pmsumner

Congratulations on making a stand on this. It's not as if banks are starved of cash, yet they insist on stupid charge levels.

Please write to your bank stating your exact reasons for leaving once you have your new account up and running. Be as scathing as possible :-)

My 2p (I'm not sure whether it's a ramble for my benefit, to help you, or for general reading - I hope it helps, anyway)

Usually, banks are earning the privilege of holding your cash for you - that's worth a lot in terms of the capital investments that a bank can make. An overdraft is an exceptional state that they need to somehow turn around to make profitable, either by managing the risk (hoping you'll one day hold a positive account), writing it off (statistically against their customer base), or force it to be profitable (by making charges to compensate for the hole you're making in their investment fund).

To then charge a second time when they breached their policy (or best practice) is not fair play, IMHO. After all, they claim the charge is for informing you (in fact, it's a penalty to influence how you behave in future, enforced by industry-accepted practices and Ts&Cs). I know that companies with a large customer base who want to 'fine' their accounts for failing to follow T&C or best practice, will be harsh on the thresholds, but there should still be a reasonable process of appeal.

It sounds in this case like the person/department who was dealing with your chain of enquiries either (a) did not understand exactly what to do, thought you were acting emotionally, and responded emotionally, refusing to deal with you, or (b) did not consider all the facts of your case, e.g. choosing to ignore an important fact, or (c) was acting within internal company policy that was contrary to, or supplementary to, their public T&C or best practice, e.g. refusing to investigate or accept that the company had made an error, and scaring you into accepting their penalties.

It might be possible, even though they no longer have control over your account, for you to pursue the matter further, to escalate the problem, with a view to receiving a cheque for the second £30 that was unduly charged. I have not pursued an appeal like this myself, but think that your letter should include the circumstances you have outlined (carefully including their lack of notifiation), and your future course of action, should it not be resolved to your satisfaction (e.g. banking ombudsman, or the company's central appeals).

They might argue that they sent the notification (they'd need proof of postage, which they might not be able to produce - neither of you could hold the PO accountable for lack of delivery). They might also state that you should be in control of your finances, and the would therefore assign no importance to their lack of notification, stating that it is merely a courtesy to help you manage your account - I don't know how you'd respond to that in way that would help your case.

To answer your question, I think that it's expensive for companies to be reasonable - it means setting up thousands of people with the qualifications of a bank manager, considering 'fuzzies', and being open to exploitation. Unfortunately, when a company has a large customer base, the finer points have been examined, the thresholds are solid, the Ts&Cs took a £0.2m lawyer's bill go create and implement, all to ensure that relatively simple people in call centres and data processing departments have clear guidance to follow, and keep costs down without exposing themselves to unprofitable risk or exploitation.

Now I've ranted enough, and hope that this message posts.