Bank of Ireland Charges, Advice needed!

Betsy18

Hi Guys,

Just wanted some advice on a situation my friend is in. She is a single mother with no savings and gets her single mothers allowance each week which is then paid out to BOI because of charges.

She got a call from a BOI rep last week saying that she owes them €380! my friend was completely shocked by this and wanted to know what she owed them for. She has no overdraft and did not understand it. It seems that even thought she does not have an overdraft the bank have let her withdraw money which was not in her account in the first place. they have taken her childrens allowance that last 3 months to pay back money that she owes to them. this time round the €380 is actually that she did withdraw up to €180 more than what she had in her account and the remaining amount is charges that she has incurred from the bank for overpayments!??
The bank representative could not explain why they let her take money out when it was not in her account and even told her that she does not have an overdraft facility and was completely rude, threatening and disrespectful on the phone to my friend. she told her that she needs to pay all the €380 back this week or they will take her to court!!

My friend is in an awful way about this and cannot understand why she was let withdraw funds when the funds were not in her account. she showed me a recent bank statement which shows the bank taking out €10 each day for overcharges. she went to get her last childrens allowance out to pay for school items for her child only to discover that the bank had taken all of it out so she was left with nothing!

My main query is can the bank do this? how can they let her take money out when she did not agree to an overdraft facility? Can she reclaim fees from the bank?

I'd appreciate any advice on this. it had really annoyed me because my friend is trying very hard to make ends meet and cannot afford these charges was really upset over the call she received from the back last week! how dare they treat an innocent person like this when they let developers all over the country owe them billions!:mad:

thanks!

jor el

If you're in good standing with your bank, most of them will allow you to overdraw, even if you haven't got an overdraft. Why exactly they allow this, I'm not sure, but they do charge €12 for each time you go over, plus the overdraft interest too. It's happened to me in the past when a direct debit was presented and I didn't have the cash there.

If that's why it happened, then she can probably get the bank to stop doing that. They may refund the fees since she never requested this in the first place. Any overdrawn money that she withdrew would have to be repaid.

She should realise that it is also up to her to know what money she has, to check her balance, and to make sure she doesn't try to take out money she doesn't have. It strikes me a little as though she didn't care to check where this money was coming from, as it seemed like free money at the time, but now she sees the price.

Betsy18

Thanks for that, she had no problem paying back the money she took out and realises now that she needs to keep a check on her account. its the charges really that is crippling her, i really dont think they should be allowed take so much in charges off her in a week. they have take up to €80 or more off her in a week just in charges!! do you think she could reclaim these back off the bank?

jor el

I don't know if she can reclaim anything that has currently been paid. It may be possible to get them to waive any outstanding charges that are due to the bank allowing her to overdraw without an overdraft. Interest on the amount overdrawn will probably have to be paid too.

She should try to contact someone at a high level in the bank, and not just the first person that answers the phone. Maybe make an appointment to see the manager, or the loans officer. At the very least she should be looking for a payment plan to pay what's owed, in smaller and more affordable amounts, over a several week/month period.

It may be worth contacting the financial regulator to see what's the story with the bank overdrawing her account without an overdraft being arranged. It may be something that the regulator has ruled on, and maybe the bank are completely at fault for allowing this. As such, they may have to waive all fees.

Jet Black

With bank of Ireland you can put a 500euro overdraft on your account from the atm if you dont have the enough money in your account. Maybe this is why there is an overdraft although im not sure why they are so demanding if this is the case.

Get you friend to have a look at the statements to see what she withdrew and what the charges are. Then set up a meeting with the bank to see what can be arranged.

murraytallaght

ok i can answer your question fully right now,i had the same kinda problam,bout 5 years ago i lost my job just before i did i filled out a siptu form to join the union,i get let go 1 month later im registered with siptu without knowing thinking i couldnt be in a union with no job,a year passes maybe 6 months not sure i get a staement im down about 100 euro i calculate it up turns out i was overdrawn every week the direct debit was taking out then boi took the money back in 1 lump sum,anyway i ring siptu they say its my responsibility to moniter my account etc etc ,i ring boi im told the same,but recently well about a year ago im sent out out a lazer card by boi without even requesting one,k that aint important,but i cleaned out my labour money one week playing poker online,got annoyed and just kept taking 10 euro off the card loosing it taking another 10 off lossing till finally i had no money left,i get a statement from the bank and a letter saying my account is minus 250 euro even though ive no overdraft and im being deducted charges for everytime i overdrew they charged me about 10 euro every time i overdrew so wen i was taking 10 euro off the card 4 poker i was really getting 20 euro off the card half was overdrawn fees plus i got charged interest on the money overdrawn,my credit union payments were misssed(standing order for 3 weeks before it was cancelled by the bank)so my account was minus nearly 600 hundred euro after all the interest fees aand charges even though i only overdrew about 250 euro,it took me weeks to clear it and get back to the way i was coz boi took everything back in one lump sum,so basically what im tryna say is if you owe the bank money and they havnt broke any RULES OR LAWS well then forget about getteing money back from them coz its gone,an if you ring them and explain your reason genuine or not it dont matter your money is the banks now if you dont like how the bank charge you fees leave the bank but probably aint no point coz there all the same,an as for the 350 euro the bank made off me in charges and fees i aint stressing about it coz its my own fault im in charge of my account nobody else,i hadnt got an overdraft the bank jus allowed me to take extra money maybe coz they were been helpfull who knows,but i have to giv them credit they cancelled my lazer card without me knowing after i used it wrecklessly coz they could hav jus kept charging me if they wanted,so what im tryna say is banks dont rip small customers like us off but its very important to moniter your account set up a 365 account online you can check your balance from your own house on a computer hope what i said helps

stepbar

Betsy18 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Just wanted some advice on a situation my friend is in. She is a single mother with no savings and gets her single mothers allowance each week which is then paid out to BOI because of charges.

She got a call from a BOI rep last week saying that she owes them €380! my friend was completely shocked by this and wanted to know what she owed them for. She has no overdraft and did not understand it. It seems that even thought she does not have an overdraft the bank have let her withdraw money which was not in her account in the first place. they have taken her childrens allowance that last 3 months to pay back money that she owes to them. this time round the €380 is actually that she did withdraw up to €180 more than what she had in her account and the remaining amount is charges that she has incurred from the bank for overpayments!??
The bank representative could not explain why they let her take money out when it was not in her account and even told her that she does not have an overdraft facility and was completely rude, threatening and disrespectful on the phone to my friend. she told her that she needs to pay all the €380 back this week or they will take her to court!!

My friend is in an awful way about this and cannot understand why she was let withdraw funds when the funds were not in her account. she showed me a recent bank statement which shows the bank taking out €10 each day for overcharges. she went to get her last childrens allowance out to pay for school items for her child only to discover that the bank had taken all of it out so she was left with nothing!

My main query is can the bank do this? how can they let her take money out when she did not agree to an overdraft facility? Can she reclaim fees from the bank?

I'd appreciate any advice on this. it had really annoyed me because my friend is trying very hard to make ends meet and cannot afford these charges was really upset over the call she received from the back last week!!

First off, I would love to hear the call that was made to your friend. I find it hard to believe that the rep said what was said in the original post. In any event if the bank did enforce legal action, she would be first sent a 21 day notice letter.

Second; I'm not being funny, but you should advise your friend to go on a course showing her how to manage money. The bank isn't responcible for managing your friends finances.

how dare they treat an innocent person like this when they let developers all over the country owe them billions!:mad:

thanks

And finally, this comment is utterly irrelevant. Your friend is not innocent. She spent the money.

thelongfellow

stepbar wrote: »

First off, I would love to hear the call that was made to your friend. I find it hard to believe that the rep said what was said in the original post. In any event if the bank did enforce legal action, she would be first sent a 21 day notice letter.

Second; I'm not being funny, but you should advise your friend to go on a course showing her how to manage money. The bank isn't responcible for managing your friends finances.



And finally, this comment is utterly irrelevant. Your friend is not innocent. She spent the money.

Do you for for BOI? Or one of it's financial subsidiaries? Your comments make it sound like you do and as such should be disregarded.

Typical BOI bs is what it looks like. The first few times you go into this unauthorized overdraft they don't charge you as much as €10. Then they keep the charges going up until the 6th(?) time you enter this unauthorized OD and they charge you €10 for that transaction and any more after the fact.

Best advice is to call into citizens advice. You didn't ask for this OD. You will still and should have to repay it all back but the fees are something that should be questioned. The bank will claim they are doing you a favor by not having you card rejected when they know you don't have the funds in your account. Your friend needs to call into their bank to talk to someone face to face. Phone calls at this stage are pointless.

Ste.phen

thelongfellow wrote: »

Best advice is to call into citizens advice. You didn't ask for this OD.

Er, could asking the bank to give you money when your account is empty not be considered asking for an OD?

thelongfellow

Ste.phen wrote: »

Er, could asking the bank to give you money when your account is empty not be considered asking for an OD?

Way I understand it OP didn't fill out any forms requesting it. OD is a form of loan. Don't you normally have to apply for these yeah?

stepbar

thelongfellow wrote: »

Do you for for BOI? Or one of it's financial subsidiaries? Your comments make it sound like you do and as such should be disregarded.

Typical BOI bs is what it looks like. The first few times you go into this unauthorized overdraft they don't charge you as much as €10. Then they keep the charges going up until the 6th(?) time you enter this unauthorized OD and they charge you €10 for that transaction and any more after the fact.

Best advice is to call into citizens advice. You didn't ask for this OD. You will still and should have to repay it all back but the fees are something that should be questioned. The bank will claim they are doing you a favor by not having you card rejected when they know you don't have the funds in your account. Your friend needs to call into their bank to talk to someone face to face. Phone calls at this stage are pointless.

Hahahahahahahahahah....... very funny. Whether I work for said organisation is largely irrelevant and a moot point (I'm happy to confirm I do like many other posters here do as well).

Just so you can get this into your little brain; a bank will give a customer forbearance or tolerance based on the turnover of an account. Depends on a number of things, namely time held with same. They might not give same to all customers. People occasionally forget to do things like put a few quid in their account. Quite obviously if you wrote a cheque for 10k and had no money in the account, it would be bounced.

Unless you would like more staff (which I doubt you would given your attidute already) working in credit control bouncing cheques or debits for piddly amounts, it's the most cost effective way of managing the credit risk associated with a bank account.

I'd say you'd be embarrassed or a bit p1ssed off if the bank rang you up to say they bounced a direct debit to eFlow or something else because you were 1c short - "Oh but BTW I'm a customer of 25 years", No sorry we're bouncing.... First reaction...... close account.

However, no one is going to split hairs if she went a few hundred quid overdrawn because it happens to some people and TBH I'd expect any bank to give a person some forbearance or tolerance. People mainly give people the benefit of the doubt unless they have good reason not to. We don't live in Zimbabwe thank god. As I've said I would question the full story the OP was told.

The charges could be avoided if the OP's friend lived within her means!!!!! And perhaps the OP's friend should do herself a favour and check her bank account once every so often!!! And furthermore... I wouldn't mind but quite obviously she had the use of money she didn't have! If she goes into the bank nice about it, she might get a loan to cover and if she asks even more nicer she might get a part refund of the charges. If everyone kept their account in order, you wouldn't need a credit section to keep these accounts in check. TBH if she can't cover 400 eur over 1 - 2 years, then she really has problems.

Now sir, based on your opinion, I'll disregard it because you haven't a fcuking clue what you're talking about.

thelongfellow

Good for you steph.

As for answering the OP's question-get your friend to go into bank and talk to them face to face. They can always go into citizens advice and find some non-biased information/advice there. Maybe they should also consider MABS.

dotsman

I think people are getting confused between an authorised overdraft and an unauthorised one.

An authorsied overdraft is where you apply to your bank to specifically be allowed go overdrawn up to a specified limit. You will be charge a certain rate for this.

An unauthorised overdraft is where you withdraw money (or a direct debit/standing order takes affect etc) that pushes you over your limit (be it zero or the specified authorised amount. An unauthorised overdraft attracts a higher rate of surcharge interest as well as penalty charges. All fairly standard and all clearly documented when you opened your account.

It is the responsibility of the customer to manage their finances, not the bank. They just provide the service.

stepbar

thelongfellow wrote: »

Good for you steph.

Pardon?

thelongfellow

dotsman wrote: »

I think people are getting confused between an authorised overdraft and an unauthorised one.

An authorsied overdraft is where you apply to your bank to specifically be allowed go overdrawn up to a specified limit. You will be charge a certain rate for this.

An unauthorised overdraft is where you withdraw money (or a direct debit/standing order takes affect etc) that pushes you over your limit (be it zero or the specified authorised amount. An unauthorised overdraft attracts a higher rate of surcharge interest as well as penalty charges. All fairly standard and all clearly documented when you opened your account.

It is the responsibility of the customer to manage their finances, not the bank. They just provide the service.

Yeah I think your right. Probably more of an issue for this customer is that they have a small amount of money coming into their account each month and they would not be able to pay the unauthorized overdraft off. So they are probably wondering why they got it in the first place.

On an unauthorised overdraft the interest rate (expressed as an annual percentage rate) works out as 12.3pc, plus an additional interest surcharge that works out as 7.2pc a year.

BoI does not charge a referral item charge, but when the bank pays items that push you overdrawn (or over your overdraft limit, if you have one), these overlimit items are charged as follows: First in a quarter - no charge, second and third €3.50 each, fourth and fifth €5 each, sixth and subsequent items in a quarter are charged at €10 each.

The two big banks, AIB and Bank of Ireland, have the highest overdraft interest charges, and the highest facility fees.

dotsman

thelongfellow wrote: »

On an unauthorised overdraft the interest rate (expressed as an annual percentage rate) works out as 12.3pc, plus an additional interest surcharge that works out as 7.2pc a year.

BoI does not charge a referral item charge, but when the bank pays items that push you overdrawn (or over your overdraft limit, if you have one), these overlimit items are charged as follows: First in a quarter - no charge, second and third €3.50 each, fourth and fifth €5 each, sixth and subsequent items in a quarter are charged at €10 each.

The two big banks, AIB and Bank of Ireland, have the highest overdraft interest charges, and the highest facility fees.

Not sure where that quote is from, but according to itsyourmoney.ie, PTSB seem to have the highest interest rates, at a combined 28.3% (although, for all the banks, the figures are in the twenties).

Betsy18

murraytallaght wrote: »

ok i can answer your question fully right now,i had the same kinda problam,bout 5 years ago i lost my job just before i did i filled out a siptu form to join the union,i get let go 1 month later im registered with siptu without knowing thinking i couldnt be in a union with no job,a year passes maybe 6 months not sure i get a staement im down about 100 euro i calculate it up turns out i was overdrawn every week the direct debit was taking out then boi took the money back in 1 lump sum,anyway i ring siptu they say its my responsibility to moniter my account etc etc ,i ring boi im told the same,but recently well about a year ago im sent out out a lazer card by boi without even requesting one,k that aint important,but i cleaned out my labour money one week playing poker online,got annoyed and just kept taking 10 euro off the card loosing it taking another 10 off lossing till finally i had no money left,i get a statement from the bank and a letter saying my account is minus 250 euro even though ive no overdraft and im being deducted charges for everytime i overdrew they charged me about 10 euro every time i overdrew so wen i was taking 10 euro off the card 4 poker i was really getting 20 euro off the card half was overdrawn fees plus i got charged interest on the money overdrawn,my credit union payments were misssed(standing order for 3 weeks before it was cancelled by the bank)so my account was minus nearly 600 hundred euro after all the interest fees aand charges even though i only overdrew about 250 euro,it took me weeks to clear it and get back to the way i was coz boi took everything back in one lump sum,so basically what im tryna say is if you owe the bank money and they havnt broke any RULES OR LAWS well then forget about getteing money back from them coz its gone,an if you ring them and explain your reason genuine or not it dont matter your money is the banks now if you dont like how the bank charge you fees leave the bank but probably aint no point coz there all the same,an as for the 350 euro the bank made off me in charges and fees i aint stressing about it coz its my own fault im in charge of my account nobody else,i hadnt got an overdraft the bank jus allowed me to take extra money maybe coz they were been helpfull who knows,but i have to giv them credit they cancelled my lazer card without me knowing after i used it wrecklessly coz they could hav jus kept charging me if they wanted,so what im tryna say is banks dont rip small customers like us off but its very important to moniter your account set up a 365 account online you can check your balance from your own house on a computer hope what i said helps

Thanks for the advice, yes that is exactly what happened to her! the reason she thought she had money in her account is that her ex puts her maintenace into the account so this money usually is there then to pay her standing order etc. she has no problem paying back the money she took out that's not the problem, it's the fact the BOI issued her with a lazer card that she had not applied for and an overdraft facility she did not authorise!! i am a customer of AIB and i had to fill out application forms to get a laser card and an overdraft facility! the fees are outrageous here, i only ever went into overdraft once by €300 and was only charged €15 for it with AIB! She went into the Bank on friday and paid off the money she owed, she asked to speak with the lady who rang her but she refused to come out of her little hole!! She closed her account immediately with them and it seems BOI have been doing this to alot of their customers as there was a queue of people all in to close their accounts! they arent helping themselves in the times we are in!

Betsy18

stepbar wrote: »

First off, I would love to hear the call that was made to your friend. I find it hard to believe that the rep said what was said in the original post. In any event if the bank did enforce legal action, she would be first sent a 21 day notice letter.

Second; I'm not being funny, but you should advise your friend to go on a course showing her how to manage money. The bank isn't responcible for managing your friends finances.

Yes, i would love to have heard the call too as i would not have let that b**** away with the things she said. she told my friend that they had sent out warning letters to her, my friend showed me ONE letter only that was sent to her and was advice on the banks overdraft and fees facilities and was NOT anyway warning her that she was in debt to them! the 'rep' also confirmed to her when she questioned the fees and why AIB did not charge these that AIB did charge fees as she has an account with them too!! my friend has no problem paying the money she took out back to the bank but these fees are outrageous! and just to let you know, she paid all this money back today and it seems she wasnt the only one to have received a nasty call as there was a queue of customers in to close their accounts which my friend had great pleasure in doing! she promptly went into AIB and opened a new account there and that will be the end of her being ripped off any longer!

sam27

Received Bank Charges in post today. €28 for fee quater and im unemployed!!

Independent01

OK, I work in a national school. Just finishing accounts before they start back. Never got chance to check last statement and low and behold at the end of May 2013 there is a 25.00 euro charge for an overdraft facility fee. In the 8 years I have worked there we never have had an overdraft, in fact it is usually one of the security questions and yet they are charging us 25 euro for a facility do no want or need account is well in credit at all times. Has this happened to anybody else? Calling all national schools to check very carefully your statements if you are with the ROB - BOI. That is RIP OFF BANK.

coylemj

Independent01 wrote: »

That is RIP OFF BANK.

And while we're at it - ZOMBIE THREAD.

Stabshauptmann

Betsy18 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Just wanted some advice on a situation my friend is in. She is a single mother with no savings and gets her single mothers allowance each week which is then paid out to BOI because of charges.

She got a call from a BOI rep last week saying that she owes them €380! my friend was completely shocked by this and wanted to know what she owed them for. She has no overdraft and did not understand it. It seems that even thought she does not have an overdraft the bank have let her withdraw money which was not in her account in the first place. they have taken her childrens allowance that last 3 months to pay back money that she owes to them. this time round the €380 is actually that she did withdraw up to €180 more than what she had in her account and the remaining amount is charges that she has incurred from the bank for overpayments!??
The bank representative could not explain why they let her take money out when it was not in her account and even told her that she does not have an overdraft facility and was completely rude, threatening and disrespectful on the phone to my friend. she told her that she needs to pay all the €380 back this week or they will take her to court!!

My friend is in an awful way about this and cannot understand why she was let withdraw funds when the funds were not in her account. she showed me a recent bank statement which shows the bank taking out €10 each day for overcharges. she went to get her last childrens allowance out to pay for school items for her child only to discover that the bank had taken all of it out so she was left with nothing!

My main query is can the bank do this? how can they let her take money out when she did not agree to an overdraft facility? Can she reclaim fees from the bank?

I'd appreciate any advice on this. it had really annoyed me because my friend is trying very hard to make ends meet and cannot afford these charges was really upset over the call she received from the back last week! how dare they treat an innocent person like this when they let developers all over the country owe them billions!:mad:

thanks!

This is absolutely incredible! I find it so difficult to believe... but then again I suppose those people are out there and going through every god-damn mistake your friend made won't help anything.

Solution time!

jor el's advise while well meaning, isnt great.

People you need to talk to are Citizen Information and NCA. Both a vast source of free online info, both willing to chat to you for free. Dont go near the Financial Regulator - its not their job.

First thing is to ring BOI customer service / visit branch and enquire where the OD came from. It might be a standard part of the current account, in which case you're starting position is quite bad. If not, you cannot provide someone with an unrequested loan. Think its the consumer credit act 1995, NCA / CI will know the legal reference (or just google - I'm going to bed).

Even if it is something you agreed to, we then move on the treating the customer fairly. Here the consumer protection code is your friend, read it.

Engage in dialogue. If you're not happy with the result you can go to the Financial Services Ombudsman.

BuffyBot

Very old thread. Why must it be dug up?