I just asked my bank if they would consider waiving the £35 they were trying to charge me for bouncing some payment or other.....

[FrannyandZooey]

and they said "yes"

thought other people might be in the same situation; it is worth a go to ask them nicely

Oh franny

I have 12 such payments levied on my joint account with DP in the last six days (didn't realise we had hit our OD limit - our faults obviously but I still feel like crying)

I rang today and begged them very meekly, and they have waived five. Just 7 x £35 to pay in January, then

oh dear am very sorry to hear that

dp says make an official complaint to the bank, they have 8 weeks to deal with it, then you can take it to dp the Financial Ombudsman which will cost them about £400 for starters, even if the FOS decide in the bank's favour

Oooh, a complaint on what basis? (Dear Sir, My partner and I are feckless idiots and we would like to blame our bank. Yours sincerely, Ms and DP Wonk.)

I mean, I know the £35 thing is excessive, but now that they've waived five that works out at...

Aaah I see there was a little clue in your post there. Sorry, am so fed up that it's making me stoopid.

I'm not the type, I am a feckless clown honest children's entertainer. Dp however is

well if you still think £245 is unreasonable to charge a good customer, for accidentally going over their limit ONCE (let's face it you have only done this once but got whammied for it by 12 things bouncing I presume?) then you would be within their rights to complain. And as they would end up paying £400 to have the complaint looked at, they may well decide they agree with you after all

worth taking further, I would say

He isn't an actual ombudsman btw

my word no

he says ring the FOS and they will give you more detailed advice

you will still need to go to your bank at first but they can let you know what is likely to happen after that, and what you might hope to achieve

I see. An apprentice to an ombudsman? Cleans the ombudsman's gold chain of office in return for a few pennies and the chance to join a noble profession?

Actually ombudsmenandwomen are a noble bunch in my book.

I am VERY gateful for your (and his) advice. However, the charges are not for bouncing, but for paying items that are taking us further over our limit. Do you think that makes a difference?

Is their a site your marvellous DP could direct me to?

We have a rather sizeable OD with them, and I'm worried that they might just tell us to take our account and stuff it (meaning we would have to pay back the OD, which would be frankly impossible).

Aaargh another backwards post

Thank you kindly. Tell your DP I owe him some glazed parsnips or summat. A bit of sauteed kale.

oh dear

hope my previous post helps

I think they still might be able to assist you

he also says TOTALLY OFF THE RECORD that you really really should be seeing someone to restructure that debt (whatever the fuck that means)

such as getting a personal loan or adding to your mortgage, but going over your overdraft is one of the daftest and most expensive ways to go over your budget (his words not mine)

this was entirely his personal opinion as my dp and not in any professional capacity

Oh dear, told off by franny's DP. I'm sure it is very good advice. Maybe we should make an appointment with the CAB in the New Year.

Thank you again my dear.

you are welcome, sorry for the sermon (he could not restrain himself)

no he has explained it now, if you need to borrow money then plan to do so over 5 years and you will only make a smallish payment by contrast to repeatedly going over your overdraft for which you will get hammered

our bedtime conversation is quite scintillating as you can imagine. And he wonders why I prefer it on MN

Had a bad bout of banking problems. I had two small direct debits bounce. For each one I was immediatly chaged £25.00, which put me over my overdraft limit, which incured a further £35.00 charge later on down the line. The problem was that the extra charges kept on putting me over my overdraft limit because I have a fixed income and just couldn't get that extra £50+ into the bank. Which then caused me to go over my overdraft again whch caused charges again and again. I stopped all direct debits ( dont get me on about the problems that caused) and eventually got back into my overdraft limit and stayed there. Now my income is only £650 per month. In 5 months I had racked up over £700 in charges of charges of charges.
So the moral of the story is make sure that although they have refunded the initial chare, they wont have stopped the charge for going overdrawn! Check that you wont be kicked in the teeth like I was.
BTW I am mid process for claimimg it all back but it depends on the test case.

oh yes the test case is still ongoing isn't it? good luck discover, I am sure you will get something substantial even if not the full amount

Thank you again franny. Can I just say (feel compelled to justify myself, probably because I feel like the world's biggest idiot today) that, this month aside, we don't 'repeatedly' go over the OD - we just seem to have lost track of our spending this month. However I'm sure your DP's advice still holds.

discover - blimey, what a story. Well done for pulling yourself out of it. I don't think we're going to get charged twice, but I will keep my eyes open.

LOL Franny - I have similar fascinating pillow discussion with my DH, except his are about tax nothing anyone ever wants to hear about, especially not at bedtime

Do you know, a DP who is an expert on banking OR tax (not fussy, can't afford to be) sounds pretty good to me ATM. What I REALLY don't need is a DP who knows a great deal about pathology software.

yes sorry if I phrased it wrong and made it sound like I / he thought you were feckless or whatever

when I met him he was about £3000 in debt from having completely screwed up a business as a financial advisor ROFL

so neither of us are going to look askance at a few bank charges here and there

pathology software

pathology software

well, everybody loves a geek