BOI: Overdraft Facility Fee

Z

Z100

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Having done a search of AAM I see I'm hardly the first to be charged an Overdraft Facility Fee (E25), but just wondering why I've been charged when I'm not overdrawn and haven't been for a few months?? Never noticed the charge on my account before, but maybe I just wasn't looking closely enough?? Curious.
 
I thought that an overdraft facility fee was charged for the privilige of having the overdraft option made available to you regardless of whether or not you actually use it?
 
Bushfire said:
Having done a search of AAM I see I'm hardly the first to be charged an Overdraft Facility Fee (E25), but just wondering why I've been charged when I'm not overdrawn and haven't been for a few months?? Never noticed the charge on my account before, but maybe I just wasn't looking closely enough?? Curious.
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You're being charged for the privilege of having an overdraft available to you!
 
Andy Doof said:
You're being charged for the privilege of having an overdraft available to you!
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Even if I don't use it?!?!

Think I'll take the same course of action as another AAMer and challenge them on it, it worked for me last time I whinged about a fee and threathened to take my not very valuable business elsewhere! :rolleyes:
 
Well, if you don't use it then you should cancel it. Then you won't have to pay the fee.
However, if you go "overdrawn" once you'll be hit with big charges.
 
Andy Doof said:
Well, if you don't use it then you should cancel it. Then you won't have to pay the fee. However, if you go "overdrawn" once you'll be hit with big charges.
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Reluctant to cancel it, for those 'just in case' times. It just seems extraordinary to me that you're charged an overdraft-related fee when you haven't actually used the overdraft facility (certainly not in recent times). But hey, when were bank charges ever comprehensible?

PS Is this an annual charge or worse?
 
It's an annual charge and you pay it whether you are overdrawn or not.

If you can't live without the overdraft (even though you don't use it), deal with it-i.e. either pay the charge of move accounts (Ulster Bank offer a free overdraft up to €320 at 0% and others may do the same-ptsb anyway).
 
Its something I've challenged, without success, before at my then bank (nib). I can understand a fee being charged when you initially set up the facility but on an ongoing basis I could see no reasonable explanation as to why it should be an annual charge when there is no change to it. In my eyes it was part of the normal banking service which should have been available to you. Their explanation, which I found hard to believe, was that it is actively reviewed every year in their Belfast office and a system change has to be implemented to show that you will retain the facility for another year etc. To me its money for ould rope for them. I've since moved to ptsb and I don't think, but I must check, that it is an annual fee.
 
I suspect that the OD facility fee is an annual fee. You should always check your statements to make sure that they are OK.
Bushfire said:
It just seems extraordinary to me that you're charged an overdraft-related fee when you haven't actually used the overdraft facility (certainly not in recent times). But hey, when were bank charges ever comprehensible?
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In my experience they are generally comprehensible if you apprise yourself of the details by reading the terms & conditions and schedule of charges that you can get from your local branch or by writing to them.

Don't forget that IFSRA has a [broken link removed] that might help when clarifying charges and shopping around (even if, as somebody mentioned recently, it may not be 100% up to date).
 
I successfully challenged it last year - hadn't been charged it for years and all of a sudden it appeared on my statement. They sent me out the documentation to cancel the facility, but I never did!! Oops...

However, I've actually used it several times over the year (bought a house last year) and would have been scuppered without it as I believe that ANY unauthorised overdraft, even of a couple of euro, can be a negative on your credit report.

So I guess I'll just keep paying the flipping €25.
 
I've had that fee charged once, having had an OD facility on my account that I had utterly forgotten about. I very irritatedly queried it, and was informed that it is charged annually only if the facility is used. Not having been aware I had gone into overdraft at all, I asserted positively that I didn't want it and hadn't used it: I was told that I had in fact used it, but I suspect this was on the basis of the order in which transactions were processed on a single day. They waived the fee in the end, and I never did check my statements to verify what had happened, but I have left the facility in place on a "just in case" basis and on the explicit understanding that if the facility is not used no charge is applied.
 
Are you with BoI? Different banks could have different policies on this sort of charge. Best to check the terms & conditions of the account and the schedule of charges that apply.
 
CCOVICH said:
If you can't live without the overdraft (even though you don't use it), deal with it - i.e. either pay the charge or move accounts.......
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What's bugging you?! Relax the head! Are we not entitled to ask simple questions here about banking matters without bumping in to Mr Grumpy? :rolleyes:

(a) I do occasionally use the overdraft facility (not for a while), that's why I want to keep it

(b) having been with BOI for 20+ years I'm naturally relucant to move my accounts, ie all the hassle, changing direct debits, etc

(c) would it not be more sensible to challenge your bank on being charged an overdraft-related fee, when the overdraft isn't been used, rather than leaving? Isn't that how things get changed? (See Dreamerb's example above).
 
ClubMan said:
In my experience they are generally comprehensible if you apprise yourself of the details by reading the terms & conditions and schedule of charges that you can get from your local branch or by writing to them.
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That's not the point. You can be perfectly aware of terms and conditions, it doesn't mean they're reasonable! By 'comprehensible' I meant 'impossible to understand how they can justify these charges'!
 
Newby said:
Its a pity we can't charge the bank for the privilege of having our savings available to the bank (even if we don't have any!):D
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:D A gem! Think I might send them a bill for E25 for my empty savings account!
 
Dreamerb said:
.....I have left the facility in place on a "just in case" basis and on the explicit understanding that if the facility is not used no charge is applied.
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Thanks for that Dreamerb, that's exactly the deal I'm looking for, ie a reasonable one! Will contact them.
 
Bushfire said:
You can be perfectly aware of terms and conditions, it doesn't mean they're reasonable! By 'comprehensible' I meant 'impossible to understand how they can justify these charges'!
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If you don't like the charges then why did you agree to the terms & conditions when you opened the account and why don't you shop around for a more suitable alternative?
 
ClubMan said:
If you don't like the charges then why did you agree to the terms & conditions when you opened the account and why don't you shop around for a more suitable alternative?
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But what about new charges that come in to force 20 years after you first opened the account?? I've lost count of all of them!
 
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