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Beware of a new penalty by ING
Hello Expats,
Who of you is a client of ING? I was really disappointed to see that ING just penalised me with over 7 euro for insufficient balance on my account, they couldn't debit around 30 euro. They never informed of this new charge. This is probably their "Thanks" for me keeping there all accounts plus insurance.... Do you think it will be possible to contest this somehow?
Thanks for any info.
Shop around. ING is known for high charges and their expat friendly service comes with a sting in the tail. I have been with them for a few years for my daily banking and it amazing what they can think of charging for.
I'm with ING and I don't earn an xpat salary - so Im treated as a standard bod -- I have never been charged anything by them (they gave me an "overdraft" facility free of charge (only pay interest) which I have maybe touched once -- Having this in place stops you being hit by this €7 charge if you have insufficient funds (online Lion account).
Try UK banks if you think a €7 charge for bouncing a payment is bad!
My son is also with ING -- he has been hit with this €7 charge -- he took it as a lesson to kep an eye on his balance
It isn't a new charge -- my son was hit by this early last year --- if you have a good record with them -- suggest you go in and argue the point and also ask for the overdraft facility I mentioned in my first reply. My local branch were always very helpful. (till ING closed it!! - see below)
For the record I don't think ING are the best thing since sliced bread -- they spent a fortune renovating and upgrading our local branch which was staffed by friendly helpful people -- only to then close it a few months laer!!!
Having worked in a major bank I can tell you that a payment is usually processed automatically without manual intervention if all the fields are quoted properly. And of course if there are sufficient funds in the account.
Once a payment is rejected either for incorrect details (wrong beneficiary, wrong bank, wrong IBAN etc etc) or lack of funds it goes into a queue; after this the processing department need to assess the reason for the rejection, find a solution to the problem and execute the payment again if possible. This is manual intervention and cost money in a time where banks try to automatize their processes as much as possible to reduce costs. In your case your payment was automatically rejected because there were lack of funds and no overdraft facility available.
Rather than blaming ING try to spend a bit more time in checking regularly your account. ING also sends regularly their terms and condition for you to read.
UK banks charge upwards of £25. KBC charge nowt.
Why on earth should the bank "lend" you €30 to pay one of your bills. As Luke suggested take this as a lesson to keep a better eye on your bank balance.
When you say "they never informed of this new charge" do you actually mean that the 30 euro they took, and which took your account to a negative balance, is some sort of ING charge for your bank account (taken annually, probably)? If so, then you may have a recourse. As far as I remember banking rules say that they should not charge you a penalty for an unauthorized overdraft if it is their own charges that have caused the overdraft.
However, if it was just a random bill or purchase that took your account to a negative balance, then, as others have pointed out, you have no reason to complain as you should be aware how much is on your account and how much you can spend.
