ericka kemp, at 7:34pm 17th Apr 2009, wrote:

we will always lose out! The people who dont want to work are laughing, the rich just get a little poorer but the ones who work hard for little gain are the ones who lose the most and feel the worst pain! By the time you take on these big guns they ware you down so much by their incompetence it just gets too hard to persue. With all the time, will and patience in the end you give up on them! AGAIN the little man/woman losses out!

[unsubscribed], at 8:41am 24th Apr 2009, wrote:

we should stop to pushing the poor. the bank manegement should reduce the payment and let the doughter continue her study with peaceful mind.

Den P, at 4:14am 25th Apr 2009, wrote:

Check out MoneySavingExpert.com You could find some very useful information on this site. It shows how to stop your bank charging and how to claim back unfair charges. Information on benefits and I think you might find a section about disability benefits. Perhaps you will post any success on here for the benefit of anyone else who has difficulties. ( I am nothing to do with the site, just a very grateful subscriber to it ) You can post questions as well, someone may have the answer.Good luck

Chrissie, at 8:37am 28th Apr 2009, wrote:

Thankyou for that Den P, I am also a member of this excellent site. would be lost without that.:) However,On this occassion I've decided not to persue it due to other essential avenues needing all my wits and strength to challenge,as health care for my daughter to get well is extremely limited and she is on a long waiting list to get help so I have lots to do including approaching a free legal aid advocate to help me.Thankyou for your comments.

Many thanks also, to the two other comments and encouraging words posted above.Appreciated.

ericka kemp, at 6:33pm 28th Apr 2009, wrote:

With Pleasure Chrissie, I wish you all the success.

Ericka

naomi, at 4:58pm 4th May 2009, wrote:

Just a quick note about the education fees you mentioned if your dausghter is a collage student did you know that the goverment can give her free education up to the age of 21 regardless of financal situtation. Its a little know piece of legislation. check out the goverment web site and look up education law. My partner did it when he did his nvq's in machnics. Also if she studyied through the open university instead, they will help her pay for the course fees so that she wont have to pay them back. Giver her around £250 for books and things plus it sopunds like you would qualify for the computer help. they will give you the money for the internet or a new computer. The financal support only goes on her income no one elises so she should qualify. Also they may be able to help her look for flexey work as well

Chrissie, at 1:45pm 7th May 2009, wrote:

Hi Naomi,

Many thanks for your interesting reply.

Yes we did know of this clause and think of open uni/home study before,but due to the complex nature of anna's illness,her personal needs are very different,in that she benefits much MORE by studying outside the home. The advantages of this has proven to be better than the disadvantages. ie: It helps anna stay positive as active as she can,and have some sirt of normal social liofe which for teens is very important with her peers etc. by studying outside the home remaining close to friends/ the social side benefits of college life, keeping in touch with her peers other sudents her age,getting her as active as she can possibly be and away from the "prison" of home stresses (as she sees them) as much as posssible,and as a young not a mature student when this life style works, it works well and actually goes a long,long way to help her confidence esteem and conditon.Obviously annas situation fluctuates between good days and bad days so we are continually monitoring her needs that might change say 6 months from now. So your info is a good reference for future studies.The new academnic year starting ion september has been set up so we would be looking at possible open university in the new 2010 academic year. something I will give considerable thought to. Incidentally, anna WAS working part time,for a shiort while during last summer hioliday period before college started,but this excarberated her illness and so she had to give it up.(It's not the kind of condition that would suit even flexi-work),and as she was forced to resign in the end and experience all the upset this caused we try not to dwell or go there that often-preferring instead to concentrate on what she CAN do.

As regards help towards a computer broad band services I am with "talk talk" which offers free broadband as part of the telephone package we are onand as I say we are still battling for her to qualify and recieve DLA for her living expenses-it's not a pc she needs but actual everyday food clothing extra travel extra heating and lighting and cooking she needs,plus the added expense of dyspraxia (damge to property falls trips burns scalds wear and tear on home items electrical mobile phone and clothing etc) and the daily ordinary living expenditures/allowance that she so desperately needs; and this kind of practical financial support can ONLY be reached through elegibility of a DLA criteria.

Chrissie, at 1:55pm 7th May 2009, wrote:

P.S. It is now almost 3 months since I filled in the DLA forms for Anna, together with our Mental health Advocate who is assisting me in getting our GP to listen and take notice and pursue justice for our daughter Anna,who up until 2weeks ago was largely patronised and ignored.(another subject perhaps?!)I could go on.. and receive some kind of much needed financial support for daily living expenses..rather than the standard; " I;m afraid you are on a long waiting list (2 years!) of Mental health patients to be treated.

My thanks,also,to Ericka and Den P for their kind comments above. They are appreciated.

william ware, at 2:47pm 11th May 2009, wrote:

i have just been hit for £35.00 for being overdrawn by 65p now that takes the biscuit.

william ware, at 2:52pm 11th May 2009, wrote:

i agree completely with ericka the harder we work the poorer we get.might as well bang are

heads of brick walls, these big companies will always make large profits at are cost, they charge well over the top.

ericka kemp, at 5:08pm 17th May 2009, wrote:

Hey this should make you all laugh!

I just got in to a letter giving me 3 weeks to reduce my overdraft by £450!!!

If i had the money do they not think i would have done that any way. They also state that if i have not done this by the end of the month then i will be liable to overdraft charges as i will be over my limit. They will keep charging me every week untill i have managed to pay this money back. Is this just me or does this approach seem insane to you too?

Vaishali, at 7:27am 19th May 2009, wrote:

this is really how banks make money.. they scrounge off us lot!!!.. its really hard for students and they just cannot understand that!

Mr. Philip G. Coggin, at 11:23am 19th May 2009, wrote:

When ever a bank or company takes money from you which you believe to be excessive, then always ring them, write to them or visit, preferably if possible visit them.

Most charges are discretionary and therefore reclaimable on demand.

Banks as has been said before do take money without giving it a second thought, then usually blame it on their software or computer, software can be written to take account of other cercumstances so this is clearly not a reasonable excuse.

The main message here is: If you do not challenge them about excessive charges then they get away with it.

DON'T LET THEM!

nathan, at 3:13pm 24th May 2009, wrote:

go to moneysavingexpert.com

steven greest, at 6:58pm 24th May 2009, wrote:

in sick of my bank taking money from my account as im only overdrawn a couple of pounds, if this carries on the people will just get more and more in dept

steven greest, at 6:58pm 24th May 2009, wrote:

im sick of my bank taking money from my account as im only overdrawn a couple of pounds, if this carries on the people will just get more and more in dept

Mary Chennell, at 7:09pm 27th May 2009, wrote:

I have a joint HSBC bank account with my son, a drug addict on disability benefit. All that this account is used for is to pay his rent. His pitiful housing allowance - less than half his rent - is paid into this acount directly. This was my pathetic attempt to prevent him from using his rent money for drugs. Despite me arranging with the bank that this should be registered as an account with no overdraft facility, on two occasions some twit at the telephone banking service in India has decided to allow him to withdraw so much money from it that it goes hundreds of pounds into overdraft. Then they take the money out of his rent and make me pay the charges. Having complained vociferously, I eventually got a letter apologising but advising me that they could not say it would not happen again. And I still had to pay their charges, even though it was their incompetence.

In that case, what is the pont of a Zero Balance (one which cannot become overdrawn) account? HSBC does not know it's arm from its elbow, to put it politely.

Mrs Mary Valentine, at 12:41am 28th May 2009, wrote:

I was once in the position of being overdrawn after an accident and being unable to work and incuuring bank charges that I could not afford to pay.

I contacted the bank and they came to my home and after some discussion about my financial position and health. They agreed to stop charging me interest on my overdraft until I was fit enough to return to work We agreed a figure which I was able to afford to pay and this sorted out the situation for me. It took me a long time to get myself straight again. It is always worth talking to your creditors when you get a problem earlier rather than later.

I am now with HSBC and I have been paying £25 per month for the premium account. I wrote to them and told them that at the moment I was unable to afford this charge and would like to discontinue the service. I also told them that I was very pleased with the excellent service I had received whilst being a premier account customer.

A couple of days later I received a phone call from them advising me that I could continue using this service free of charge, and they refunded the current months fee as well.

So you see that it is the person whom you are dealing with that responds to your problems, and the banks are not as bad as people like to paint them, because they are staffed by human beings who also have problems of their own.

Chrissie, at 4:50pm 17th Jun 2009, wrote:

Usually and in some "rare" occassions when the banks shine a shaft of light I would agree with you,Mary but only in theory,Mary Valentine..(above) but HSBC have in my own personal experience been totally- totally cold hearted,useless unprofessional and not at all understanding and competent as you describe.

We are still paying back a debt we acrued 5 years ago since my husand was made not only redundant but severely disabled ands unable to work. When we visited them in person to explain our circumstances and ask for help well in advance of getting into even more debt; They couldn't have been more awkward or unpleasant. It just goes to show how erratic and "pot luck" of the draw banks like the HSBC are.

All banks are the same-Mary; they are only after your money and profit.

martyn kemp, at 6:57pm 19th Jun 2009, wrote:

I totaly agree with the above. Many years ago my Husband now, my Fiancee at the time was made redundant and we were in a hell of a financial mess. They were the most unhelpfull bank I have ever been unfortunate to bank with. Lets just say they were so bad I closed my accounts at the time and banked with Barclays instead. I even moved my mortguage from them when I could. Given the choice I would avoid with a dirty stick.

Bryony, at 1:42pm 23rd Jun 2009, wrote:

I am 18, and I have had awful trouble with banking, particularly with Abbey/Santander. I am not earning, and I am new to banking. The first time I got overdrawn was my fault, really. My driving instructor cashed in 2 cheques at once, which I wasn't expecting, and I was a couple of pounds overdrawn. Abbery charged me 25 pounds for this. At this point I wasn't aware that I could claim it back so I did nothing. The second time I was overdrawn was purely because I couldn't get enough money into the bank by the time the first charge was taken, so their charge, made me overdrawn once again, and another 25 pounds was taken. My father had this issue with my brother recently, and wrote a letter and managed to get the charges back. This was with Lloyds. The same did not happen with Abbey. When we went in to talk, we were refused to talk to anybody higher up, and the man that dealt with us would not acknowledge this injustice. How do they justify a 25 pound charge for being one or two pounds overdrawn? The employee's excuse was that I was given 14 days notice. Well in that 14 days I was desperately trying to get funds into the bank for the charge, and didn't quite make it. We were treated rudely, and bluntly, and for this I am leaving Abbey and never going back. They have given me nothing but difficulties from day one, when they didn't send my card to me, and their telephone helplines took me to a completely un-related company. DO NOT BANK WITH ABBEY NATIONAL!!!

michelle, at 1:47pm 24th Jun 2009, wrote:

I hate banks and wish we didnt need them. I was caught out a few months ago. I paid my pay into my bank at about 1.30pm and a payment went out a little later. According to my statement my pay didnt go in until 5.30 so they charged me £30!! A similar thing happended to my husband too. They sneaky

The Jaybo, at 12:00pm 25th Jun 2009, wrote:

I 100% agree with this statement. I have a couple of bank accounts and have to say Halifax is the worste. I had a small accoutn with halifax and did not have an overdraft set up. so 1 day i go to lift out the max money i could to empty the account. It just so happens i asked for 13p more than i had, (which by the way they are not aloud to give unless i have an overdraft). So i didnt use this bank for a couple of months due to using my other accounts. Last week i got a letter in saying i have outstanding charges for an unarranged overdraft £37 it told me, and another £37 next month. I was furious £74 pounds for 13p they should never have given me. I phoned my bank and explained i was not preparewd to pay that, due to their mistake. I asked what are the options i have and they told me pay or the charges will come in once a month, i asked and if I dont? I was then told whatever money i put in they will take. So i told them ok I will never put in any more money and if you want i will see you in court. Yesterday i got a letter saying, " Dear Sir, we have reviewed your situation and have came to a conclusion it was the banks error."

Typical Ehhhh! The damn bank were going to let me pay £74 without even another word on it.

I HAVE TO SAY PEOPLE IF YOU QUESTION EVERYTHING YOU THINK IS WRONG BECAUSE IT IS LIKELY SOMETHING YOUR BANK IS DOING WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!

THANKS FOR READING

micheal, at 10:03am 26th Jun 2009, wrote:

we will always lose out! The people who dont want to work are laughing, the rich just get a little poorer but the ones who work hard for little gain are the ones who lose the most and feel the worst pain! By the time you take on these big guns they ware you down so much by their incompetence it just gets too hard to persue.

Marianne Anderson, at 11:03am 17th Jul 2009, wrote:

I know exactally what your talking about!!! I went to uni at 17 and with all the overdrafts and loans the banks practiaclly threw at me, pretty much advertising it as free money I ended up in debt up to my eyeballs. What's even more shocking is that I paid back OVER double what I had borrowed because of their stupid bank charges I was incurring each week, it took me until I was 22 to pay it all off.

amanda, at 11:22am 17th Jul 2009, wrote:

thats just what was happening to my daughter,so i made her close her bank account and she opened one up with Lloyds and they do a student thing where u dont get a charge,which i feel is good if you are studying and dont earn much.

lisa, at 11:47am 17th Jul 2009, wrote:

im with lloyds and they are very good.they keep it straight forward with no complications my partner is with abbeynational and they are terrible they always mess up with the direct debits so that we end up inccuring more charges because they havent taken out the money when they should have done so im in the process of trying to get him to swap to lloyds too.

lisa, at 11:48am 17th Jul 2009, wrote:

im with lloyds and they are very good.they keep it straight forward with no complications my partner is with abbeynational and they are terrible they always mess up with the direct debits so that we end up inccuring more charges because they havent taken out the money when they should have done so im in the process of trying to get him to swap to lloyds too.

daniel grice, at 11:05am 10th Aug 2009, wrote:

i no it is not fair . i get charged aswell but i found out dependin on whitch bank you are at the charges varys nationwide are good ... u can set a limit on ur own personal overdraft n u can not go over that at all unless u reset the overdraft limit higher

Jane Cook, at 7:45pm 12th Aug 2009, wrote:

I do not have an overdraft because I do not want any more charges. I am trying to be so careful because I have a disability and survive on benefits.I check my bank account online most of the time and was confused why a direct debit went out and was put back in again. I had no other payments at this time. I could not get through to my bank to find a reason. I was left on hold for twenty minuets each time. (I am with Barclays bank) I found an amount of £47.97 for " prime member fee" on my statement and because I had no idea what this was for I waited at least 30 minuets on line to speak to my bank who then transferred me to the fraud line. They could not see who had taken my money and suggested I check everything possible while they did the same. My debit card was cancelled. At a last attempt I put in the details on "moneysaving expert.com" and found it was from Amazon prime. I purchased one book about three months ago and ticked a box for free next day delivery. By ticking this box they charged me the large fee which was not made clear. Because this money was taken from my account without my knowledge and I informed Barclays about it I thought there would be no charges. I was wrong I received a letter two day's later stating charges will be deducted from my account. These banks and companies are stealing our money and getting away with it, and award themselves large bonuses for the privilege.

Cheryl Pirie-Warsop, at 11:05am 13th Aug 2009, wrote:

just paid out £60 worth of charges for going overdrawn by 2 quid as payapl took a direct debit out earlier than they siad they would, sick of bank charges

hayley, at 9:13pm 19th Aug 2009, wrote:

i always get bank charges from lloyds bank because they dont take the direct debits when they should and the money aint there no more its a joke they are always doing it im sick of it. especially when u are on benefits with a child you aint got 40 pound to be paying charges.

clare, at 9:02am 27th Aug 2009, wrote:

i am sick to death of bank charges aand decided to try one of those places that claims to get your money back.wot a load ov old rubbish.the amount of paperwork they require is ridiculous and there is no guarantee.following a phone call to my bank to ask them about it, they gave me a whole load of jargon about the high court ruling and basically said i was wasting my time

[unsubscribed], at 11:25am 3rd Sep 2009, wrote:

i dont care

James Biddle, at 3:03pm 3rd Sep 2009, wrote:

In full agreement with your comments

adam stansbie, at 11:13am 13th Sep 2009, wrote:

i went overdrawn by 2p and thay tuck 50pound off me for them paying that 2p it is stupid and not fair. i have bills to pay like everyone.

adam sewell, at 11:58am 20th Sep 2009, wrote:

I hate being charged an arm and a leg when you go overdrawn. The thing that hurts my bank account the most is the charges that ATM machices hit you with. £1.90 some of them in my area, this adds up and hits you at the end of the month, HARD.

louise cassidy, at 10:56am 23rd Sep 2009, wrote:

after all the trouble the bamks have caused over the past few years i fail to see where they can justify any service chatge at all.

Bethany Evans, at 2:01pm 24th Sep 2009, wrote:

I agree with you that Bank charges are ridiculous ( as with most people have recieved bank charges that were not fair and in some cases the bank themselves could not explain them )

I was at University when I was aware of the large amount of bank charges being placed on student accounts (due to going overdrawn etc..) for these students however I felt no sympathy, the students that were getting the bank charges were the ones that were going out, every night and spending all there money on booze. Those people deserved bank charges as they needed something to put there spending into perspective.

It is unfortunate that the banks however have no way of seeing if the people that have these bank charges are genuine people that are in difficult through no fault of there own e.g illness etc. or they are just careless people that don't really care ! !

Chrissie, at 5:54pm 25th Sep 2009, wrote:

It just goes to show the number of replies here that the amount of fees unjustly charged and taken beggs belief! If an ordinary person tried to do this they would be thrown in jail. Makes me mad.

Colin Mackenzie, at 1:14am 26th Sep 2009, wrote:

i was overdrawn by 42p for a week and now lloyds are taking £60 out of mu account, i called them up and they say that i cannot challenge it.

Mark Thomas, at 5:14pm 27th Sep 2009, wrote:

its outragious i was overdrawn 5p for just 1 week and a half and HSBC are charging me £50 i went down and talked to them but they just said there is nothing we can do!

carl, at 7:25pm 27th Sep 2009, wrote:

i failed to have funds in my bank for 2 weeks and was charged £35 pounds four times in that time for one directbebit that i missed.when i went to the bank they said i should have cancelled my db.also i should have specified that if a db fails once then not to retry it.i think its distgusting how they can treat people like this.

Alias, at 4:29pm 28th Sep 2009, wrote:

I hate being charged an arm and a leg when you go overdrawn. The thing that hurts my bank account the most is the charges that ATM machices hit you with. £2.90 some of them in my area, this adds up and hits you at the end of the month, HARD.

Runninggoose, at 11:04am 8th Oct 2009, wrote:

just came this and chrissie some people if they check can claim income related benefits as a student. Incapacity may be able to be claimed you should ask Jobcentre Plus. not sure if the link is allowed but the directgov might help too. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_10034876

laura davies, at 6:26pm 8th Oct 2009, wrote:

annoyin!!! disgusting overdraft prices!!