Money matters – 1 – Key and Language notes
Money matters – 1 – Key and language notes
Done out of some money
In June 2007, I complained to Royal Bank of Scotland about an unfair unauthorised overdraft charge. RBS paid a direct debit after we had moved our current account to Alliance & Leicester. The manager agreed to waive the fee, but the bank charged me anyway. I have written to the bank four times without reply.
Language notes
to be done out of sth eg some money – informal – to be deprived of sth in an unfair way
Eg I was done out of £8 when I organised the coach trip to Brighton – i.e. I was left out of pocket – having lost money in the transaction, short of the money I was owed.
Royal Bank of Scotland – did you remember the capitals for a firm’s name?
The same is true for Alliance & Leicester – a building society which offers various banking services. Building societies are financial organisations which pay interest on members’ investments and lend capital for mortgages.
to have / to run up an overdraft – if you have money in your bank account you are in credit – in the black. If you have an overdraft you are in debit – in the red – i.e. you owe the bank money until you pay in some more money
an overdraft charge – money which you have to pay eg a bank if you have spent more money than you have in your account.
a direct debit – an arrangement for making payments, usually to an organisation, in which your bank moves money from your account into the organization’s account at regular times
Standing orders are often confused with direct debits. Both are methods of setting up regular transfers of money from one account to another, but how they are set up and operate is quite different.
A gym, or a magazine publisher’s could set up a direct debit for you to pay a monthly membership fee, or an annual payment for a subscription to a magazine. You give your permission for the direct debit to be set up by supplying your details, and giving your consent. If you no longer want to remain a member, or receive the magazine, you cancel your direct debit. The organisation can request variable payments at variable intervals, and the customer has no control over these direct debit payments. Presumably what has happened here, is that some organisation has continued to take payments from a ‘dead’ account which the customer no longer holds.
A standing order – sometimes called a banker’s order – is where you set up an instruction to a bank to pay a particular fixed amount of money at regular times from your bank account to another bank account, typically to pay rent, mortgage or other fixed regular payments. The payment of a standing order can only be set up and changed by you, the person paying.
You pay by direct debit or standing order.
a current account – a bank or building society account from which money can be withdrawn (taken out) without notice, i.e. without advance warning, just when you want some money, unlike some savings accounts where you may have to ask for the money anything up to 90 days before you want it – you have to give 90 days’ notice. You open and close a bank account.
Usually, if you have a current account you receive a monthly statement (or a bank statement) which gives you a full list of details about your deposits and withdrawals.
Alliance & Leicester – if you wrote Lester that is a correct rendering of what you heard. Leicester is a large city in the English East Midlands in the county of Leicestershire.
waive the fee – if you wrote ‘wave’ the pronunciation is exactly the same! To waive a fee indicates that someone who is entitled to a payment has dismissed it, and has not asked for it. It is a deliberate decision – not a mistake.
Eg Normally when you book a holiday property you have to pay a cheque to cover breakages (anything you might break), but sometimes they just waive the fee.
to charge – to ask for or take an amount of money for something, especially a service or activity.
Eg: How much / What would you charge for a 200-word translation?
The garage charges about £75 for my car to have a service.
Local nightclubs charge about £10 entrance fee.
to charge sth to your account – if you charge something you have bought to your account, the amount you have spent is recorded and you pay for it at a later time.
Eg Please charge the phone calls to my business account.
anyway – all the same