I am livid.
We have joint accounts with the co-op bank.
We recently got charged 40 pounds - two charges, on the same day. It apparently relates to a point last month where we went 6 pounds overdrawn. On further inspection, this has either happened when we checked our account balance on a cashpoint, saw it was ok, and withdrew 20 pounds, or when I checked my balance online and bought some stuff on ebay. Either way, we check our account at least daily, and always before online shopping or withdrawing cash, because we are not well off, and it is a joint account, so we might not always be totally aware what the other has spent (only by a tenner or so, but still)
So, I rang the bank, thinking it must be a mistake - if your online banking or cashpoint says you have money and lets you have it, you assume that it isn't lying. I got on to a really patronising woman who told me, as if I was a small child, that I should keep track of what is in my account, and write down exactly everything that I spend, and then compare that with the transactions of my online bank. Apparently I have only to do this when I am near the zero point in my account, but this account is our shopping account (the others are for bills and savings) and so it is always within a hundred pounds of zero. She also kept saying that the online bank and cashpoints are not accurate, and that the only way to find out an accurate balance is to either ring the bank or sign up to the sms service.
AIBU to think that, if the bank know enough to be able to tell me over the phone, then their cashpoints (I use a co-op cashpoint at my local shop) and online banking should be able to tell me?
AIBU to think that, even if the balance isn't accurate, then I shouldn't have been able to withdraw money I didn't have from one of their cash machines?
AIBU that ringing my bank every time I spend ANY money is totally OTT?
AIBU that a charge of 40 pounds for an overdraft of six pounds is excessive, especially when I have still had no notification of it?
AIBU to think that, given that all three of the joint accounts and our two personal accounts held with the co op are constantly moving, but with at least a couple of hundred in them at all points, they could have given us the chance to rectify it before charging us?
ARGH!
What can I do? It makes no sense at all. If it was that the bank just doesn't know, as the retailers or whoever have a delay in reporting spending, or cheques that haven't yet cleared, I could understand. But if they know when I ring up, how can they not know on online banking? What is the point of having balance enquiries on cashpoints?
Do any other banks have a more sensible approach? I like the co-op for all the ethical stuff, but I can't afford fines for not knowing exactly what is in my account, down to the last tenner, when online banking and cashpoints can't be trusted.