Bank threatens to withdraw facilities over unauthorized overdraft
One of the leading Internet banks in the UK has shocked a customer by threatening to withdraw banking facilities after just eight months, simply because the customer went over her overdraft limit by around £45. The customer had forgotten the change the date on a standing order with the bank, and therefore the payment went out before her money went in. When she called the bank for a balance she was told that the limit had been exceeded, and when she tried to temporarily raise her overdraft for a two week period until her funds went in she was told that she may have to look for another bank account as First Direct was considering withdrawing banking facilities.
This was just the second time that the customer had gone over the limit since opening the account, and the first was as a result of one of her bills being taken out on the wrong date by the company. When speaking to the bank the customer was told that the bank was concerned about her using her overdraft so heavily and that she needed to review her income in order to ensure she did not come so close to the limit every month. However, this concern and advice did not stop the bank from charging nearly £40 for an unpaid direct debit, and an additional £30 for going over the limit.
The customer stated: 'Forgetting to change the date on my standing order was an oversight on my part. However, I cannot believe that this tiny mistake has cost me nearly £70.00. The cost to the bank couldn't have been more than £6 or £7, if that, so why should I get charged so much. It's criminal.'
She was even more outrages when the bank told her that she was being charged another £30 a few days later because her account was still overdrawn when a new charge period came around, even though no further funds had gone out of her account after the first charge had been applied. However, she managed to get bank officials to cancel the second charge off.
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