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TONY HETHERINGTON, READERS’ CHAMPION: I was charged £865 by A&L over my debt of only £1.90
By Tony Hetherington
Last updated at 9:54 PM on 8th May 2010
Mrs S. L. writes: A card payment was allowed through that made my Alliance & Leicester current account £1.90 overdrawn. I deposited £20 to put the account back into credit, but was charged £5 a day for 30 days, so I deposited enough to cover this as well. But then even more charges were added. To date I have paid over £400 in charges and I am being chased for a further £465 - all for being £1.90 overdrawn.
If anyone thought the bank charges controversy was going to go away, they should think again.
Your problem with Alliance & Leicester started in the days when it was still an independent bank and when the Office of Fair Trading was still challenging the big banks over their charges.
Play Fair: The Consumer Panel says the big banks still have a case to answer over charges
Since then Alliance & Leicester has come close to collapse, it has been rescued by Santander and the OFT's court case against the banks failed. The freeze on chasing customers who lodged complaints over bank charges has been lifted and so Santander asked for its money.
The bank statements and correspondence you sent me show that no matter how hard you tried to keep up, Alliance & Leicester was always ahead. You paid in money to cover charges, but the next statement showed more charges that put you back in the red. You covered those charges, but next month you were back in the red again. And it all started over just £1.90.
You even tried to close the account, but of course customers cannot close an account until it is back in the black, so that plan failed too.
I asked Santander to go over what Alliance & Leicester had done and the bank told me: 'We can confirm the fees in question were applied correctly and in line with the terms and conditions of Mrs L's account.
'However, we can see that she has attempted to rectify the situation and close the account on two occasions by paying funds into her account.'
In light of this, Santander says it is crediting the £465 in outstanding charges and your account will now be closed as you requested.
But the final word goes to Adam Phillips, chairman of the Consumer Panel that advises the Financial Services Authority. He says: 'We have argued for a long time that fairness must be central to the way that banks treat their customers.
'It cannot be fair if a £1.90 debt ends up with charges of more than £800. Even though the OFT's recent overdraft charges test case was lost, this story illustrates that there is still a case to answer from the banks.
'We continue to press the OFT and the FSA to work with the banks to get fair charges for consumers.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/art...#ixzz0nb4Z0TVl
By Tony Hetherington
Last updated at 9:54 PM on 8th May 2010
Mrs S. L. writes: A card payment was allowed through that made my Alliance & Leicester current account £1.90 overdrawn. I deposited £20 to put the account back into credit, but was charged £5 a day for 30 days, so I deposited enough to cover this as well. But then even more charges were added. To date I have paid over £400 in charges and I am being chased for a further £465 - all for being £1.90 overdrawn.
If anyone thought the bank charges controversy was going to go away, they should think again.
Your problem with Alliance & Leicester started in the days when it was still an independent bank and when the Office of Fair Trading was still challenging the big banks over their charges.
Play Fair: The Consumer Panel says the big banks still have a case to answer over chargesSince then Alliance & Leicester has come close to collapse, it has been rescued by Santander and the OFT's court case against the banks failed. The freeze on chasing customers who lodged complaints over bank charges has been lifted and so Santander asked for its money.
The bank statements and correspondence you sent me show that no matter how hard you tried to keep up, Alliance & Leicester was always ahead. You paid in money to cover charges, but the next statement showed more charges that put you back in the red. You covered those charges, but next month you were back in the red again. And it all started over just £1.90.
You even tried to close the account, but of course customers cannot close an account until it is back in the black, so that plan failed too.
I asked Santander to go over what Alliance & Leicester had done and the bank told me: 'We can confirm the fees in question were applied correctly and in line with the terms and conditions of Mrs L's account.
'However, we can see that she has attempted to rectify the situation and close the account on two occasions by paying funds into her account.'
In light of this, Santander says it is crediting the £465 in outstanding charges and your account will now be closed as you requested.
But the final word goes to Adam Phillips, chairman of the Consumer Panel that advises the Financial Services Authority. He says: 'We have argued for a long time that fairness must be central to the way that banks treat their customers.
'It cannot be fair if a £1.90 debt ends up with charges of more than £800. Even though the OFT's recent overdraft charges test case was lost, this story illustrates that there is still a case to answer from the banks.
'We continue to press the OFT and the FSA to work with the banks to get fair charges for consumers.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/art...#ixzz0nb4Z0TVl
