bank charges

A question about : bank charges

I have banked with First Direct for the last 6 years and have never gone overdrawn. A few months ago we came into some money and I freely admit I took my eye off the ball. I forgot to transfer some money into the First Direct account, and went over the overdraft limit for 14 days. As soon as we realised I had made a mistake we telephoned them and transferred the totally amount into the account bringing us back into the black, we were told there was a Ј30 charge, I was cross with myself for wasting the money, but we took it on the chin, after all it was my fault. You can imagine my shock when the next statement came to discover that they had charged us Ј25 a DAY as well!!!!!! Which as a gesture of goodwill they reduced to the capped limit of Ј149. Ј149 for going overdrawn by Ј600 for 14 days!!!! If i had gone to a lone shark it would have been cheaper. I spoke to a Gordon Myre, and was interested to discover that First Direct NEVER put a stop on someone's debit card, you can run up as much debt as you like, they will never stop the card, phone you or write you a letter, so if anyone is planing to declare bankruptcy they are the perfect choice! It also makes me wonder what would happen if my cards had been stolen, thieves could spend as much as they liked, until I noticed. First Direct would not be alerted by erratic card behaviour. This is the best bit, they wouldn't let us close the account because we were now overdrawn again, by Ј124 because of their Ј149 charge! they wouldn't let us pay the Ј124 by any debit or credit card because they don't take them (!!?) so I have had to transfer savings and will have to try to close the account in 4 days time. I am so shocked I can't tell you. I have never been overdrawn before we got the money, with any bank so I don't know if these charges are normal, but Ј149 on Ј600 for 14 days is extortion, thank god I received a statement from ING direct, or I wouldn't have discovered my mistake until my next First Direct statement.

Best answers:

• Any decent organisation would waive the charges for a one off occurrence, and would just charge interest for the period you were overdrawn. Did you try to get the charges waived?
  It may be a problem generally with internet banking!
  If you don't have any luck over the phone then I would follow it up in writing. I wouldn't let them know that you are closing your account at this stage - it may not be helpful in your negotiations.