Forums > Social Chat > *rant againt my bank being stupid*

Posted: 18th Jan 2007
phone them. it's the only way....

Holistic Spinner (I hope)

Posted: 19th Jan 2007
Um, not that this will help in any fashion...
but, if your gonna rant, I wanna rant to.

(*one of many bank atrocities under my belt*)
When I was abroad (hitching through the U.S) I had my wallet stolen in San Franscico, in the worst possible time to have my wallet stolen....I ended up with only having 5 bucks on me-but plenty more in my bank account, that was now unaccesible because my bank card was gone.
So I phoned my bank and had the card cancelled. But that is all they would do for me.......even with my passport on me & other ID, and plenty of dough in the bank they literally said, word for word on the phone..."unfortunately-there are to many security issues in transfering your money, I hope SOMEONE can help you with your finicial situation".....
AAARRRRRG.

Posted: 19th Jan 2007
Sounds like you both were/are in a poor situation...all I can think of is that Trisk...you should see if another of your family members could wire you the money.

Though actually it might help if you called your UK bank and asked them to send you one of your statements. Maybe their sister Bank can help you get them on the phone. Even at that...you should be able to provide some information on the phone that tells them it is you and they sould be able to tell you over the phone what your balance is...though I am not sure...I have never worked with a bank outside the USA. Just trying to help.

Beyond the Continuum.

Posted: 19th Jan 2007
It's not getting hold of the money that's the problem- I just don't want to wind up getting overdrawn by accident and then getting bank charges- which no-one would even find out about for another month..


Hopefully someone from my parents work has been left with a house key and they can tell me what I have left.. Just frustrating not knowing what I can afford..

thanks for the suggestions though, I may try and phone..

THE MEEK WILL INHERIT THE EARTH!


If that's okay with you?

Posted: 19th Jan 2007
If you've not gone over your overdraft limit in the last 6 months, your bank charges will be refunded, so don't worry too much about that side of things.

Spin, bounce, be one with the world, because it is yours to enjoy...

Posted: 20th Jan 2007
Wow refunded overdraft charges...I have never heard of such a thing in my banking history...though i am from USA

Beyond the Continuum.

Posted: 20th Jan 2007
are you serious, i just whine and up until i got really messed up financially, i got all my charges refunded...
probably close to $600 in a year and half or so

Faith
Nay, whatever comes one hour was sunlit and the most high gods may not make boast of any better thing than to have watched that hour as it passed

Posted: 21st Jan 2007
wow...some things work for other people I guess.

Beyond the Continuum.

Posted: 21st Jan 2007
i've started to re-post ANY letters i get from my bank, i don't use my account so i know there's nothing in it.
if they want to send me letters and charge me i'll re-post them so they can foot the bill for the postage

Posted: 21st Jan 2007
Although you didn't sign up for internet banking, did you sign up for telephone banking? If not it's ok, phone up the UK bank, they will be able to help you. You can get your balance through them. I work for a high street bank so have to deal with this kind of stuff all the time. If you need more advice, pm me.

Aim high and you'll know your limits, aim low and you'll never know how high you could have climbed.

Posted: 21st Jan 2007
I don't think I did.. but I'm not sure if I needed to, they may have done that one automatically.. It was a 'tick box to opt out' 5 years ago and I don't remember what I ticked..

I think I'm going on the 'I don't want to know' and just spending as little as I can.. hopefully I have a job starting in a few days and there's nothing I can do if I do have no money after all..
Thanks for the help though guys.

THE MEEK WILL INHERIT THE EARTH!


If that's okay with you?

Posted: 21st Jan 2007
No problem...I hope you don't go overboard though! I guess the new job will help you out so you can open a new account where you are now located.

Beyond the Continuum.

Posted: 30th Jan 2007
I already have an account where I am.. there's just no money in it

Last time I tried to transfer money over to it, I got a letter posted to me, in the UK, asking if I could come into the branch and discuss it..

I managed to find out anyways, I emailed ntil I found the person who'd been left with a house key, asked 'em to go round and read my bank statement.. then email me the amount.

Complicated, but it works..

THE MEEK WILL INHERIT THE EARTH!


If that's okay with you?

Posted: 31st Jan 2007
can I rant a little too? Well it's not really a rant, but I have to go and ask my bank for a bigger overdraft today and I'm scared they won't give it to me...

basically I didn't get paid last friday (which is the usual payday but apparently we don't get paid in January), but I stupidly didn't realise that until last night, plus my rent is due in 12 days. So now I have no money and have probably gone over my limit already...

Why must I always be so bloody disorganised when it comes to my personal life?! I just can't seem to get a grip on everything right now.

Idolized by Aurinoko

Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind....

Bob Dylan

Posted: 31st Jan 2007
I am glad you got everything worked out triskaidekia! Now you need to drain the account and put it all into the local bank. I do not see how they can refuse to send you your money if you explain to them that you are so far away. You should not have to go in and face to face tell them you want your money!

Tea Fairy it sounds like you need a small credit card for emergencies like this...but talk to your bank about an alternative method of payment, you know it is coming so they should be able to help you find an alternative.

Beyond the Continuum.

Posted: 31st Jan 2007
Do credit cards come in different sizes? I thought they were all about 8cm long and 5cm wide..

THE MEEK WILL INHERIT THE EARTH!


If that's okay with you?

Posted: 3rd Feb 2007
Haha...very funny!

I am sure that you understood what I meant...a small credit line...something like $2,000 with a low interest rate.

Though credit cards do actually come in smaller sizes than the normal ones. I have seen ones for key rings that were square like normal...and I swear I think I saw one that was a visa card that was an oval and had a black casing in order to protect it from wear and tear by the keys.

Though in my opinion...why would you put your credit card on a set of car keys? That is lazy and not smart, if someone by chance stole your car they have not only the car but the credit line as well.

Beyond the Continuum.

Posted: 5th Feb 2007
First thing I did after posting was get on to Egg.com. I like Egg, they like me too apparently! They've given me a nice big credit limit, to be used in emergencies only of course!

It was all ok in the end, thanks for the moral support though! I went to the bank and it turned out I did in fact get paid, but on Monday rather than Friday! So I didn't need to extend my overdraft! Hooray! Also, I had gone over the limit, but the lovely people at the bank have given me the charges back because apparently I'm normally a good customer. There were big sighs of relief!

Idolized by Aurinoko

Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind....

Bob Dylan

Posted: 7th Feb 2007
Well that is good to hear that you made it out charge free . I have never heard of the egg.com thing though, what the heck is that?

Beyond the Continuum.

Posted: 8th Feb 2007
if your thinking of claiming back bank charges i'd hurry up and do so soon as banks are resorting to bulying and scare tactics....................


has anybody heard the news story about some bloke sucesfully caling in the debt collectors into his local branch

Posted: 8th Feb 2007
Haven't heard that story,no...

Egg is a credit card that deals with it's customers primarily over the internet, so you don't get statements and such and you make your payments by direct debit from your bank. It's nice and quick getting approved online too, and their interest rates aren't too bad.

Idolized by Aurinoko

Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind....

Bob Dylan

Posted: 8th Feb 2007
"A man who was fed up with paying massive bank charges decided to give one of the high street giants a taste of its own medicine.

When Royal Bank of Scotland refused to refund £3,400 charges that Declan Purcell believed he was owed, he sent in the bailiffs.

Stunned customers at his branch of RBS watched as debt collectors seized four computers, two fax machines and a till filled with cash.

The branch manager was told that the items would be sold unless RBS came up with the money owed to Mr Purcell.

Only when the manager gave an undertaking that the debt would be paid did the bailiffs leave.

Mr Purcell said: "I think the bank was pretty shocked when the bailiffs went in. But my view is that this is exactly what they would have done to me."

The move, which will raise a cheer from millions of other bank customers, is part of a consumer fightback against bank charges, which net an estimated £4.5 billion every year.

Every time a current account customer goes overdrawn by as little as £1 most banks will charge around £28, even though the administration cost is only about £4.50.

Then every cheque, direct debit, or card transaction that goes through or is bounced incurs another charge of up to £38.

The Office of Fair Trading is investigating whether banks have implemented these charges unlawfully.

The Daily Mail's Fair Play on Charges campaign and that run by the Consumer Action Group have helped thousands reclaim charges in the past year.

Like other customers Mr Purcell, 48, from East London, had warned his bank that he was prepared to go to court to claim back charges he believes were imposed unlawfully.

In June last year he demanded the refund of £3,400 charges he accrued during the previous six years while running a motorcycle dealership.

RBS ignored the claim so in October Mr Purcell filed an online application to get the money back through the county court.

After 30 days the bank had not responded and so on December 10 the court ruled in Mr Purcell's favour.

It ordered RBS to pay the charges and £120 court costs. When RBS again failed to respond Mr Purcell got the court to give him a warrant of execution, allowing him to order debt collectors to reclaim items from the bank equal in value to the amount he was owed.

Finally on Monday, January 8, a team of debt collectors walked into the busy Camden Town branch in North London, demanded to see the manager, showed their court order and announced that they were repossessing items.

Mr Purcell, who now works for London Underground, said: "I was dismayed by the bank's reaction when I made my claim for a refund – it was so rude and arrogant.

"They thought they were above the law, so it is great to know that customers can use the law in the same way the bank does to get money they are owed."

A spokesman for RBS said: "We are looking into this as a matter of urgency, but early indications suggest that unfortunately due to an administrative error, the bank failed to defend the claim leading to a default judgment being obtained on the branch and a resulting warrant.

"The confusion was cleared up at the branch."

Marc Gander, who set up campaign website Consumer Action Group, which helps consumers get refunds from their banks, said: "I am quite sure that Mr Purcell will not be the last person to send bailiffs in to his bank.

"The continued operation by UK high street banks of their unlawful charges regimes will see to that.

"The heavy-handed debt collecting approach is something that the banks have been handing out to their customers for years. Mr Purcell simply gave them a bit of their own back."


spot on bloke

Posted: 8th Feb 2007
Classic!

Idolized by Aurinoko

Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind....

Bob Dylan

Posted: 8th Feb 2007
Thanks for that story ravehead.

Heartened by what i read here i went into my bank today and asked for all my bank charges to be refunded to me, threatening to go to the financial ombudsman (i read in Which? magazine that there have so far been 98 cases in the uk of customers taking their case to the ombudsman to get their charges back and all of them won).
The branch manager said he only had the authority to refund 1 charge in each account, which he did (£45 back) and registered my complaint with the head office. I am now waiting for a call from their complaints department to get the other £100 or so back.
Just goes to show, if you moan at them enough and arnt put off by their 'its bank policy' nonsense you can actually get somewhere.
I also read that the British government are now considering legislation to stop banks charging unreasonable amounts and refund any charges made in the past.
About time too.

"Don't do it naked!"

Posted: 8th Feb 2007
DON'T settle out of court (if it gets that far)


take them to the cleaners!!!!! if they offer to settle you KNOW they are shitting it and you havew a strong case, take it all the way!!!!!!!!

Posted: 9th Feb 2007
It is indeed nice to see that complaining can get results when it comes to bank charge refunds! I just wish people would get a bit more proactive about all the other unfairness that goes on in the world...

...like, I would LOVE to see everyone boycott the london transport network for a day, or even an hour, at protest over the stupid fare increases and Ken trying to force everyone to use Oyster. My oyster card seems to break the top-up machines at the exact moment when they have taken my money, but before they top up my card.

Idolized by Aurinoko

Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind....

Bob Dylan

Posted: 9th Feb 2007
Hey man I am all for that! I think they should do the same tings in the US. I am not one to overdraft my account but I think it is rediculous that banks are allowed to charge rediculos amounts of money for overdraft fees.

Thanks Tea Fairy for the info on Egg.com. And Go Rave for putting up that all inspiring story!

Beyond the Continuum.