Unfair bank charge.

[user1495955132]

Trying to work out whether to pursue this further or suck it up and let it go .....

Basically, I withdrew money from an atm using my credit card (never a good idea I know but I was desperate, needed to get cash out and that was the only card I had with me). Anyway, my available balance was £61, so I withdrew £60. When I eventually got home and logged online to move money back to my credit card from my debit account I noticed that the CC company had, understandably, charged me a £5 fee for making the withdrawal, and had indeed advised me at the atm that the transaction would be subject to a fee. As the transaction was effectively now for the amount of £65, and I only had £61 available I was immediately sent over my limit and charged £12! (I was under the naive impression that the related fee would perhaps be added at the end of the month along with the interest). My question is whether or not the CC company should have honoured my request to withdraw that amount or should they have advised me that I had insufficient funds available as would have been the case if I’d tried to draw out the £65 or more in cash. Had I been aware that I was going over my limit because of the fee then I’d have only drawn out £50. I’ve tried the route of writing a nice email to customer service, explaining the situation and asking whether they could waive the fee as a gesture of goodwill, as I had immediately upon arriving home paid money back to my credit card to keep me within my limit, but I received a snooty “the fee was correctly applied” response. Not sure if I’m just being unreasonable & sulky now, and I know it’s my responsibility to keep my accounts in good standing (which I always have with this account, paid on time, over and above the minimum amount etc), but I really do feel that the CC company also had a responsibility not to let me borrow more money than was actually available to me. I’m particularly hacked off as I was only £4 over my limit so the £12 fee just seems excessive in being 3 times the amount! Would appreciate others opinions. Thank you.

Was it not the cash machine provider that charged you £5 rather than the credit card provider

I would ring them, explain that you know they are entitled to charge you but ask if they might consider refunding the fee as it's the first you've done this (if it is the first time of course).

If you don't very politely ask you've no chance of getting.

If you google I think there's a Martin Lewis article about getting card companies to refund their charges

No, definitely the CC “handling fee” - I’ve just checked my statement again to make sure. And I’ve already sent two emails - firstly asking whether they would consider waiving the fee in this instance as it is the first time a) it’s happened and I’ve gone over my limit and b) that I’ve had to use the atm to withdraw cash. First response was that no they wouldn’t refund the fee as it had been correctly applied, so I wrote back saying I wasn’t disputing whether it was correctly applied and that I was asking for a ”goodwill gesture”, but again was told the fee had been correctly applied. I just feel that by allowing me to withdraw more than I had available they’ve deliberately set me up to go immediately overdrawn! Do you think a phone call would be better than another email? I imagine it’s quite discretionary whether to refund fees so maybe pleading my case to someone else would get a different outcome? I know it’s only £12 but it’s the principle and I really do feel they’re being unfair.

£12 fee is standard for over limit unfortunately. Similar has happened to me in the past - they wouldn't have prevented the transaction as that is how credit works, it's not unfair, it will be in your t&cs so they haven't done anything wrong. You should've known there was a fee for both withdrawing and going over limit but if you call them and ask nicely they might waive it if it's the first time it's happened.