Miss Hannibal, from Colchester, Essex, opened a basic current account with the bank when she was 15 but in 2008 it was upgraded to a 'silver' account.The Real Effect
For an £8 monthly payment, the new account offered a range of benefits to the customer, such as travel insurance, mobile phone insurance and breakdown cover.
But Miss Hannibal said that after the monthly charge for the service was taken out, she was left with an unauthorised overdraft of 8p and ordered to pay a penalty of £170.
Struggling to pay her bills and the rent, Miss Hannibal offered to pay the bank charge at a rate of £30 a month.
However, she said that before the debt was paid, even more charges were added and she and her partner have now shelled out £1000 in instalments and lump sums since 2008.
The couple, who had a baby daughter Ashlyn two weeks ago, still owe £700 and the young mum said she is still being charged £10 a day for the overdrawn account, which she has not used since 2008. (Emphasis mine)
Let's recap shall we, Miss Hannibal opens an account with the bank, the bank "upgrades" her account without her permission, then seizes her hard earned money causing her to overdraw 8p ($.13). Then, as part of the banks service to her, they "fine" her £170 ($270).
She offers to settle with them by paying £30 a month until the alleged "debt" is paid off and in fact, starts paying. After paying the bank £1000, she still "owes" the institution £700. Why? Because the bank says so, that's why.
Having been the recipient of these types of charges before, I can completely relate. Once you are under the "fee" regime, it is an unending slew of charges, interest fees and insane payment schedules which never relent. After all, according to the bank, you "owe" them for their "service" to you. Never mind the fact that you didn't agree to it. Their "records" demonstrate that you owe it and to many judges, that's more than enough to convict you and destroy your "credit rating".
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