Financial Tip

Sorry that this is not stocks and shares advice, but it may help someone:

I received my bank statement 2 days ago and saw that a standing order had been rejected before Christmas because of lack of funds in my account. Despite not paying the money out the bank still charged me £30 for the privilege! I have never understood how they can get away with charging for this!

Using my experience of the 2 years that I worked at a bank call centre I knew that there was a chance that I could get the charge cancelled. At HSBC as long as you met certain criteria, (such as not having a charge cancelled in the last 6 months, some more money going into the account within a certain time, etc.), the bank is allowed to do it. I assumed that this is standard for most banks so today I thought I would give it a go. What did I have to lose?
The woman at my bank was very friendly and helpful. I was honest from the start and told her that I was phoning to see if a charge could be cancelled and within a couple of minutes she had agreed to cancel it. I was very happy and had saved myself £30.
If you find yourself charged by your bank phone them up and ask if it can be cancelled just this one time. It works, most of the time.
Hope that helps someone.