Claiming back bank penalty charges

Sir_LANs-a-lot · Post by **Sir_LANs-a-lot** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:47 am 0

Handy dandy guide courtesy of Auntie beeb:

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6170209.stm wrote:Penalty charges can be incurred for the following: unauthorised overdrafts, unpaid items such as cheques, direct debits or standing orders. These are also known as returned or bounced items.

You can claim the last six years of charges, or five if you live in Scotland (for claiming back your fees in Scotland, see the special entry below).

syd · Post by **syd** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:08 am 0

I haven't really read the bbc thing but this site has been online for a while now and probably has a lot more info than the bbc.

I have just opened a 'parachute' account with halifax and I'm about to ask for my last six years bank statements from abbey national. Apparently abbey always close your account when refunding your money, and I was worried for a while they would try to close my mortgage account at the same time which is why I haven't done this sooner. I reckon they owe me at least Â£3000. I let you all know how things go.

There was a program on tv earier this year about this very subject which is what initially got me interested. I'm surprised it took the bbc so long to report on it in the news.

oddbob0 · Post by **oddbob0** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:30 am 0

We've just finished with one bank (the glorious Nationwide) and managed to scrape near Â£300 back from them - along with the promise of them closing our account just in time for Christmas.

Curiously enough, they were more than happy to leave baby's fund in place, but frankly - they can get to fuck

So, it *does* work - and the consumer action forums are an immense help and very supportive.

I think the main thing is, once you get the first letter from the banks telling you that you're to comply with their T&C's and complain to someone irrelevant then thats the real drive on in the fuck you stakes. Just hold your nerve and have a spare account on standby

IanJ · Post by **IanJ** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 1:50 am 0

Hi folks, just about to go through this process of claiming back (many!) bank charges incurred over the last 6 years... (4 of those as a student in a financial mess):

Martin Lewis; BBC's jemery vine, 'money or your life' guy: (legal letter templates, etc.)
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bi ... 0760,24632,

forum of successful claims/payments: (well worth a view for inspiration/confidence)
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/sho ... 2&page=315

Good Luck folks! I browsed through these pages, particularly interested in Barclays. Searching for barclays on each page showed that they seemed to be the most stubborn sods, some claims taking upto 7 months... although some claims to barclays took only a few weeks...

Here goes... secured my parachute account today (with a 1500 credit card to boot, enabling me to transfer my debt from barclaycard with 0% for 12 months.....) Banks can DUMP you after the claim is settled and I have a feeling credit cards may be able to do the same, not sure, just a feeling!? Be prepared and GO For IT

Customer Revenge!

THEDARKPRIESTCYRIC · Sat Apr 28, 2007 8:08 am 0

Hmm, what about claiming the money back in America? Is all of that overseas stuff or should I be able to get all the money the bank has pwnd of mine this year?

D · Post by D » Sat Apr 28, 2007 8:40 am 0

syd wrote:I haven't really read the bbc thing but Apparently abbey always close your account when refunding your money.

[EDIT] D'oh, didn't read IanJ's post properly!

Anyways:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1999/19992083.htm for a little further info.

Kronos · Post by **Kronos** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 9:35 am 0

I'm with Abbey, trouble is my charges have been quite low but my overdraft with them is huge so I never tried it on incase they canned the account

teamonkey · Post by **teamonkey** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 10:13 am 0

syd wrote:I haven't really read the bbc thing but this site has been online for a while now and probably has a lot more info than the bbc.

Yeah, I used that site to successfully reclaim my bank charges a year ago.

aureole · Post by **aureole** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 10:36 am 0

If it's less than about Â£500 it should be a doddle. There's a couple of hoops they might try to get you to jump through, but the guys on the forums there will guide you through with absolutely no problems.

Out of interest, how much are you claiming?

PVB · Post by **PVB** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 11:18 am 0

Excuse me for being thick, but I don't get how you can claim back charges which are part of an account T&Cs?

e.g. If I agree to have a Â£150 overdraft limit and the bank states that if I go over it I get charged, then I do go over the limit, how/why should I try to claim back those charges?

Kronos · Post by **Kronos** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 11:26 am 0

Because basically the law has decided that the banks can only charge what they themselves actually incur as a loss and the expense to send you out a crappy automated letter and NO MORE

And it has been calculated that it should be between Â£2.50 - Â£4.50 looking at the sites

edit : and the basis is because those charges cannot be legally justified ie Â£35 per transaction + letter therefore the contract is null and void on that part legally too

PVB · Post by **PVB** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 11:33 am 0

silent_unicorn wrote:Because basically the law has decided that the banks can only charge what they themselves actually incur as a loss and the expense to send you out a crappy automated letter and NO MORE And it has been calculated that it should be between Â£2.50 - Â£4.50 looking at the sites

edit : and the basis is because those charges cannot be legally justified ie Â£35 per transaction + letter therefore the contract is null and void on that part legally too

Aah, right, thanks.

Kronos · Post by **Kronos** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 11:48 am 0

PVB wrote:
silent_unicorn wrote:Because basically the law has decided that the banks can only charge what they themselves actually incur as a loss and the expense to send you out a crappy automated letter and NO MORE And it has been calculated that it should be between Â£2.50 - Â£4.50 looking at the sites

edit : and the basis is because those charges cannot be legally justified ie Â£35 per transaction + letter therefore the contract is null and void on that part legally too
Aah, right, thanks.

I'm going to try and screw back the charges off MBNA that abbey national sold my business to without my consent

bit more tricky for CC charges though so....

c64audio · Post by **c64audio** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 12:07 pm 0

First Direct were actually very good with my Â£200 claim, and offered it on the first letter (also didn't try to close my account).

I managed to squeak in before the forthcoming OFT report which will probably give the banks the right to charge a maximum of Â£12: which will mean that all bank charge reclaim results would be reduced by a third.

The report is "imminent", so now's the time...

Chris

aureole · Post by **aureole** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 6:38 pm 0

silent_unicorn wrote: I'm going to try and screw back the charges off MBNA that abbey national sold my business to without my consent bit more tricky for CC charges though so....

Credit Cards are a different ballgame. There was an OFT report last summer capping the charges to (IIRC) Â£12. So if you've any charges over the last 6 years over this, you can claim the difference back. Theoretically it's possible to get the full amount back since the OFT is an advisory body and it's rulings are not legally binding. However, the banks would be in a stronger position to defend or counterclaim since the OFT carries a decent amount of clout for establishing the degree of reasonableness of a charge.