERY hard to avoid. While "freelancing" Id pay off my credit card in full every month BUT one month when I paid off my card by the time the money was credited to my card the due payment date had already passed...so the feckers lumped me with a £20 late payment fee!

But according to you Tim, this is ok and the bank should have been allowed to keep the money EVEN though I had paid my card off in full on time...just like I had done for the previous 24 months!

It took several phone calls and a number of threatening letters to finally get the bank to return the late payment fee.

Mailman

[tim123]

But that's ok Tim, you just keep your head buried in the sand. I'm sure your bank will be most understanding should your account ever go in to the red

Mailman

Never having paid a penny in deafult fess in my life I have no need to take my head out of the sand. This includes, BTW when I was a perm trying to make ends meet on a pittance.

In any case, I made no comment upon my view of the legality of the fees. I simply commented that ISTM the only people who pay bank fees are: (a) those who spend more than they earn, or (b) those who are so disorganised they can't make sure to have enough money in their bank account wehn a bill arrives.

Whilst I accept there are some people in category (a) who earn so little that they have to go overdrawn just to survive, I find it hard to believe that any contractor (or even a working ex-contractor) fits into this category. If they do so, it's because they are buying things that they don't need and can't yet afford.

Sorry if that comment's not politically correct.

tim

[Fleetwood]

Why not just have an agreed overdraft limit with your bank manager? If you have no agreed overdraft, and then go a pound overdrawn, you'll be hit for fees, but if you have an agreed overdraft limit of two grand, and go a pound overdrawn, you'll only pay the interest on the money for the time you're overdrawn. It's not rocket science FFS.

Most banks are on good old mainframes, so it goes something like this :

If OVERDRAFT GREATER THAN AGREED-OVERDRAFT-LIMIT
PERFORM GET-THE-CHILI-POWDER
PERFORM GET-THE-BROKEN-GLASS
PERFORM LUBRICATE-CUSTOMER
PERFORM HIT-POOR-BASTARD-FOR-FEES
END-IF

[MrsGoof]

If OVERDRAFT GREATER THAN AGREED-OVERDRAFT-LIMIT
PERFORM GET-THE-CHILI-POWDER
PERFORM GET-THE-BROKEN-GLASS
PERFORM LUBRICATE-CUSTOMER
PERFORM HIT-POOR-BASTARD-FOR-FEES
END-IF

ahhh the beauty of it

[Mailman]

Sorry if that comment's not politically correct.

tim

Your comments are politically correct, they are ignorant!

The discussion isnt about keeping your account in the black, the discussion is about unlawful fees charged by banks who put as many obstickles in the way as possible to confuse people about their rights.

Mailman

[tim123]

Your comments are politically correct, they are ignorant!

The discussion isnt about keeping your account in the black, the discussion is about unlawful fees charged by banks who put as many obstickles in the way as possible to confuse people about their rights.

Mailman

Rubbish. The discussion is about whatever someone asks.

I asked an additional question which had nothing to do with the original question. Please point me to the rule where it says that I can't do this.

tim