Bank Charges: Reclaim them!

[Nate]

Found this out just a minute ago,

Ever had your bank charge you for being overdrawn, cheque or direct debits bouncing? The whole "it cost us £30 to send you this letter, please give us it back." Well now it's been made clear that you can claim this money back from the bank(+ with interest!!!) as it's unlawful. It apparently only goes back as far as six years though.

Read all about it here: Best to read this

Sample letter to the bank: When you've read all about it

I haven't exactly tried this out myself, but well worth a try if you've had a few of these come in and are short for cash ;o

 

[Mojo]

This BBC article has some more info and links to pre drafted letters.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6170209.stm

 

[megadave]

Thank god, bank has charged me over 50% of my last 3 months income for going over by a few quid a few times.

 

[Calaen]

GMTV are doing a running thing with the guy that started the fact website. Just a warning though some banks are now taking the step of closing down the accounts of people reclaiming.

 

[Mabs]

GMTV are doing a running thing with the guy that started the fact website. Just a warning though some banks are now taking the step of closing down the accounts of people reclaiming.

i thought the whole point was , the charges are illegal ?
so you are reclaiming something that they effectively "stole" from you, and theyre giving you the boot at the same time ?!

 

[Laddey]

My mother is claiming back 6 years of bank charges. We went through a rough patch a while back but it's like an estimated 4grand.

 

[Marc]

Be careful and think it through before you do this. The banks can be funny about it and close your account, or ask for any loans or credit cards you have with them to be paid in full within 30 days. If you cannot pay it then it will affect your credit rating and you may struggle to get another bank account (leaving you with the only option of a basic cardcash account that kids have)

I guess it depends how much you stand to make from the refunded bank charges

*EDIT* Saw the bbc article, says its unlikely to happen

 

[Mey]

I've said it before and i'll say it again the 30 quid isn't fundamentally the price it costs the bank to send you a letter and take a look at your account it's the fact that you have gone over your agreed limit with the bank, we wouldn't give you a loan for free (ok maybe for a couple of months before anyone gets smart) so why should we give you money free when you don't even ask us to borrow it.

If you don't want to get charged learn to count and look after your accounts is that really so hard to do?

 

[Trallisx]

I've said it before and i'll say it again the 30 quid isn't fundamentally the price it costs the bank to send you a letter and take a look at your account it's the fact that you have gone over your agreed limit with the bank, we wouldn't give you a loan for free (ok maybe for a couple of months before anyone gets smart) so why should we give you money free when you don't even ask us to borrow it.

If you don't want to get charged learn to count and look after your accounts is that really so hard to do?

I'm pretty good at keeping things in the black and out of the red but last year the company I work for hit a rough patch, I didn't get paid for 2 months.

I had nothing saved up and my bank refused to help me.
I was hit for almost £1000 of bank charges due to the bank charging me £35 a go for every DD/SO that was bounced.
Then when they took the £1000 in charges from me, it sent my account into an un-agreed Overdraft so they charged me again + interest on the overdraft amount.

I am still (8 months on) struggling each month as I have had to set aside cash to pay these charges off. I now have crappy credit rating and struggle to open up a bog-standard account.

Now, as far as I am concerned I shouldn't have been charged as I let them know the trouble I was facing yet they thought it more profitable to charge me rather than help me.

I am claiming back what, in the end of the day, cash they took from me in an unlawful way + interest.

 

[Nate]

I'm pretty good at keeping things in the black and out of the red but last year the company I work for hit a rough patch, I didn't get paid for 2 months.

I had nothing saved up and my bank refused to help me.
I was hit for almost £1000 of bank charges due to the bank charging me £35 a go for every DD/SO that was bounced.
Then when they took the £1000 in charges from me, it sent my account into an un-agreed Overdraft so they charged me again + interest on the overdraft amount.

I am still (8 months on) struggling each month as I have had to set aside cash to pay these charges off. I now have crappy credit rating and struggle to open up a bog-standard account.

Now, as far as I am concerned I shouldn't have been charged as I let them know the trouble I was facing yet they thought it more profitable to charge me rather than help me.

I am claiming back what, in the end of the day, cash they took from me in an unlawful way + interest.

Well said, and I hope you get the charges removed. I do wonder if you can get through to the people who work at these places, Mey seems to be brainwashed in to thinking it's only ever the customers fault. Welcome to good customer service training.

 

[Corran]

I've said it before and i'll say it again the 30 quid isn't fundamentally the price it costs the bank to send you a letter and take a look at your account it's the fact that you have gone over your agreed limit with the bank, we wouldn't give you a loan for free (ok maybe for a couple of months before anyone gets smart) so why should we give you money free when you don't even ask us to borrow it.

If you don't want to get charged learn to count and look after your accounts is that really so hard to do?

Banks are a joke though with how they do it. Take my partner for instance.

Direct debit was due to come out, not enough funds in the account.

Direct Debit rejected. Means no money comes out thus still within her limits.

Bank decides that it acceptable to charge £32 to send a letter saying "This
direct debit was rejected"

The charge took her into unauthorised overdraft

they charge £28 more for this, being that it only went into that because of their original charge.


You telling me this is fair? £32 was for the letter, because they didnt release the funds, so they were not finiancially worse off, apart for maybe £2 that it costs to generate and send the letter, and they charged her £60 for it. Whats worse money was already arranged to go into the account the following day, so she was over the limit for about 12 hours. Fucking joke.

But hey, the banks only make about £9.2billion each in their yearly profits!

 

[Yeke]

Looking into doing this shortly like others myself and my partner went through a difficult financial patch at a time like this you would think doing the right thing and looking for help would get you help from your bank instead it lead to charges which in turn incured more charges and made the situation a whole lot worse.

Like others our credit rating is now poor mostly due to the banks charging exorbatant fees this unfortunatly cant be repaired by claiming the charges back but hopefuly if enough people claim back these type of charges the banks etc will change there ways and hopefuly one day offer help to customers with problems rather than confounding there problems with unfair charges.

 

[Nate]

Looking into doing this shortly like others myself and my partner went through a difficult financial patch at a time like this you would think doing the right thing and looking for help would get you help from your bank instead it lead to charges which in turn incured more charges and made the situation a whole lot worse.

Like others our credit rating is now poor mostly due to the banks charging exorbatant fees this unfortunatly cant be repaired by claiming the charges back but hopefuly if enough people claim back these type of charges the banks etc will change there ways and hopefuly one day offer help to customers with problems rather than confounding there problems with unfair charges.

What !?! You mean The Paul O'Graady Show isn't making enough cash? You could always try the DVD market

 

[Congax]

I wonder if this would be an illegal action of the banks in Belgium aswell .. Would be nice to reclaim

 

[Corran]

I wonder if this would be an illegal action of the banks in Belgium aswell .. Would be nice to reclaim

It isn't strictly illegal, it is deemed "Unfair" by the trade authorities. The reason that banks pay it back some the charges when they receive requests is they know that if it goes to court they are screwed and wont be able to get away with it from anyone. And they make a fortune out of the people that dont claim it back still.

The basic jist of it, if it goes all the way to court then the bank would have to make their books available to the court thus putting them in the public domain and they will lose competitive edge as their competition will get to have a full look at their costings etc. No bank wants to do that thus they pay up. That just one of the reasons though, and there are others but no need to get into it.

 

[Mey]

Don't accept the terms & conditions of the contract of the bank when you sign up if you don't like the charges they state. Nate i'm not brainwashed i just think it's a joke sure there are people who fair enough going overdrawn maybe not actually be 100% their fault, therefore they should seek help. I often remove charges from peoples account's if they explain to me the situations in which it had occured and i am reasonably sure that they aren't pulling a fast one.

 

[Mojo]

Don't accept the terms & conditions of the contract of the bank when you sign up if you don't like the charges they state. Nate i'm not brainwashed i just think it's a joke sure there are people who fair enough going overdrawn maybe not actually be 100% their fault, therefore they should seek help. I often remove charges from peoples account's if they explain to me the situations in which it had occured and i am reasonably sure that they aren't pulling a fast one.

No offence but if you (and the bank you worked for) were correct you wouldn't be getting increasinlgy arse fucked by your customers now would you.

 

[Mey]

I've not be arsed fucked by any of my customers. Would you let someone have a loan for free? No. The same is with an unagreed overdraft.

 

[Mojo]

I've not be arsed fucked by any of my customers. Would you let someone have a loan for free? No. The same is with an unagreed overdraft.

No, but I wouldn't take this piss either and I certainly wouldn't charge them into their overdratfs and then charge them some more, the word dumbass springs to mind for pulling off that sort off bullshit. Justify it all you want im sure no one reading is going to cancel any impending refund they may be entitled to.

 

[tris-]

if law says you can have it back then the banks terms and conditions on charges dont mean jack shit.

 

[Marc]

Mey, the point is (as discussed in another thread months ago), no one is arguing that banks shouldnt charge you, its how much they charge that is the problem. They have deemed to be excessive and therefore have to pay the price.

 

[Mey]

Bah! *shakes fist* if you all claim your charges back how am i going to roll around in my big pile of dosh in my bedroom!