I have a A&L Premier Current Account, the sort where you're obliged to deposit at least £500 each month. Unfortunately some months ago I stopped using the account, but instead of closing it I simply let it lie dormant, forgetting I would then be liable for penalties.
Hence I recently realised that A&L have been happily deducting £5 per month from the account for the past several months.
Although I accept I am at fault and so am liable for these charges, A&L's Terms and Conditions do state that before deducting any charges they will "give you at least 14 days notice of the amount before doing so". I received no such notifications, either by post or e-mail.
When I phoned one of their Customer Advisors to discuss this I was told that, because it was an Internet-based account, the warning notices would have been posted in my account page on their web site (and when I checked there they were). She stated categorically that it was my resposibility to log in to their site at regular intervals to see any warnings.
A&L's terms and conditions don't say *how* the 14-day warning notices would be forwarded to the customer, but I don't understand why they couldn't at least e-mail me the warning; they definitely have my e-mail address because they use it for plenty of other stuff. Does A&L's means of warning customers of charges seem reasonable and is it the normal practise for Internet banks?