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jamesieboy
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Bank of Scotland's new overdraft chargesBank of Scotland have just given some devastating news to their customers who have an overdraft.
From 6th December they will 'be introducing new, simple and easy-to-manage overdraft fees'.
If you have an arranged overdraft of up to £2500 they will charge you £1
A DAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you have an arranged overdraft over £2500 they will charge you £2 a day.
Oh, and if you have an unarranged overdraft they will charge you a hefty
FIVER A DAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is one of the main banks that we, the taxpayer, had to bail out to the tune of tens of billions because they got themselves into a terrible mess
by lending out money willy-nilly to every Tom, Dick and Harry, and now they are penalising their loyal customers for doing someting which they greatly encouraged only months ago.
Has there ever been a bigger cheek in corporate history?
I feel a campaign coming on.
Has there ever been a greater [/u]
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Alasdair
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It's simple and esy to understand. Should save people whinging about 'not understanding' bank charges.
I mean, you wouldn't expect to get any other product for free. Why should we expect to get an overdraft for free?
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landg
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seems simple enough to me, you go over and take money that is not yours you get charged a small set fee per day.
i occasionly go over my £250 just before pay day, to know i'm getting charged £1 per day over is a great relief.
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jamesieboy
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For years the banks and the govt encouraged people, and especially young (perhaps naive) customers to get into debt.
It was consumerism on the never-never. You can get anything you want and you don't need to worry too much about the consequences of massive debt.
Now the B o S are turning on their customers in a nasty way. I have spoken to a number of people, my son included, and there is an air of panic about finding funds to pay off their overdrafts before 6th December, or it's going to be a endless vicious spiral of debt.
Now I know previous posters on this thread have made sensible, common sense comments relating to their own positions but there are millions out there who are not so well-informed or experienced in life, especially in matters financial.
And those are the ones I feel sorry for.
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Alasdair
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| jamesieboy wrote: | For years the banks and the govt encouraged people, and especially young (perhaps naive) customers to get into debt.
...
... there are millions out there who are not so well-informed or experienced in life, especially in matters financial.
And those are the ones I feel sorry for. |
I suppose these are the two key points.
Some people can manage their money, some people can't, some people get into a situation where getting out of debt is virtually impossible, and some people simply can't afford (ironically) not to get into debt in the first instance.
It would probably be reasonable therefore to only apply the new charges system to 'new debt', rather than changing the rules mid-stream. Of course, it would also depend greatly on individual circumstance.
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landg
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| jamesieboy wrote: | For years the banks and the govt encouraged people, and especially young (perhaps naive) customers to get into debt.
It was consumerism on the never-never. You can get anything you want and you don't need to worry too much about the consequences of massive debt.
Now the B o S are turning on their customers in a nasty way. I have spoken to a number of people, my son included, and there is an air of panic about finding funds to pay off their overdrafts before 6th December, or it's going to be a endless vicious spiral of debt.
Now I know previous posters on this thread have made sensible, common sense comments relating to their own positions but there are millions out there who are not so well-informed or experienced in life, especially in matters financial.
And those are the ones I feel sorry for. |
so the banks should stop charging people because there are numpties who cannae manage money. thats the numpties fault, not the bank.
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Stevie
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My gut instinct when I heard the word bankers was to growl, 'total complete b******s.
But having listened to some of the argument, I find myself somewhat swayed and more charitable of mind... no not really, they're just a bunch of b******s.
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Shagpile
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Re: Bank of Scotland's new overdraft charges | jamesieboy wrote: | Bank of Scotland have just given some devastating news to their customers who have an overdraft.
From 6th December they will 'be introducing new, simple and easy-to-manage overdraft fees'.
If you have an arranged overdraft of up to £2500 they will charge you £1
A DAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you have an arranged overdraft over £2500 they will charge you £2 a day.
Oh, and if you have an unarranged overdraft they will charge you a hefty
FIVER A DAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is one of the main banks that we, the taxpayer, had to bail out to the tune of tens of billions because they got themselves into a terrible mess
by lending out money willy-nilly to every Tom, Dick and Harry, and now they are penalising their loyal customers for doing someting which they greatly encouraged only months ago.
Has there ever been a bigger cheek in corporate history?
I feel a campaign coming on. |
Will they still be charging GBP35.00 to tell you though?
That's the only charge I have issue with. 35.00GBP is more than someone on minimum wage earns net in a day. And for an automated process?
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Fidget
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| Alasdair wrote: | It's simple and esy to understand. Should save people whinging about 'not understanding' bank charges.
I mean, you wouldn't expect to get any other product for free. Why should we expect to get an overdraft for free? |
The point you're missing here is that they are doing this to recoup the money they are losing over getting their knuckles rapped over charging excessive fees. So effectively, they are recouping money they should never have been making in the first place.
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Alasdair
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| Fidget wrote: | | Alasdair wrote: | It's simple and esy to understand. Should save people whinging about 'not understanding' bank charges.
I mean, you wouldn't expect to get any other product for free. Why should we expect to get an overdraft for free? |
The point you're missing here is that they are doing this to recoup the money they are losing over getting their knuckles rapped over charging excessive fees. So effectively, they are recouping money they should never have been making in the first place. |
Except I do understand.
I don't have a problem with the ideas of fees/penalties being imposed for exceeding agreed overdraft levels and waht's more I've even been caught out once of twice myself.
The banks are businesses, their not there to just hand out cash.
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magister ludi
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| Alasdair wrote: |
It would probably be reasonable therefore to only apply the new charges system to 'new debt', rather than changing the rules mid-stream. Of course, it would also depend greatly on individual circumstance. |
except is was the "old" debt and those that took it out that caused the problem......it's the "new" debt that's keeping things afloat
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Fidget
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| Alasdair wrote: | | Fidget wrote: | | Alasdair wrote: | It's simple and esy to understand. Should save people whinging about 'not understanding' bank charges.
I mean, you wouldn't expect to get any other product for free. Why should we expect to get an overdraft for free? |
The point you're missing here is that they are doing this to recoup the money they are losing over getting their knuckles rapped over charging excessive fees. So effectively, they are recouping money they should never have been making in the first place. |
Except I do understand.
I don't have a problem with the ideas of fees/penalties being imposed for exceeding agreed overdraft levels and waht's more I've even been caught out once of twice myself.
The banks are businesses, their not there to just hand out cash. |
Clearly you don't understand. Is it reasonable, in your opinion, to charge somebody £1 per day for every day that they are 1p overdrawn? That is what we are talking about here. Legal loan sharks.
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landg
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| Fidget wrote: | | Alasdair wrote: | | Fidget wrote: | | Alasdair wrote: | It's simple and esy to understand. Should save people whinging about 'not understanding' bank charges.
I mean, you wouldn't expect to get any other product for free. Why should we expect to get an overdraft for free? |
The point you're missing here is that they are doing this to recoup the money they are losing over getting their knuckles rapped over charging excessive fees. So effectively, they are recouping money they should never have been making in the first place. |
Except I do understand.
I don't have a problem with the ideas of fees/penalties being imposed for exceeding agreed overdraft levels and waht's more I've even been caught out once of twice myself.
The banks are businesses, their not there to just hand out cash. |
Clearly you don't understand. Is it reasonable, in your opinion, to charge somebody £1 per day for every day that they are 1p overdrawn? That is what we are talking about here. Legal loan sharks. |
aye, it's not a f***ing charity, it's a business. you don't like it go somewhere else or learn how to manage your cash.
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jamesieboy
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What we now need is a national bank where the profits raised go back into the good causes that are the national interests and do not go into the pockets of the greedy shareholders.
National Bank of Scotland anybody?
It happens in other countries, why not here? Many people would start accounts in it, for sure.
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Alasdair
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| Fidget wrote: | | Clearly you don't understand. Is it reasonable, in your opinion, to charge somebody £1 per day for every day that they are 1p overdrawn? That is what we are talking about here. Legal loan sharks. |
Without turning this in a panto, "OH YES I DO!", 
I think I merely come at this from a different angle to you. Banks are businesses, banks provide a service, services have to be paid for. OK, I can accept that perhaps there should be a limit on how far into your overdraft you have to go before the charge kicks in, purely from a customer service point of view.
Where would you put the arbitrary line though, £1, £100, £1,000? Maybe they should charge £1 for every pound your overdrawn everyday? This isn't really the point though.
Businesses charge for their services, banks clearly state what their charges are. I don't see a problem with that, I might suggest that the real problem lies elsewhere, namely in situation where people either feel the need to overspend, or more worryingly, where people HAVE TO overspend in order to have the necessities of life, i.e. food, shelter and warmth.
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Alasdair
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| jamesieboy wrote: | What we now need is a national bank where the profits raised go back into the good causes that are the national interests and do not go into the pockets of the greedy shareholders.
National Bank of Scotland anybody?
It happens in other countries, why not here? Many people would start accounts in it, for sure. |
Was it during the 2007 election that the SSP wanted to nationalise RBS? I scoffed at that at the time. A national bank though does seem at least a little attractive, perhaps though people need to make better use of credit unions.
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Fidget
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| Alasdair wrote: | | Fidget wrote: | | Clearly you don't understand. Is it reasonable, in your opinion, to charge somebody £1 per day for every day that they are 1p overdrawn? That is what we are talking about here. Legal loan sharks. |
Without turning this in a panto, "OH YES I DO!",
I think I merely come at this from a different angle to you. Banks are businesses, banks provide a service, services have to be paid for. OK, I can accept that perhaps there should be a limit on how far into your overdraft you have to go before the charge kicks in, purely from a customer service point of view.
Where would you put the arbitrary line though, £1, £100, £1,000? Maybe they should charge £1 for every pound your overdrawn everyday? This isn't really the point though.
Businesses charge for their services, banks clearly state what their charges are. I don't see a problem with that, I might suggest that the real problem lies elsewhere, namely in situation where people either feel the need to overspend, or more worryingly, where people HAVE TO overspend in order to have the necessities of life, i.e. food, shelter and warmth. |
Banks aren't just any other business. They are an intrinsic part of everyday life for everybody - a bank account is an essential for the vast majority of people whether that be for their salary to be paid into or even their benefits to be paid into. People are forced to have an account with a bank. It is for that reason that the Gov could not allow the banks to collapse because the consumer is at the bottom of the pecking order for getting their money back if a business goes bust. It is also for that reason that the Gov now effectively insures joe public's bank deposits up to something like £100k now I think. I can't think of any other business that the Gov does that for.
And it's not just a case of if you don't like it then go elsewhere.. to where? Banks all follow suit. Where one does it, the rest will follow. Wasn't that long ago Barclay's announced it wanted to start charging £2.50 to withdraw money from ATM's, and the rest were on it in a flash. Fortunately that never came to anything in the end although I'd put money on it that that will surface again at some point.
It wouldn't be so bad if this was a going forward thing with these charges applied to all new overdraft arrangements, but it's not, it's across the board. So that somewhat negates your point of banks stating their charges since people who til now had free overdraft facilities are about to find themselves with a very expensive overdraft facility in the twinkle of an eye.
And the people it is going to affect most are the people who can least afford it. It's not just a case of people saying oh well I just won't use the overdraft... plenty are trapped in the cycle of being overdrawn month in, month out just making ends meet.
I would agree that if a bank says "this is the charge for the service" and it remains at that as an agreement, then fine, everybody knows where they stand. But it doesn't work like that with banks as we are seeing here. Banks seem to be able to apply charges on a whim to exisiting account holders, and that is wrong.
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Stevie
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| jamesieboy wrote: | What we now need is a national bank where the profits raised go back into the good causes that are the national interests and do not go into the pockets of the greedy shareholders.
National Bank of Scotland anybody? |
A fine idea Jamesie.
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Fidget
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Now, something like that I would subscribe to as well.
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Stevie
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It goes along in some ways with my idea :
I believe that the Scottish government should fund good quality, comfortable, attractive council housing.
This council housing would then be rented and available to buy at cost price plus a very low interest rate from a Scottish National Bank.
The money that is paid back is then put into building another good quality, comfortable, attractive council house.
And when I say good quality, I don't mean the ugly thin walled brown c**p thar passes for decent council housing.
This would provide new jobs and force builders to achieve higher building standards and lower prices.
I just found this picture of the awful Scottish housing concept on the Scots Independent Newspaper site. It seems other people have had the same idea. Good, maybe one day it'll get done.
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landg
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| Stevie wrote: | It goes along in some ways with my idea :
I believe that the Scottish government should fund good quality, comfortable, attractive council housing.
This council housing would then be rented and available to buy at cost price plus a very low interest rate from a Scottish National Bank.
The money that is paid back is then put into building another good quality, comfortable, attractive council house.
And when I say good quality, I don't mean the ugly thin walled brown c**p thar passes for decent council housing.
This would provide new jobs and force builders to achieve higher building standards and lower prices.
I just found this picture of the awful Scottish housing concept on the Scots Independent Newspaper site. It seems other people have had the same idea. Good, maybe one day it'll get done. |
it's what you put in the council house that is the problem. then you build/refurbish council properties and you then put the same thing back in.
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Fidget
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| landg wrote: |
it's what you put in the council house that is the problem. |
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magister ludi
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| Fidget wrote: | | landg wrote: |
it's what you put in the council house that is the problem. |
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No it's not funny.......that's the most depressingly bigoted comment I've heard in a very long time.
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Holebender
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... you need only look at who made the comment, and who found it funny...
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Fidget
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| magister ludi wrote: | | Fidget wrote: | | landg wrote: |
it's what you put in the council house that is the problem. |
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No it's not funny.......that's the most depressingly bigoted comment I've heard in a very long time. |
It was still funny.
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azzuri
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I never use my overdraft facility with HBOS, and I sure as hell won't be doing so now. But I sure have a savings account, and it's since been cleared out after they sent me notice of these charges. Notice of these charges gave me the motivation I needed to change accounts from the rotting corpse that is HBOS.
As an ex-employee and knowing exactly how they used to 'push' products on customers (loans, mortgages, credit cards), and how each employee had 'sales' targets, I can't possibly see how the bank can be saved in its current form.
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Stevie
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I'm starting the council house government mortgage bill thread out of this thread since it's distracting the thread from it's reason to be.
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landg
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| magister ludi wrote: | | Fidget wrote: | | landg wrote: |
it's what you put in the council house that is the problem. |
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No it's not funny.......that's the most depressingly bigoted comment I've heard in a very long time. |
i'm sorry the humour is not to your tatse, but, it is NOT bigotted to quite rightly point out that much of the problems with local authority housing and the associated schemes are caused by the inhabitatnts.
i spend my days going in and out of people's council houses, many take pride in their home and surrounding, many do not. they are the problem.
bigotted? again words with big meanings being thrown around on a whim with no thought behind the meaning of the word.
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Aventinian
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| magister ludi wrote: | | No it's not funny.......that's the most depressingly bigoted comment I've heard in a very long time. |
However large a generalisation, he has a point: most of the depressed communities in Scotland are not ruined by the quality of their housing, but by the people who live within them. The vast majority certainly aren't bad - it only takes a few bad eggs to ruin such areas - but they're certainly passive in many cases.
Try for example organising a community project in a middle class area, and then try doing the same in a deprived community. I know exactly where you'll find the most co-operation.
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azzuri
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| Aventinian wrote: |
Try for example organising a community project in a middle class area, and then try doing the same in a deprived community. I know exactly where you'll find the most co-operation. |
This may simply be because the middle classes tend to have a lot more invested in an area (i.e. home ownership). The link between home ownership and success of community projects/campaigns in urban areas has been proven over and over again.
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Aventinian
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| azzuri wrote: | | This may simply be because the middle classes tend to have a lot more invested in an area (i.e. home ownership). The link between home ownership and success of community projects/campaigns in urban areas has been proven over and over again. |
Perhaps so, and I think that's something inherent in the nature of ownership itself rather than any reflection on, say, how long people are remaining in the area for.
Which is a shame really... perhaps people should, you know, have some sort of ability, maybe even a right, to procure... buy, even... their council houses. I seem to have a faint recollection of that once happening in Scotland...
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Ultra
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| Aventinian wrote: | | azzuri wrote: | | This may simply be because the middle classes tend to have a lot more invested in an area (i.e. home ownership). The link between home ownership and success of community projects/campaigns in urban areas has been proven over and over again. |
Perhaps so, and I think that's something inherent in the nature of ownership itself rather than any reflection on, say, how long people are remaining in the area for.
Which is a shame really... perhaps people should, you know, have some sort of ability, maybe even a right, to procure... buy, even... their council houses. I seem to have a faint recollection of that once happening in Scotland... |
Did you know that most people aren't allowed to buy new build housing association houses these days and have not been able to for years?
The councils only really have poor housing stock left anyways. The decent houses would have been bought it along time ago.
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Aventinian
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| Ultra wrote: | Did you know that most people aren't allowed to buy new build housing association houses these days and have not been able to for years?
The councils only really have poor housing stock left anyways. The decent houses would have been bought it along time ago. |
I was faintly aware that the situation was rather more complicated than I was making out, but on the minutiae of housing policy generally I must claim relatively ignorance.
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mairead
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Aventinian,
LoL here's a first for you. For once I am in complete agreement with you regarding the bad eggs who ruin areas, but I have no idea how this can be controlled or dealt with.
I remember when the big Drumchapel housing scheme was built. people would have killed to get a house there and get away from the old tenements. It was not long though before the bad elements moved in and ruined it for many.
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