Change to Smile T&Cs

Chutzpah

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Jan 9, 2009
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I got an interesting email from my bank today. I've always liked them but now they really are playing fair with their charges in my opinion:

We have reviewed and updated the way that we calculate and apply informal overdraft charges and unpaid item charges on your smile current account. These changes are effective from 3rd July 2009.

At the moment, if you request an overdraft informally (that is to say by making a payment or withdrawal from your account which would take you overdrawn or over your agreed overdraft limit, without agreeing this with us first) we may charge you some or all of the following charges:

  • Informal Overdraft Service Charges (the Monthly Service Charge and Daily Service Charge), which are charged when your account becomes overdrawn or the overdrawn balance increases, respectively
  • Unpaid Item Charge, which is charged when we have returned a cheque, standing order or Direct Debit as we have been unable to pay it.

We are making three main changes to the way that these charges are calculated and applied, as follows:

helping with infrequent charges

However carefully you manage your account you may occasionally go overdrawn when you hadn't intended to, resulting in charges. In future, we will automatically waive these charges when you request an informal overdraft, providing that:

  • you have maintained your account in credit (or within any agreed overdraft limits) for the previous 366 days, and
  • you return your account to credit (or inside an agreed overdraft limit) within 6 working days.

putting an upper limit on charges

In 2007 we placed an upper limit on our Informal Overdraft Service Charges of one Monthly Service Charge and four Daily Service Charges per month (which is currently equivalent to £300 per quarter).

We are now improving this by:

  • limiting your charges to £150 per quarter (if we have provided you with any refunds during that quarter then this amount will increase by the amount of those refunds)
  • including Unpaid Item Charges in addition to Informal Overdraft Service Charges within this upper limit.
 

Witch consumer

Moderator
Sep 8, 2008
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Debtors retreat
You think that's fair? an improvement on the £5 a day they used to charge on top of the overdraft charges but let's not forget that the banks are now appealing to the House of Lords to overturn two previous rulings that these charges could be unfair.

A fair charge would be one that reflects the cost of collecting it - about 17p I believe.
 

Chutzpah

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Jan 9, 2009
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I probably worded it a bit incorrectly... I meant fairer.

My opinion is that banks have sometimes waived charges if you have usually "played by the rules" - Barclays in fact did this for my wife when she went overdrawn once. But it was an ad hoc basis and not set in stone. This is, and I've often found that smile lead the way in customer service, so hopefully the only way is up. No, this isn't overly fair but it's more than other banks are doing.
 

TracyG

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Apr 26, 2009
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Barclays did the same for me when I went over my overdraft limit a while ago. They sent me a letter stating that they would not issue any charges as I did not go over my limit regularly. When it comes to bank's customer service though, First Direct is top of my list. I've never received any cold calls from them, and when I've needed to call them, my call has always been answered after only a few rings, by a real person (no automated service and no sitting on hold). Very refreshing in this day and age.
 

Chutzpah

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Jan 9, 2009
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I've never received any cold calls from them, and when I've needed to call them, my call has always been answered after only a few rings, by a real person (no automated service and no sitting on hold). Very refreshing in this day and age.
Exactly the reason I love smile. They even apologise for keeping me on hold! (Which for once doesn't annoy me because I have only been "holding" a few seconds.

And when I call they don't attempt to cross sell or up sell me any unrelevant products.
 

TracyG

Moderator
Apr 26, 2009
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It does seem that internet/telephone only banks are providing much better customer service than the high street banks, and giving customers more of what they want from a bank. Banks such as First Direct and Smile are obviously training their staff very differently to the way high street banks do.
 

Tony

What Consumer Founder
Apr 7, 2008
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Bolton
I was left high and dry by Smile once. I had a Smile More account that came with free breakdown cover and other benefits. However, when my car broke down and I contacted them they said I was not covered as I had stopped paying in the minimum £700 per month - can't remember the exact details. OK they may have sent me a secure message letting me know this, but I obvously didn't pay enough attention...
 

Chutzpah

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Jan 9, 2009
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It's funny how people have different experiences - they went beyond the call of duty during the postal strike to ensure I didn't lose the money I had paid across to the letting agents, could move into my new let and take up my new job.