Bank charges .....

Jimbeam3678 · 12 Oct 2006 at 11:02

Has anyone started or suceeded on here to reclaim these unlawful bank charges just wondering what experirences people have had on here with it ??

Ron Burgundy · 12 Oct 2006 at 11:08

divaboy said:
Has anyone started or suceeded on here to reclaim these unlawful bank charges just wondering what experirences people have had on here with it ??

If you are talking about Bank Consumer Group, etc, I wasnt aware that people on here were doing them, but then i'm reasonably new. However, I can confirm that yes, I was sucessful in re-claiming £1400 from HSBC.

Mujja · 12 Oct 2006 at 11:14

What kind of charges can you claim back? Authorised OD interest charges or just failed DD fees, fees to send you a letter etc?

Just curious how you managed to total up £1400 in penalties.

Jimbeam3678 · 12 Oct 2006 at 11:17

can claim back things like fee for going over your agreed overdraft charges, DD and cheques amongst other things.

The_KiD · 12 Oct 2006 at 11:20

You can claim for anything which is deemed a penalty charge, which includes:-

Quote:
returned direct debits,
card misuse,
unpaid standing order,
unpaid item,
exceeding your overdraft,
overdraft interest (see below),
total charges (see below)
(more will be added as and when confirmation is found)
You can not claim for: -

Quote:
ATM (cash machine) usage (typically £1),
an agreed overdraft fee,
anything which is deemed a "service" by the bank
(more will be added as and when confirmation is found)

These guys are great and give you step by step advice to getting your money back:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/

TerryWogan · 12 Oct 2006 at 11:22

I reclaimed 50 quid from Halifax using a template letter. I was charged just over 70 quid in total, so I didn't do badly. I could've pushed for the full lot back but I just accepted their first offer.

Hedge · 12 Oct 2006 at 11:30

I need to do this. My crap money management has cost me a fortune in fines etc. Must owe me about 2 grand

Ron Burgundy · 12 Oct 2006 at 11:31

Overdraft fees, returned DDs and checques. I know some people will say it was all my fault, but it actually was more complicated than that. It was a relationship split and I got stung left right and centre.

For instance, I had a fixed SO due out every month that could not be cancelled, I tried extra hard to make sure the funds were in there by the due date (thursday) and I got paid on the friday (which they could see coming in by BACS). They refused to move the SO date to Friday, which they could have done very easily, so I went OD and got charged OD fees and £30 for the retrun of the DD. Not impressed.

Roalith · 12 Oct 2006 at 12:19

RE: Overdraft interest, you can claim for this however it has to be proportional to the penalty charges incorporated in your overdraft - IE: say for example that in a given month you are £100 overdrawn, £70 of which is charges - you could then claim for 70% of the o/d interest for that month.

Interestingly enough, there are quite a few cases just kicking off with people claiming for contractual interest rates against the charges levied on their account - which certainly boosts the amount you claw back a fair bit.

I post as reload over on the Consumer Action Group forums - one of the site helpers.

Generally speaking, 'Overdraft Excess Fees' and 'Returned DD/Returned Cheque' are the main 3 culprits for standard bank accounts. For Credit Cards, you're looking at 'Late Payment Charge' and 'Overlimit Fees'. In other words, if it can be construed as a disproportionate penalty (For example, you couldn't claim back a monthly £2 account charge for running the account, or valid interest)

A[L]C · 12 Oct 2006 at 12:58

Do you have to work out how much they owe you? If so, whats the best way?

Hedge · 12 Oct 2006 at 13:07

A[L]C said:
Do you have to work out how much they owe you? If so, whats the best way?

i think you recieve 6 years of statements, and go through them and not down all charges you are entitled to. this will take a long time though i imagine

riddlermarc · 12 Oct 2006 at 13:32

Hedge said:
i think you recieve 6 years of statements, and go through them and not down all charges you are entitled to. this will take a long time though i imagine

Funnily enough I was looking into this just yesterday. The first thing to do is to write to your bank with the standard letter here (registration req'd tho) and enclosed a £10 cheque so you can get a copy of your last six years charges on your statements. After that, you tally up the charges and then hit the bank with a letter stating how much etc and say if they don't respond you within 40 days you will follow it up with a LBA (Letter Before Action) that warns you are prepared to take it to court.

The best thing to do is to register on the cag forums and read through this forum. There are varying degrees of success but it's definitely worth a shot, especially if it is a decent sum of money (I'm sending off my request for statements today, hoping to end up with >£2k charges refunded from the last few years :eek:

..).

Vanilla · 12 Oct 2006 at 13:39

Jesus, hard to believe the amounts people are getting / have racked up in charges.

I don't think i've ever had a charge!

Samtheman1k · 12 Oct 2006 at 13:40

I'm still really confused as to how anyone can mount up £2k of charges? :confused:

Hedge · 12 Oct 2006 at 13:42

Samtheman1k said:
I'm still really confused as to how anyone can mount up £2k of charges?

Not as difficult as you can think. I suck with money, i spend beyond my means and get fines as a result. People are going to climb on their high horse and start telling me that i dont deserve to claim stuff back.. but before you do people... screw you i dont care

riddlermarc · 12 Oct 2006 at 14:06

Samtheman1k said:
I'm still really confused as to how anyone can mount up £2k of charges?

It's a cascading thing, a couple of DD's bounced which threw my finances out of whack. I got charged £x amount for the bounced DDs and then a further charge because those charges then took me overdrawn! It's happened a few times, partly my own fault I know but the charges just suck you deeper into the **** which spirals over time. Bouncing a couple of direct debits can cost you over £100 in charges alone but what hacks me off is the banks KNOW they don't have the right to chrage you yet they do. If you query it they will try to bully you into accepting a derisory amount, stick to your guns and you can get it all back and with the interest paid on what they have charged you.

When I was younger and care free I never even had an overdraft, but with age comes bigger financial commitments and sometimes they can get in a twist. What didn't help was that I was pretty much off work for six months undergoing cancer treatment/chemo.

Hedge said:
Not as difficult as you can think. I suck with money, i spend beyond my means and get fines as a result. People are going to climb on their high horse and start telling me that i dont deserve to claim stuff back.. but before you do people... screw you i dont care

Ah but you DO deserve to claim the charges back, they are not lawful in refusing to pay them back. This is what people fail to understand, the banks are legally bound to repay the charges 'cause they shouldn't do it in the first place.

Jimbeam3678 · 12 Oct 2006 at 17:46

Anyone thinking about claiming there charges back I would say go do it.

Its well worth it for cutting and pasting a few letters

Also how often do you manage to s*** the banks over :cool:

MikeTimbers · 13 Oct 2006 at 20:18

I went overdrawn for three days and got £285 of charges which I got back for the sake of a form letter and a first class stamp.