Bank Charges

Mr.Clark

Mr.Clark

Mr.Clark

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Joined
13 Jun 2005
Posts
1,586
I've received a letter from my bank (Intelligent Finance) that a Direct Debit has failed and that they'll charge me £30 for "the cost of returning my Direct Debit". (and there will be more fees if I don't have the £30 when they try and take it :rolleyes:)

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but they haven't done anything.

An automated system from the recipient has requested payment and an automated system at my bank has declined it.

The recipient then wrote to me and told me about this (and didn't charge me any fees) and I paid it on a different card.

Then I get this letter from the bank telling me they'll take £30 off me for the privilege of not doing anything for me.

What's this in the news last year about unfair charges (no-one can convince me the admin charge of sending a letter is more than £1), and can I fight this?

Thanks... :)
 
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Currently awating the high court judgement as to the legality of the fees, until that's resolved, you're unlikely to get anywhere with threatening behaviour.

However, a nice dialogue with the bank often works for getting a goodwill refund if this is the first time this has happened, and they'll do that even while the fees case is ongoing.
 
Mr.Clark said:
Be polite, ask nicely?

Worth a shot.

Thanks :)
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Just don't mention claiming them back or the court case otherwise they shut up shop and say there is nothng they can do.

But you say along the lines of it never happened to me before , my dog died so it was an oversight could you maybe help me out here ........
 
Theres a court case going on at the moment, they will not cancel that fine, not a chance, unless your int he right, you can dispute it but most banks are putting financial complaints on hold until the court case is resolved which is due to be sometime shortly. BBA are finishing investigations and its due to be resolved ina matter of weeks.

Due to the court case all banks are putting things like this on hold we get all these complaints in at work and we are replying with the same answer to everyones query, theres a huge backlog of complaints and it seems to be getting larger, we are even dealing with complaints about the handling of financial complaints which is slightly annoying, but nothing you can do.

The bank shouldnt charge you if you have funds in the bank, and if they have refused the direct debit then you deffinately shouldnt be charged, if you go into your bank asap you may be able to get this sorted, even ringing them as they will be able to do things with your account faster, if you dont you could be waiting weeks. They may be able to stop the system from charging you, i had £25 taken off a £50 fine last month which was good of them but its all system generated and not checked by human input. So if it is a genuine error they should sort it.
 
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I got hit by a late payment charge on my visa card last month.

Had the bill through and paid onto it from an online account however when I got the next bill through I noticed a late payment fee. Phoned them up and they told me my payment didn't count (it was credited but didn't meet the 'made payment on time' criteria) as it had to be a cash payment (i.e. either send in a cheque or payment over the counter). Told them it was my first missed payment and I hadn't realised it was cash only. They refused to give me a refund on the £38(!) charge though.
 
He probably just doesn't want peoples who accounts are in good standing order to have to pay increased banking fee's because muppets like myself aren't good enough with our cash stop getting penalty fee's.

If the banks lose I can imagine its good bye to free banking.
 
Well, according to the OFT, £12 is considered acceptable and not just a chance for a bank to profit from a penalty being levied.
 
GarethDW said:
Well, according to the OFT, £12 is considered acceptable and not just a chance for a bank to profit from a penalty being levied.
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The above only makes any difference if you're dealing with contract penalty clauses rather than service charges though (which is the crux of the current high court case)

However, I will add I struggle to see how rejecting a direct debit can be considered a service, unlike authorising that payment and granting an unauthorised overdraft...
 
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