I have recently returned from holiday to find this 'helpfull' bank have returned a direct debit as unpaid - let me explain:-

A D/D for £35.23 was presented to my account on 3rd October from T-Mobile. Balance on the account was £33.10. I checked the account on Saturday 4th October and saw this left my account £2.13 overdrawn on an account which has no authorised overdraft. I never go overdrawn as I know I have no overdraft but my wage goes in regular every month and I top it up with my husbands money to make sure all bills are covered. Unfortunately there was not a lot I could do on a Saturday night and I was flying early Sunday morning.

I set up a transfer from the Halifax of £5.00 to cover the difference and the first available date to transfer was 7th October so I put it on transfer.

I then received a text from T-Mobile on 8th October saying my D/D had been rejected and they would try again in a couple of days and could I ensure available funds.

I telephoned the Nat West - from holiday and asked them what had gone on. They explained they had returned it due to insuficient funds. They had charged my account £38.00 to cover this and my account was standing at £4.90 overdrawn.

I explained I was on holiday, it was a genuine mistake on my part, I had never done it before, the transfer which had now gone through, the fact that their charge put me more overdrawn than if the D/D was paid and how I could go overdrawn with their charges but not a payment.

As it was special circumstances I asked could they reverse the charge and pay the direct debit when it was submitted again. This was met with a resounding NO. The banks policy is to never refund bank charges. I asked what I could do as I was not even in the country and could not make a deposit to enable the D/D to go through. He said the only thing to do was cancel the D/D. I advised him to do that as I did not want another charge. This left me with the posibility of my phone being turned off - the only emergency contact my family had.

I also told him where he could stick his account and bank and hung up.

I know this is my fault but somebody out there must have a template letter of complaint that I can send to these people. £38.00 is a lot of money. I have had the account for 4 years and paid possible a total of 3 charges in all that time. I pay these people £6.00 per month for the privilage of banking with them.

I am now looking at opening a new account - any tips or advice on that as well?

Thanks in anticipation of your help.

I would try a bank with a fee free overdraft like Smile the Internet Bank (part of Co-operative Bank) or Citibank if you can have your wages paid in to the account. They both offer a £500 fee free overdraft which can help tide you over.

Hi there. Banks can be barstleshids can't they. When I was younger and doing my first eBay buys with paypal I accidentally incurred over £200 of bank charges. Fortunately, my mother handled it. I'm not sure it ended with the bank. I remember her getting pretty irate over the phone so I presume it was aimed at the bank. I think alot of whether the charges are dissmissed is based upon how serious/upset/offended you come across as.

If the bank doesn't budge you can go over their heads and make an appeal to the financial ombudsman. It's impartial and has the authority to do all sorts of finance-related stuff like dissmiss bank charges.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

I'm not sure if this will work for something so long ago but its definately worth a shot.

You pay Natwest £6 per month. Do you have one of those super duper accounts then? Otherwise your getting ripped off.

blue-cat

This is exactly what happened to me - I was overdrawn by a few quid and was automatically slapped with a fine from the bank because I had no overdraft facility - this is why I have decided to go on prepaid as the banks offer no help in me managing my finances. With my new card (once i receive it - only just applied) i receive sms updates and if a payment is due to go out of which there is insufficient funds, i get an email! - lets hope it works!