Speaking of bank charges
I noticed my account went overdrawn by 28p over the weekend. Consequently, the bank will be charging me £30 because they had to pay a switch transaction when i didn't have the funds in bank, plus another £28 for actually going overdrawn. I spoke to the bank today and they basically said "tough".

I'm going to phone the ombudsman and find if there is anyway to stop them taking the money in the first place, as I simply cannot afford for them to take it and then have to arse about trying to get it back.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Mon 10 Aug 2009, 22:31, 8 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

Why didn't you
go to the bank first thing this morning and deposit 29p?
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Mon 10 Aug 2009, 22:39, Reply)

Because
It'd already gone over. Some banks give you a bit of leeway, such as not charge you unless you go over by £5 for example or give you until the end of the day to sort it out.

But not Halifax. No, if you go over by a penny, they will charge you.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Tue 11 Aug 2009, 0:33, Reply)

this happened to me while i was very skint indeed
i was buying cheap food, and went overdrawn by the price of a meal..30p :(
( weaver., Tue 11 Aug 2009, 3:41, Reply)

Bastard Halifax
have just done the same to me. I went over by 1.39 and they charge me the standard £35 plus £28. Then the £35 they took made me go over again so they charged me another £35 and £28.

I hate them. I'm in the middle of switching to HSBC because they give you leeway; if you put the money back the same day they don't charge you.

I hate Halifax. Howard can go fuck himself, smug cunt.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Tue 11 Aug 2009, 14:54, Reply)

Moneysavingexpert.com is probably worth a look
They've got a whole campaign going for people who get charged £££ for going overdrawn by ppp. There's probably form letters on there and everything.
( GarbageFan didn't know what to have as a board sig on, Mon 10 Aug 2009, 22:42, Reply)

Money Saving Expert
is a good place to start.

For all the whole refunding bank charges thing is on hold because it's going through the courts to see if bank charges are unfair (not illegal, just unfair), the recommendation is that if you've been charged for going overdrawn etc, to still write to your bank. Because if the ruling is in favour of the consumer, there's going to be a massive backlog of claims to wade through.

I do think that if you go over your overdraft limit the banks have a right to charge you. Once. But not £30 a pop - it doesn't cost that much to send a letter ffs. And it just spirals; for each "indiscretion" it costs you again, so the more you go overdrawn, the more they charge you.

Which is stupid. How are you supposed to pay them back if on each charge they charge you again?
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Mon 10 Aug 2009, 22:49, Reply)

Cunt them in the fuck
www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges

Here is a link to the letter you need.
It's all going through the courts at the moment to get them to stop pulling this kind of shit.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Mon 10 Aug 2009, 23:08, Reply)

I'm familiar
with the whole MSE thing. I claimed a shit load of bank charges back in the past, but the court case means that any claims are on hold for at least a good few months yet. Besides, that doesn't stop them taking the money in the first place.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Tue 11 Aug 2009, 0:35, Reply)