- This topic has 19 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 3 months ago by
.
- Posts
<!– m –>http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/fro … 35077.html<!– m –>
Bankers are slowly but surely creeping to the top of my hate list!
It has happened for years David – especially for applicants applying for a high LTV (loan to value) mortgage.
The thinking being that the money spent betting would be better spent towards a deposit rather than being spent on non-essentials – which is not an unreasonable question to raise. Like it or not gambling is perceived as a risk, so banks will err on the side of caution, especially in the current climate.
You may argue that how a person spends their money is their business and, to a point that is true.
However the converse also applies that a bank can also choose to lend its money in any way it wishes to.
The easy way to aviod problems occurring is to have another account which is used for betting purposes.
“Irish banks are the biggest gamblers in society”
Bookies rep gets it spot on for once. The banks played Russian Roulette with the Irish economy and now we’re completely fecked. It’s only a matter of time before both AIB and BOI are nationalised.
It wouldn’t have happened on Charlie McCreevy’s watch!
It wouldn’t have happened on Charlie McCreevy’s watch
It did happen on Charlie McCreevy’s watch
That article is actually quite funny.
Who in their right mind would be trying to get a loan from an Irish bank, they are probably holding more negative equity deals than Northern Rock.
It did happen on Charlie McCreevy’s watch
I’m sure Charlie would have ensured there was no discrimination against the gambling community!
I’m sure Charlie would have ensured there was no discrimination against the gambling community
True
Now the Supreme Court has ruled the current Bank Charges are not unfair….this is clearly disappointing for any hoping to get their bank charges back.
However, my question is this: Other than CJ on Eggheads is there a more annoying person on telly than Martin Lewis.
Personally, I’m sick to death of him advising me to change my Bank Account/Credit Card just to save £6.78 a year.
Hopefully, he will now disappear forever up his own importance and I will no longer feel the desire to stick my boot through the telly whenever he’s on….so every cloud has a silver lining….happy days, as they say
A lot of people did manage to get their bank charges back though, so fair play to him, my mate got back 3200 from HSBC, and I was owed 2,000 by the halifax. I think it was fairly ineviatble once the banks got themselves in trouble that the courts wouldnt hold up the right to claim the charges back. I see it as little more than a crap decision made by a government who don’t give a toss about the working man, who are trying to limit the financial nightmare that represents their time in office.
Fair judgement imo
Manage your money properly and you’ll get no charges. Problem solved.
Martin Lewis: to$$er
There is a simple way to avoid the charges in the first place, don’t take too much money from your account so that you end up having an unauthorised overdraft.
It is called self discipline and taking responsibility for your own actions – something far too many people nowadays seem to consider as being an optional requirement in life.
The fees needed to be punitive to act as a deterrent.
Having said that, there have been cases where the banks were overzealous in the application of the fees. There was a case mentioned on the radio this morning where the DSS, or whatever it is called nowadays, screwed up a woman’s payments resulting in a number of DD’s bouncing. In cases such as that the banks could have shown some flexibility or the DSS should have paid her charges.
I used to work in the banking industry and at the last bank I worked for it was official policy that on the first occasion a customer exceeded an overdraft limit or went into the red the fees would automatically be refunded if the customer complained or queried the charges. It was accepted that anyone can make a mistake.
However most who have unauthorised overdrafts cynically use the system and are either being irresponsible or burying their heads in the sand and not seeking help.
What hasn’t helped matters is the centralisation of banking and taking away the authority of the branch manager. In the "old days" the manager knew his customers, he generally knew what they could and could not afford and business was conducted accordingly.
Nowadays overdraft limits are defined by computer and cannot be overridden – well almost always cannot. Branch managers are just glorified sales managers whose sole job is to ensure the branch meets its sales targets – if they don’t meet the targets they are soon disposed of.
Never mind unauthorised overdrafts.Halifax now charge you £1 a day for using an authorised overdraft of up to 2.5k,and £2 a day for authorised overdrafts over 2.5k.
I’ll explain my stance on it. When I was younger and more naive, I joined the RAF from doing generally low income jobs and suddenly found that the banks were willing to throw money at me left right and centre, because you are seen as being in a secure job with progressive wages.
I accept responsibility for being young and stupid and ended up borrowing more on store cards, car loans etc. Within the space of a couple of years, after all of my outgoings I was getting about 40 quid of my wages to myself to live off each month after paying out on everything.
Eventually after about 8 months of being miserable, and missing a payment and that snowballing very quickly I accepted I would have to sell my car and knuckle down for a few years, to try getting things paid off. I done that and at first I had about 250 quid to myself each month which went up with my wages.
I have managed to come out of that and now only have a small amount to pay off on a credit card which will be going next month after which I will be 100% debt free. However the major lesson I have learnt along the way is that a lot of banks and most specifically the halifiax are absolute low life scum of the lowest possible order.
I had a halifax credit card and what they would do if a payment was missed was to charge you 35 pounds on the halifax credit card account and another 35 pounds on the halifax bank account. But what they would also do was get you to pay on the 1st of every month for about 5 months, and then on the 5th month they would go to take a second payment out on the 26th of the month which would fail, and you would be fined another 70 pound for the two accounts. When you called up to query this they would then tell you that it comes out every 26 days. You would then pay the fine and make two payments on the first of the month when you are paid again, and ask about making a payment for the 26th of next month. You would then be told that it doesnt come out every 26 days, and that the 1st of the month was fine, which would all be good for another 5 months and then bang it would happen again.
What this meant though was that you couldnt get your credit rating back up enough to swap credit card companies, but more importantly it meant that you couldnt consolidate your existing loans, and more so if you had store cards on high interest, they would be a constant outgoing that would never go away, and greatly extended the time taken to pay off everything, and increased the amount that was paid pretty greatly. Eg a television which I took out 720 pound credit on eventually cost me somewhere in the region of 2800 (and that was after two seperate payments of 500 with a final payment figure of 1200). FWIW once I actually managed to get rid of that credit card my life became a whole lot easier.
I have managed to get out of the mess I was in, and hopefully should be able to buy a house outright in a couple of years, but for a long time it wasnt easy, and IMO the halifax absolutely stroked the life out of me everyway they could in that time. A lot of my friends in the Air Force were all in the same boat as me and the vast majority are still up to their eyeballs in debt right now.
I dont look down my nose at people who are in financial trouble in britain because I have seen how easy it is to get into that situation and how, once you are in even slight difficulty, the banks will screw you everyway they can.
I think there a lot of people now more than ever in financial difficulty and negative equity on their properties etc, and IMO todays decision has merely given the Banks a free ticket to do whatever they want and make their lives even more of a misery, and I personally dont see that as any sort of victory for joe public.
I can see where others here are coming from on the issue but in many ways, as arguments go, it reminds me of the argument in the states over whether the unemployed have the right to health care because I believe that very few people consciously chose to get into financial difficulty, and I have no sympathy for any company that will profit from keeping them there.
I have never seen Martin Lewis on television to be able to get annoyed with him, but went onto his website and he, and others like him managed to get a few people I know, and countless others some considerable money back from their legitimised-scumbag banks, and for that he has my respect.
Well done to you smug lot that are saying "You should keep a better check on finances" give your a round of applause……….Oh, but that’s what you are already doing aren’t you
I suppose you agree with the bankers (please change first letter if you feel free) bonus culture as well
And before anyone ask’sNO
I do not have an overdraft but I can well understand how things like this happen and banks to charge what they do is nothing short of criminal
Bulwark, you make a fair point regarding Martin Lewis having helped a lot of people. He does seem a pretty genuine geezer and is clearly motivated by what he does. So, maybe I’m being a bit harsh in my OP.
However, as he was close to tears last night on the News – it made my day.
What annoys me is that at one Alliance and Leicester cash point outside my local shop which is owned by Londis charges £1.75 per use yet the local Texaco Garage also has an A and L cash point yet charges nothing to take your money out.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.