Bank charges !!!

[spenner]

Has anyone had any luck claiming these back????
Received letter from my old bank today refunding me £2114 nice

[_sleigh_]

Currently in the process of doing the same with my charges from a few years back. Looking for about £1700 back :)


How long did it take to get the offer back??

Which bank are you with??

[spenner]

Someone else who races received letter from woolwich refunding 2300 last friday mine arrived today. the 8 weeks would have been up on 15th may. If you can work that out. Nationwide was my old bank.

[jimmy]

Lad at work was on this ages ago and got over 3 grand back - not looked into it myself tho :eh?::eh?::o I don't think I ever had enough money for them to take.

[rcracer]

just reclaimed £1580 ;)

[DCM]

christ, how do you guys manage to rack up so much charges on your accounts?

[losixxx]

thats what i was thinking!!:D

[modelimages]

Wine, women and song in spenners case:)

[spenner]

Coming back to racing!!!! Something has to give.
Over 6 years of bank charges thats not too bad, glad the bank have added to my racing fund.

[Danny McGee]

Ive wanted to do with for a while but not really sure what to write to them. Any suggestions? I found a letter on the money program website but it seems a bit harsh in which i would be threatening legal action if they dont sort it out. Its only gonna be about 400 quid but to me thats like a whole months drinking money :D

Cheers for any advice

Danny

[b4rs]

i saw a decent book in waterstones, called 400 letters, it basically gives you a guide to writing a letter for any problem or complaint. but surely you want to get this 400 quid, it is yours, and any amount of money taken whether £40 or £400 is still stealing, so legal action is the way to go in any case.

[_sleigh_]

Danny...

I got my letters from the WHICH (http://www.which.co.uk/) web-site, there's a link on the right of the main homepage.

Just got all my statements from the last six years and totalled all the charges. If you don't have your statements you can request them for a nominal fee of about £10.

Then WHICH (http://www.which.co.uk/) site recommends writing an initial letter asking for the charges back, then if you don't hear anything then they have a "stronger" second letter to send.

I hand delivered mine to the bank last Friday morning and had a letter today saying the complaint will be actioned before 14th May. Not bad for about an hours work. :)

[rcracer]

Ive wanted to do with for a while but not really sure what to write to them. Any suggestions? I found a letter on the money program website but it seems a bit harsh in which i would be threatening legal action if they dont sort it out. Its only gonna be about 400 quid but to me thats like a whole months drinking money :D

Cheers for any advice

Danny

Danny use the letter templates from this site http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1141050760,24632,( i did ) follow the procedure from start to finish and dont give up, refuse all offers of what they call "a gesture of good will" and stick to your guns with the amouint they owe you, took me about 10 weeks in total but some can be longer or quicker.
Neil..:cool:

[ashleyb4]

Ive never had a bank charge.

I dont think. Ive never been overdrawn. What else do you get charged for???

A

p.s. YAY:D

[wacattack]

Basically the reason why it is very easy to claim back your charges when you threaten legal action is that when a bank applies charges to an acocunt, it is supposed to cover costs and costs only, and not act as an income stream.

If you took the bank to court they would find it very difficult to prove the costs they apply only cover costs, so it is more cost effective for the bank to give you your charges back.

You need to threaten with legal action to get the desired outcome. Otherwise the bank will not treat it seriously. There are plenty of example letters out there, including on the the BBC website.

Hope that helps

[Col]

Power to the people and all that, cos some of you have obviously been overcharged! However, this is a major source of income for the banks. With this gone, they are going to do something else to raise money and according to various sources the main one is likely to be the end of free banking. I for one have never been charged a dime by my bank cos I live within my means, so why should I have to pay to use my bank account that I have to have my wages paid into? The "experts" don't think these charges will be much, but over the course of your working career £2 a month in wasted charges is gonna add up...

[andy05]

I know someone who works for natwest who said the bank may start playing "hardball" . If you claim back all the charges and have either loans/overdrafts/creditcards with the same bank,they are within there rights to demand them paying back in full within 14 days:( . Aparently its in the small print of the agrement they didnt want to put me off (its a mate) he just said switch all of them to a different lender befor you claim;) .I havnt heard this has actually happend to anyone yet but its worth thinking about. I need to move some of mine before i claim

[rcracer]

Power to the people and all that, cos some of you have obviously been overcharged! However, this is a major source of income for the banks. With this gone, they are going to do something else to raise money and according to various sources the main one is likely to be the end of free banking. I for one have never been charged a dime by my bank cos I live within my means, so why should I have to pay to use my bank account that I have to have my wages paid into? The "experts" don't think these charges will be much, but over the course of your working career £2 a month in wasted charges is gonna add up...

i see your point nick but the charges are unlawfull to the amount it costs them to cover the paperwork which is about £2 and they charge £39 per charge, when they takeing that kind of amount off you it would be silly not to claim back what is rightly yours, i know alot of people havent had a charge in there life and wonder how people get these charges but we are talking a 6 years of charges here and once you get a couple its a downward slope , if they start chargeing for banking its the banks fault for robbing us not the people who get charged for overdrafts or unpaid direct debits.

[Hog]

Just about to instigate proceedings myself. I reckon I'm owed about £2500.

That's what you get from being a single income family with 2 kids, and an ex who doesn't understand the word "budget" :(

But of course now I'm single there's a whole plethora of stuff £2500 will buy me.......:D

[TRF_Tastic]

I know someone who works for natwest who said the bank may start playing "hardball" . If you claim back all the charges and have either loans/overdrafts/creditcards with the same bank,they are within there rights to demand them paying back in full within 14 days:( . Aparently its in the small print of the agrement they didnt want to put me off (its a mate) he just said switch all of them to a different lender befor you claim;) .I havnt heard this has actually happend to anyone yet but its worth thinking about. I need to move some of mine before i claim

There was a statement released by the banking ombudsman, to the effect that, although the banks are well within their rights to cancel peoples agreements and ask for full payment, the ombudsman would take a very dimm view on this and all such instances should be reported to them for investigation.

[andy05]

There was a statement released by the banking ombudsman, to the effect that, although the banks are well within their rights to cancel peoples agreements and ask for full payment, the ombudsman would take a very dimm view on this and all such instances should be reported to them for investigation.


WOW thats good news for me then, i will have to get my claim started thanks:)

[telboy]

thought of doing this ourself. but not to sure.

We once got charged £600 one month for going overdrawn and having some dirct debits returned, then the month after we got charged £400 for not having enough money in the bank due to the previous charges being taken out and leaving us with no money........then, we got charged the month after for going overdrawn after they took the money for the charges out of the bank....even though there wasn't enough money in the account.....again making us overdrawn again! this went on month after month. even though the money wasn't there they took the charges out leaving us overdrawn. but when it came to the mortgage being paid, they just returned the D.D. because the money wasn't there.:o

Its a viscious circle. and once they get you in it theres no way out.

but £1000 in two month, all for the sake of sent 2-3 letter out to us.

[Southwell]

My mate just got £1800. I can't get anything though, ive never gone over my overdraft....

[modelimages]

one of my customers is a senior banker for natwest, i told him about this thread and all these people getting money back, most of his reply was unprintable on a forum however the gist of his reply was A. you went over an agreed limit and were charged in accordance with the terms and conditions you agreed to. B. it costs a lot of money to have somebody sitting behind a desk sending out letters to people, his quote was that it costs £5k just to put someone behind a natwest desk, he should know he pays for all the infrastructure costs.

i did point out that if the banks had such a strong case for these charges why didn't they put up a fight, his answer "don't want any bad publicity".

[DCM]

I have had a few charges, but I contested it there and then, and the bank refunded all bar one for that month. It can be a viscious circle, and I have learnt only to spend the money you can afford to, not what you are allowed to.

It is hard sometimes, but I realy don't want to be in debt to anyone again.

[wacattack]

one of my customers is a senior banker for natwest, i told him about this thread and all these people getting money back, most of his reply was unprintable on a forum however the gist of his reply was A. you went over an agreed limit and were charged in accordance with the terms and conditions you agreed to. B. it costs a lot of money to have somebody sitting behind a desk sending out letters to people, his quote was that it costs £5k just to put someone behind a natwest desk, he should know he pays for all the infrastructure costs.

i did point out that if the banks had such a strong case for these charges why didn't they put up a fight, his answer "don't want any bad publicity".


I work for a bank and know what he said is just garbage. The problem arises because banks have used fees as a stream of income for years, and the financial services authority take a dimn view on this. Charges must cover the cost incurred to collect the money that justifies the charges.

He will say that as he want his company to perform well, the more customers do this the less his company makes. The same applies to me, my bonus come the end of the year depends on how profitable my portfolios are, and my portfolios make more money by applying these charges. If these charges are taken away from banks they will inevitably make less money. The problem you have is if customers continue to insist on these refunds the banks will punish us by other means.

Take First Direct, they are now charging customers a fee if they dont have a certain amount in there account within a 1 month period. You will see more and more of these charges being thought of over the coming months/years if we insist on the fees being refunded.

Catch 22. Should "Good" customers have to pay for those that dont manage their finances well? But do the fees justify the charges imposed.

Everyone will have their point of view, but im sure views will be based on their own experience

[DCM]

In most countries, you are charged to bank with them for more than the most basic of accounts, maybe that will come in. I currently pay £7 a month to Lloyds TSB, but then for that I get AA cover, Key cover and mobile phone insurance. I think our banking (is you stay within your limits) is very good, but like everything else in this country, when they hit you, they hit you hard.

I could never understand why they needed to send you THREE automated printouts to say you had insufficient funds for the DD's, and then charge you £20 each, I can understand someone phoning me up and telling me so and charging £20, but not for a letter.

[spenner]

For anyone looking to claim there bank charges back there is no need to do anymore than just 1 telephone call. I do have the number sat on my desk at work. If you are using most of these no win no fee you will lose money. The number i have is for the financial ombnusmon (not sure thats how you spell it) they are the top dogs where all complaints are made. They will contact your bank on your behalf and you just wait for the reply's. They will also tell you if you ask why you can claim your money back, the gist is the banks are breaking the law with regards to how much they can charge for charges etc..... The max they can charge is £4 any over this is classed as profit making through charges......
There is also some banks at the beginning who were closing peoples accounts after claims etc.... They will also tell you this is illegal and if it does happen you could have nice payout like the guy who received £32,000.
The banks are making offers to stop getting dragged through the courts as they will lose far less.
Don't believe any bank would pay out millions just to keep reputation.

[Col]

thought of doing this ourself. but not to sure.

We once got charged £600 one month for going overdrawn and having some dirct debits returned, then the month after we got charged £400 for not having enough money in the bank due to the previous charges being taken out and leaving us with no money........then, we got charged the month after for going overdrawn after they took the money for the charges out of the bank....even though there wasn't enough money in the account.....again making us overdrawn again! this went on month after month. even though the money wasn't there they took the charges out leaving us overdrawn. but when it came to the mortgage being paid, they just returned the D.D. because the money wasn't there.:o

Its a viscious circle. and once they get you in it theres no way out.

but £1000 in two month, all for the sake of sent 2-3 letter out to us.

Tel - this is against all the rules and regs without a shaddow of doubt. They are only allowed to remove funds that are there at the given date, not put you into an overdraft situation. However, if they remove all your money on the 1st of the month and your mortgage comes out on the 2nd, this is legal.
I may be against the idea of claiming money back in most cases, (note my previous post and Wayne's previous post) there is always the fact that most of the big banks are declaring record profits...

[losidan]

you dont need letters. I work for a large bank and the new regulations regarding complaints mean that you are well within your rights to complain over the telephone.

We used to ask customers to write in, still do often, however there is no obligation for a customer to do so. You are well within your rights to just call in, get them to take the complaint details and then let them resolve it.

I personally can see more of what DCM has whereby you are charged a monthly fee for your account, however, in the short term you'll get sweetners thrown in as he mentions.

[Swiss]

Well I claimed back my bank charges over a 6year period in December last year, I settled for the first offer the made me, which was some £200 pound short of what they owed, but a nice tidy sum of £1800 just before Xmas went down very nicely. I used this website for all my tips; http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...


:mad:

[telboy]

However, if they remove all your money on the 1st of the month and your mortgage comes out on the 2nd, this is legal.


What theyd do was give a date for the charges coming out, say 14/3/2003 and if the mortgage was coming out (£234 for example) on the 12/13th and there was only £233 in the bank they wouldn't take it out (obviously understandable) and that they would try again in 5 days ( which was ok 'cause my wages would be in and we could afford it). But then on the 14th the bank would take their charges out (£400) and send us overdrawn!? then of course the next week my wages went in and again we couldn't pay the mortgage. Some times if the motgage AND the chrges were coming out on the same day, they would refuse the payment on the mortgage and take out the charges, event though it sent us overdrawn.

it went on like this for a while until we couldn't afford to live and lost everything.

We just call it a learning experience and will not get into that situation again.