Reclaiming bank charges
- Thread starter paul8811
- Start date
I'm quite far advanced in the process and a many, many people have had success.
Take a look at this site, very useful - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges
Also be prepared for a lot of people in here to start having a go at you for not managing your bank account to a satisfactory standard, no matter what your circumstances.
Take a look at this site, very useful - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges
Also be prepared for a lot of people in here to start having a go at you for not managing your bank account to a satisfactory standard, no matter what your circumstances.
Soldato
- Joined
- 15 Mar 2004
- Posts
- 3,184
- Location
- Oxford
my dad done his a while ago and got pretty much what he was owed and my sister done hers and got about the same i think around £1400 i think 
It's unfair on the banks if anything. They're providing a service, and if people go overdrawn, they are in their right to issue ridiculous charges. People need to learn to be more careful with their money, and only spend what they have. The nation is over £3 Trillion in debt at present.
My girlfriend has one bank charge, £20 for going £2 overdrawn when T-Mobile took money out earlier than usual (she puts cash into an account for her direct debits but as they took it out early she didn't have the cash in there!). Do you know if she'd be able to claim that back? Or can you only really claim back multiple charges?Big Kev said:
SB118 said:How exactly is banks hitting people for huge fees going to help people balance their books?
By teaching then a harsh lesson in how to manage their finances.
Anyway, this argument will just go the same way these threads always do (when they are started on a weekly basis).
All I can say is I was happy to see one of the banks fight back and actually win - so maybe soon we can see the back of all this "It's not my fault I can't manage my finances - so I'll bury my head in the sand rather than speak to my bank" situations.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6657025.stmstoofa said:
no its rediculas charges tho, my wife (gf at the time) went overdrawn by being £1.65 short ffrom paying a direct debit of £11 they then charged her £32 for bouncing the direct debit £34 for going overdrawn then another £34 as it was the last day of the month
so for £1.65 that thet didnt even pay out they charged her £100 and because she was on the sick she couldnt afford to pay it back straight away so i payed it for her.. but if i wasnt there she would have been getting further and further int he crapper all because of £1.65 she didnt even spend as they bounced it
im sorry but thats rediculas it costs them nothing to say no u cant pay that bill
so for £1.65 that thet didnt even pay out they charged her £100 and because she was on the sick she couldnt afford to pay it back straight away so i payed it for her.. but if i wasnt there she would have been getting further and further int he crapper all because of £1.65 she didnt even spend as they bounced it
im sorry but thats rediculas it costs them nothing to say no u cant pay that bill
SB118 said:No, banks aren't above the law, they don't have the right to enforce an unlawful clause of a contract.
How exactly is banks hitting people for huge fees going to help people balance their books?
Because it provides an incentive for people to control their money. They're providing an extremely useful service free of charge and if you go into debt they have the right to punish you. If it states in their T&Cs that they will issue heavy fines then they have the right to do so.
I know it's extremely difficult for people who dig themselves in to a financial hole, but they still shouldn't have got there in the first place.
stoofa said:
I stopped working for complex reasons (not voluntarily!), my finances went to kak in short order and every month i'd pay £90 of bank charges. I asked the bank for some assitance (extend my overdraft by £50 so i can get out of the vicious circle of almost breaking even, then being hit with another batch of charges which put me back into debt), they told me a had to manage my account better before they'd help me get out of the loop
Didn't bury my head in the sand, asked for help, the bank prefered my money. Afraid i don't feel all that sorry for them having to pay it back
Wonder how long we can drag this thread out for
Soldato
- Joined
- 13 Aug 2004
- Posts
- 8,399
- Location
- England
If they think that the charges were fair, e.g you were overdrawn by quite a bit say £100 and you got a £30 then you'll be facing a bigger challenge as this could be proven in court to be a fair charge. Or if you keep going overdrawn regularly.
Personally the quicker the office of fair trading picks this up and sets a standard charge such as the ones on credit cards (£12) then the easier the whole situation will be.
Personally the quicker the office of fair trading picks this up and sets a standard charge such as the ones on credit cards (£12) then the easier the whole situation will be.
I don't have an issue with a bank issuing charges and fines.
What I do take issue with, is when they just take it out of your account. Then charge you again because what they've taken has caused something else to go wrong, which means now this can't be payed so they charge again etc.
If they sent some kind of bill or invoince for the initial charge, that would be fairer.
Only charge I got was because I tried to draw money out against a cheque that hadn't quite cleared.
I obviously didn't understand the sign in the branch that says 'PAY IN A CHEQUE BEFORE 2PM AND THE MONEY WILL BE CREDITED TO YOUR ACCOUNT TODAY' properly.
What I do take issue with, is when they just take it out of your account. Then charge you again because what they've taken has caused something else to go wrong, which means now this can't be payed so they charge again etc.
If they sent some kind of bill or invoince for the initial charge, that would be fairer.
Only charge I got was because I tried to draw money out against a cheque that hadn't quite cleared.
I obviously didn't understand the sign in the branch that says 'PAY IN A CHEQUE BEFORE 2PM AND THE MONEY WILL BE CREDITED TO YOUR ACCOUNT TODAY' properly.
What I just can't understand is, if your account gets hit with a direct debit and you don't have the funds why can't it just be rejected and leave it at that? If you overdraw when using a debit card the bank simply doesn't allow the transaction to go through so why is it different for direct debits?
SB118 said:No, banks aren't above the law, they don't have the right to enforce an unlawful clause of a contract.
How exactly is banks hitting people for huge fees going to help people balance their books?
But whether the clause is unlawful depends on whether it's a penalty for breaching the contract or a charge for a service. If it's the former, it's illegal, if it's the later, it is definitely not.
This story sums it up.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6253730.stm
It all depends on the wording of the situation, the same judge has rejected claims against one bank and accepted claims against another based on how the charges are presented.
I put a cheque in a few weeks back and wrote the wrong amount on the paying in slip, i got charged £28 for this 
. Then they took the charge out of an account i don't use and doesn't have any money in it that Ive been meaning to close but haven't had time. So then i got charged for being overdrawn as well, £56 for a typo . Would i be entitled to at least the second charge back?.
. Then they took the charge out of an account i don't use and doesn't have any money in it that Ive been meaning to close but haven't had time. So then i got charged for being overdrawn as well, £56 for a typo . Would i be entitled to at least the second charge back?.