Bank Account Charges - A Bank Won

*Claps Decision*
Now I know it's only a local level judge and in no way case law.
However it shows that the first time this has gone all the way to a judge the bank has won.

Don't get me wrong - I don't love banks.
If a mistake is their's with regards payments going in and out then they should be accountable.
£25 is a criminal amount to be charged for a letter to say you are overdrawn (however the customer did agree to these charges before they signed up).
But at the end of the day, if somebody is first incapable of managing their finances there should be penalties in place.
If somebody is having problems month after month they should go into their bank and explain the problem.
Banks will listen, they will try and help.
How anyone has managed to rack up thousands of pounds of bank charges over the years is a mystery to me.

Banks were happy to settle with customers out of court.
Some clever sod decides he wants his day in front of a judge and loses.
I can only hope now that maybe a few more banks will have the courage to go to court over this.
People may then realise it is their responsability to look after their finances - not somebody else.
 
It won't stop me. I'm waiting on a court date at the moment and to me it's a little drop in ocean. He may not have prepared properly/used the wrong argument etc etc..

While I'm here :) ....

I think that the so-called 'free' banking will have to end any way, as the charges are totally unjust and unfair.
 
stoofa said:
*Claps Decision*
Now I know it's only a local level judge and in no way case law.
However it shows that the first time this has gone all the way to a judge the bank has won..

It's not the first time.

stoofa said:
£25 is a criminal amount to be charged for a letter to say you are overdrawn

I don't think anyone is saying that banks shouldn't be able to charge a reasonable amount for going over the limit. As you've stated £25 is not a reasonable amount.

stoofa said:
(however the customer did agree to these charges before they signed up).

If a contract that you signed and didn't read properly stated that the bank was able to charge £1000 pounds for going over the limit would that be ok ? or how about chop your hands off ? ;)

Just because you signed a contract/piece of paper, does not make everything on it legally binding, and it doesn't affect your right to challenge the contract in court which is what I and thousands of other people are doing. :)

The court will soon tell me if they think the contract is legal, so the bank has just got to turn up and plead their case.
 
Last edited:
WIBSBOT said:
If a contract that you signed and didn't read properly stated that the bank was able to charge £1000 pounds for going over the limit would that be ok ? or how about chop your hands off ? ;)

No, but then I wouldn't of signed it *that* contract.
 
IMO

Anyone that racks up 1000s in bank charges over a few years doesnt deserve to get it back. Just think what they could have done if they had a reasonable grasp of money.

If the bank didnt get the money from charges those accounts would have been closed a long time ago.

If people cant handle a bank account in a responsible way then they shouldnt have one.

I am sure all of what I have said above has been said on OcUk before so please try not to reply with a load of excuses for getting charged. In I would guess 15 years of having a current account I have not been charged once for going over an overdraft limit.

Good on that judge I say.
 
Samtheman1k said:
No, but then I wouldn't of signed it *that* contract.

But as most banks offer similar terms and similar penalties then you would have no choice if you wanted to get a job, house etc etc.....
 
I can see why they charge these fee's but I claimed my money back after going 30p over drawn and then being charged £90 in fee's and getting a 4 seperate letters 5 days later to tell me I was overdrawn.

If they had sent a txt to my mobile no (which they have) or rung me to notify me I was overdrawn then I would have put the money in. Instead they paid the items which were due to come out then charged me £30 for each one, which in my mind is disgusting.

Also what happened to when you used to try and pay for something, if you didnt have the cash it wouldnt allow you to pay for it, now it just goes ahead and authorises it anyways, which is just wrong.
 
Fishman said:
IMO

Anyone that racks up 1000s in bank charges over a few years doesnt deserve to get it back. Just think what they could have done if they had a reasonable grasp of money.

If the bank didnt get the money from charges those accounts would have been closed a long time ago.

I admit I wasn't the best at managing my finances but the bank has made a huge amount of money out of me over the years over and above the overdraft penalties so they wouldn't want to close my account :) .

You have your opinion, but I don't think it's reasonable to charge anyone £28 + for going over the limit plus 26% interest ! :eek: :eek: :eek:

And, I am not the person who will decide whether it is fair or not. The court will do that.

Just remember that I and others like me have been subsidising your banking for years through our charges.

Literally the poor being robbed by the rich :)
 
WIBSBOT said:
Just remember that I and others like me have been subsidising your banking for years through our charges.
Ta for that :)

I think the fairest way would be. Go over overdraft = £25 odd fine to make there be some sort fo deterrent. But no fine for being pushed further into your overdraft by the initial fine.

I think one issue people have is living on the edge of a interest free portion of an overdraft instead of realising that this isnt their money and they should perhaps tighten up a bit for a while. But I guess this is another part of todays society where people can apply for multiple £20k credit cards making no where near that in a year.
 
From what I remember you can claim back charges within the last six years, is that correct?

Now if that's true how can you accumulate £2.5k worth of charges in such a short space of time?
 
its absolutely despicable.... the district Judge has chosen not to see what the banks are doing...just digusting....


let me remind folk....

Banks are not allowed to make profits on the fees/charges that are levied to customers. The charge has to be proportionate to the cost to the Bank of the account going overdrawn.

No Bank has ever disclosed the cost of this despite hundreds of requests to do so.

Every single bank has an automated process for dealing with overdrawn transactions. This does not cost £30 or £40 each time. The only case the bank would have is if they have to make a manual intervention each time but they do not.

Just shows how much power the banks have that they can influence the outcome like this. Corruption in the upper echelons of the UK Judicial system what a shocker.......
 
I have to send my second letter to Abbey this Friday saying I will take them to court. Reason I'm waiting till this Friday is because I need some money to send it recorded - and I don't get get paid then!

Abbey told me they have up to eight weeks to resolve any query of this nature. I sent my first letter to them on 23rd March, so eight weeks expires this Friday.
 
That's a bad decision and a bit of a blow to the man on the street. I bank with those ****s too so I might have to reconsider claiming back.
 
Tru said:
That's a bad decision and a bit of a blow to the man on the street. I bank with those ****s too so I might have to reconsider claiming back.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork/A12459864

Just follow the advice from the guys at the Consumer Action Group. It isnt a binding ruling but unfortunately im sure a lot of other Courts may use it as an example and test case (ie they pass the buck) because they dont have the balls to make a decision themselves.
 
Back
Top Bottom