Read the smallprint very carefully (Alliance & Leicester)

Member Name: Natskin

Product:	Alliance & Leicester
Date:	14/09/09 (106 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gave me £100 to join

Disadvantages: Confusing rates,

I was happy with Alliance and Leicester at first, having got £100 for switching accounts with them and £25 for recommending a friend to current accounts that were giving us a good rate of interest.

However, after missing a couple of outgoing payments, I was taken into a spiral of debt. They'd already told me I couldn't have an overdraft on this account, which shocked me as my credit history was pretty good, I'd kept a good account with them for the few months since I'd opened it and was only asking for a small amount just in case I should accidentally miscalculate.

Although their charges originally seemed low, at roughly £12 for a missed payment, I was stung by some of the others for being overdrawn. This is meant to be at a cost of £5 per day which seems fair when you think that you normally only go over by a few pounds for a few days, but there was a minimum of a 5day period to this charge, meaning you always got a £25 fine. They would then take the fine straight away when, if there is no money for the payment, then there will be none to pay the charge either! This means that charge after charge was aplied. These are apparently capped - at £100 PER MONTH, which means that unless you can afford to pay the whole lot in one go, you'll continously be charged £100 each month regardless of whether you're paying off 1 per cent or 99 per cent of that arrears.

Summary: A shrewd business... or a senseless shark!