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Original poster

Is a £60 overdraft excess charge legal?

11 replies

jampots · 15/10/2006 21:13

Ive just opened my bank statement and see I went £10 over my o/d facility (£50) and they've charged me £60 plus interest for the privilege. What does the £12 max fee relate to?

OP posts:

MerlinsBeard · 15/10/2006 21:15

atm its only credit card companies that are legally bound to have lower charges. the bank charges are being looked into.

Barclays are arses for charges, they charge you 3 times

Original poster

jampots · 15/10/2006 21:16

really? I thought it was banks too?

OP posts:

MerlinsBeard · 15/10/2006 21:26

not yet, as far as i know its just the office of fair trading thats dealing with banks now saying its unfair and they are tryiong t get the loophole in the law changed. i could be wrong though, hopefull someone will come along in a min and tell yoU!

Wintersun · 15/10/2006 21:51

According to moneysavingexpert.com (check it out)
its unlawful if the charge is disproportionate but not illegal.
There's advice on how to claim it back.
We successfully managed to get a charge back when a direct debit made dh's account od just by writing an email and telling the bank that we were advised the charge was disproportionate and unlawful and were considering closing the account and taking further action.
Good luck.

Original poster

jampots · 16/10/2006 10:13

bump - any other thoughts?

OP posts:

Piffle · 16/10/2006 10:15

Kerrikey what blody bank is that the theiving bastards

tracyk · 16/10/2006 10:17

As on Radio 2 - make a friendly phone call to the bank- saying how it was a one off etc etc and you would like it refunded. If they say no then you threaten (by letter) to take it legal. Have a look on www.moneysavingexpert.com and I'm sure there will be a section on this topic and how to word your letter.
Basically - it has never been ruled to be illegal by banks - but that is why they are scared shitless that someone will take it all the way to court and it will be ruled against them. So 9 times out of 10 - they refund the charges.

Original poster

jampots · 16/10/2006 20:00

to add insult to injury on this one - i actually have a couple of thousand in an associated savings account too which they could have transferred money from - twas LLOYDS by the way

OP posts:

tracyk · 17/10/2006 10:06

did you phone them Jampots?

Original poster

jampots · 18/10/2006 22:49

not yet tracey. simply because i wrote to them a few weeks ago asking for a breakdown of charges thinking that it was unlawful to charge anything over £12. I thought i might wait to see what they say.

OP posts:

sarz · 02/11/2006 20:52

not read the whole thread, so sorry if i repeat anything. The £12 fee only applies to credit cards, not banks accounts. The charge will have been made up of 1. going over the agreed O/D limit. 2.The bank having to pay the companies that you paid the £10 to (eg if it was £5 at tescos and £5 at asda your bank would have had to pay tesco and asda and charged you) unfortunatly the charges having nothing to do with how much the actual amount was, you could have £2 over your limit and it may have been the same! If this was the first time this has happened to your account a quick call to the branch manager should be able to rectify (sp) the problem if they can clearly see that the account has always been in good condition. Another hint, if your a good actor, is say that you were in hospital and couldnt check your account for a couple of days!!! (that really works!)

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