Is this an unfair bank charge?

[pottypotpot]

Because of all the Christmas holidays, one of our accounts was overdrawn by £1300 for about 4 days. The agreed od limit is £750 (which we hardly ever use).
The bank is going to charge us £30 plus interest.
Is that an unfair amount that we can contest?
I know people talk about anything over £12 is unfair but our unauthorised overdraft was quite high.
Can anyone advise please?

Yes, I think it is unfair. They are charging you interest to cover the amount you borrowed. The £30 is to cover their admin costs, and is too much, I think. Go and ask them on Money Saving Expert , they'll know.

The new regulations are that it is unfair to charge more than 12 pounds for unauthaurised borrowings. Money saving expert has loads of info and template letters you can send to your crappy bank.

Is is worth the hassle for £18 though.....

Is is worth the hassle for £18 though.....

Thanks.
Its worth an email, I guess.

its the principle of the thing, i would personally fight for the 18 quid. It's worth calling your bank straight away, and doing the grovelling, but -i-always-keep-to- my-limit thing first. A friend of mine gets away with this several times a year (always overdrawn). If you can be sincere and apologetic, the bank staff have the authority to waive your charges

If you're not a regular offender, you could just ring the bank, apologise for losing track over the holidays, thank them for not bouncing any of your cheques/DDs and say would it be possible to refund the charge as a one-off, pretty please?

Somewhere- maybe online, on the back of your statement, leaflet in local branch - there should be a published list of their charges you can check.

We were charged £100 the other month for unauthorised overdraft of £120 (we had forgotten to set one up - doh, and our bank charges per transaction ) and we managed to get it down to £50. I felt this was fair as the charges they make were published and I was aware of them. They can't do much more than that. Does anyone know a bank that charges just £12? I might consider changing if there is one.

Phone them up and ask them if they'll waive it. Halifax did for me as it was a one off.