Bank charges?? please help me?

can anyone help me? today the halifax bank just took Â£120 from one of my accounts to pay a late credit card payment . my credit card is also with the halifax. are they allowed to just interfere with your accounts in this way? if not what can i legally do about it? if this action causes me to default on direct debits that are due this week and incur more bank charges can i get them back? or do i just wave 2 fingers at them and open another account with another bank, and if i did that could they still interfere with my new account at say barclays or midland? any advice would be apprieciated . thanks
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thankyou all very much for taking time to reply,thankyou for all the advice i really apreciate it....thanks again....sallie

technically you have not yet incurred a bank charge - you may well have had a late payment charge for your credit card, but those are generally held to be reasonable and you will have no recourse in getting it back. As others have said, I;d be very surprised if your terms and conditions did not allow them to take the money from your account directly if you had failed to make a payment voluntarily. And they have notified you so you have chance to top up the account in question to meet your direct debits etc. You could indeed open a new bank account, but bear in mind when it comes to getting new credit cards etc, late payments are held on your credit record and count against your credit worthiness...
The bottom line is 'don't spend more than you earn' and 'organise your finances properly'.

I don't know much about the bank you speak of (I'm in America) But I think banks can do that with certain types of accounts.. Check to see what type of account you have and when you switch to another bank make sure it is protected to where they can't get into your account without DIRECT authorization from you...

You probably signed for direct debit payments to your credit card when you took it out . If you don't have the money to pay your debits you would be wise to stop them . Or you will incur charges for non payment. You can still apply for bank charges but the repaying of them has been put on hold until the court case which will take aproximately one year to complete.

My boyfriend and I are with the Halifax and although it has not happened me it has happened him as well his wages go in every Thursday and certan direct debits come out during the month He has just paid Â£40 for a unpaid direct debit even though the money was in his account at the time not the first time the fourth time this has happened on his current account he had the proof on his statement and went up to the branch and they put him on the phone to India so he walked out.I get paid a lot less than him but get paid monthly so he took out an overdraft to cover him just in case this happens again.He is moving banks as he is waiting for a new card for 8 weeks.You can see the manager and i hope you get further than he did

Doesn't sound right, but my guess is when you signed up for the accounts it says they can do this in the fine print.

You can request them back, but at present the OFT is investigating the fairness of these charges, and the Courts are adjourning all claims pending the results of the enquiry.

Should the OFT find the banks to be unfair then all existing claims may be paid, however banks will just find another way to make money (charge for the privilege of an account).

Check out www.moneysavingexpert.com

brilliant, load of tips and advice on this very subject.

STICK IT TO THE MAN!!

Hiya, i had the exact same problem a couple of years ago with HSBC bank. Thay are legally entitled to take any amounts owing to them from any accounts you hold with them, it will say this somewhere in small print, but, like you, I was also unaware of this at the time.
i was actually in hospital and therefore unable to keep tabs on my finances for a while and had just genuinely overlooked the monthly payments to them when leavig details of my finances to my sister who looked after them when i was in hospital. so I was quite horrified whan i left hospital to realise they had taken money from my current account without my permission.
This started months of legal wrangling with them, where they continually took money without my permission, from my current and buisness account- charging me for late payments, then charging when this pushed me overdrawn, the charging again when other direct debits I had were returned etc etc.
In this situation, they will actually refuse to let you close your current account, which ultimately makes the situation worse. I took them to court and eventually sorted it out. I hope you will not have to take it this far.
Try speaking to your bank and explain your situation and explain the reasons behind your late payment (whether this is because you are struggling with repayments or just forgot to pay on time etc) apologise profusely etc etc and they will hopefully waive any charges. however, if this does mean that any other direct debits you have wont be able to be paid or will make you go overdrawn- your bank will charge you relentlessly, so please try and get it sorted out as soon as you can.
If you do end up having lots of unfair charges, you could claim them back from court and most likely win- however, in these situations the banks first move will be to close any accounts/credit cards etc you hold with them, making you pay any outstanding debt to them, so if you have a large amount of debt on your credit card you really dont want to go down this route.
If you are in financial difficulty, then speak to your bank and you may be able to be put on a reduced payment plan for your credit card, where they will cancel any interest being put onto your account and work out an amount for re-payment that is affordable to you.
Hope that rather long ramble is of some help to you! banks are cruel and heartless and credit cards are one of lifes great evils! Myself and my buisness came out of it ok in the end, but i know it can be a real nightmare and spiral out of control so quickly. I wish you luck with it. feel free to email if you need any more advice.best wishes, Hollyx

iknow what your talking about ! it sucks! the banks make rules to their advatage . the only thing you can do is call them and ask to reverse some of the charges , give a good explanation

There has been a big campaign about expensive bank charges lately.

the problem is the banks are riding roughshot over the poor customers, ring them, write to them and demand they cut the costs and refund your money.

if all fails, take out a county court injunction against them, you can apply online and its very cheap.

most banks pay up at this point

Read your bank card contract. Nothing you can due if it states they can take it out of your account if youre late. I would pay the debt off and move my bank account. They cannot interfere with a new account with out your permission

I don't know about where you are at, but it is legal here in the US.

Type COnsumer Action Group into a search engine and all the lovely people there will show you how to get back ALL of your charges. Banks have been ripping us off for years. The charges are too high iot doesnt take Â£39 to return a DD

How about...........pay your bills on time?

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