[Chrysalis]

I have decided to go ahead with this as my bank today ****ed me of royally big time.

Basically I deposited 2 payments into my bank on the 23rd may via online transaction from another bank.

I have a standing order that goes out on the 2nd june.

So 7 working days prior to the standing order.

It is now 7th june and one of the deposits is in my account, the other one (larger) still nowhere to be seen, the other bank informed me it was marked as cleared their end on thursday 1st june so meaning it should have been sitting in my account on that date.

So because of this 2 events have occured, the bank is earning interest on my cash while it sits in limbo in their clearance system, I have been charged £35 for a unpaid standing order, for a measly £9 shortfall on funds.

I went to my branch asking them to clear the standing order on the basis the uncleared funds are (a) excessive time uncleared through no fault of my own and (b) the source of the funds is regurly used and has never bounced, they refused. I was even depositing a cheque that day as well from a source that has never bounced so I now currently have a very large amount of money (way larger then £9) waiting to be cleared and a standing order not paid.

The bank is Lloyds TSB and I have noticed recently they are incredibly slow, cheques usually take over a week to clear, my sister says in her bank they 1-3 days and for me its 5-7 working days. If I use a cash machine or buy something on my debit card it doesnt show on my statement for 1-3 days instead of the expected instantly so their entire system seems lagged.

I rang them up yesterday demanding the fee been waived and asked for an overdraft increase, no to both, so I told them they wont cooperate and as a result to expect a letter from me asking for 6 years of charges been refunded, the guy was ignorant saying they are not illegal and good luck to me but I will get nowhere then he hung up on me.

Now I will probably proceed with my claim and instead of counting all the charges up even tho I have most of my statements stored, I will probably ask them to provide the charges to me.

However I am concerned that after they pay out they turn around and say we no longer want to do business with you and closing your accounts, please pay of all outstanding debts (I have a loan and cancelled credit card balance) within X days to avoid debt collectors.

Is there any kind of protection to stop banks simply closing accounts for people claiming back their charges? since that customer will simply be not profitable for the bank anymore apart from interest on any debts so the bank will want to get rid.