Reclaim Bank Charges Help Thread 2

The following is a list of Bank charges that we can and cannot claim for. Different banks may have different names for the same type of charge, if you are unsure about a charge phone your bank and ASK. If anyone has different charges to add, please PM myself or Edinburghlass so we can add them.

CAN BE CLAIMED

Account misuse fee
Cheque return fee
Card misuse fee
Unarranged borrowing fee
Unauthorised overdraft fee
Unpaid DD fee
Unpaid cheque fee
Unpaid standing order fee
Late payment fee (credit cards, store cards, catalogues etc)
Exceeding Authorised Overdraft Limit
Exceeding Unauthorised Overdraft Limit
Direct Debit/Standing Order/Cheque returned fee
Irregular fee
Paid refferal fee
Total charges (HSBC personal accounts only, not business accounts)

CANNOT BE CLAIMED

Cash Machine Withdrawl Fees
Account Service Charges
Service Fee / Annual Fee
Charges related to foreign currency transactions and conversions.
Monthly account fees on certain type of accounts.
Normal overdraft interest charges

Linked thread...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=407603

Another question often asked is "what court" shall I put in the letter. You can either leave it out altogether and your local court will be allocated or have a look at this site posted by Rex. This applies to England and Wales, different rules apply in NI and Scotland, please follow the links in Martin's article to the websites suitable for NI and Scotland.

***A NOTE TO EVERYONE***

This question keeps coming up. It will be your local COUNTY court. If you don't know the nearest one to you, go to THIS SITE and find your local one. The site will give you all the details you will need for your local court (address, phone number, etc). Scroll down to your local court, click it to highlight it, and click the 'get court details' button

When you issue a court claim, your bank has an opportunity to enter a defence. If they do, the court will write to tell you which court your case will be dealt in (if you claimed online), and they send you an Allocation Questionnaire to fill in. You dont need to put your whole case with this form. It is only to help the judge manage your case (witnesses needed, dates available, disclosure etc).

Seeing as quite a few people have now issued a court claim, and are getting to this stage. Here's a guide to filling out the Allocation Questionnaire......



A)....Settlement
Do you wish any further action in this claim to be postponed for one month so that you and the other party can attempt to settle the claim either by informal discussion or by alternative dispute resolution?

By giving the bank time to settle your claim in your two previous letters, you have already given them ample time to try to resolve your claim. There is no need to give them any more time to settle. Tick NO for this section.

....Location of hearing
The claim will be heard in the court to which this form must be returned. Is there any reason why it should be transferred to another court to be heard?

If the return address for this form is your local court, tick NO. If for any reason the address is somewhere else (a distant court), tick YES. Then use the box to state that you are a private individual claiming against a company that conducts their business in your area, and the claim should be heard locally to you.

C)....Track
Do you agree that the small claims track is the most suitable track for this claim?

It is far better/easier for claims to go through the small claims track. Tick YES for this section.

D)....Witnesses
So far as you know at this stage, how many witnesses (other than yourself) do you intend to call to give evidence at the hearing?

Do not count yourself or any expert witnesses you may call on for your case. Typically, you would enter 0 here.

E)....Experts
Do you want permission to use an expert's report at the hearing?

Typically you would tick NO for this section.

F)....Hearing
Are there any days within the next four months when you, an expert or a witness will not be able to attend court for the hearing?

If you are going to be free in the next four months, tick NO. If you have any holidays booked (or will be unnavailable for any other reason), tick YES and put the dates you wont be free on. Also in this section, let the court know if you will be using any interpreter at the hearing.

G)....Other Information
In the space below, set out any other information you consider will help the judge to manage or clarify the claim, including any other information you consider should be supplied by the other party.

In this section, you can put details that will help the judge manage your claim. You don't need to state your whole case here (that will come at a later stage). If your claim is for more than £5000, you can provide any reasons you think this case is more suitable for the small claims track. It is important in this section to ask the judge to order standard disclosure. The judge has the power to ask your bank to provide evidence of their actual costs at the hearing regarding your bank charges. If the judge orders standard disclosure, chances are that any bank would be willing to settle before the hearing because no bank has been willing to reveal their true costs in court as yet.

For section G. The following is the wording that has been recommended over at www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk

.................................................. .....

I believe this case will last no longer than one hour.

I am respectfully requesting that my claim be allocated to the small claims track. This issue is not a complicated one; it is an issue of fact and not of law. The issue is only whether the money levied by the Defendant in respect of its customer’s contractual breaches exceed their actual costs incurred. I am happy to pay their actual costs and I am surprised the Defendant did not counterclaim for these, because I would have paid them without argument.

However, the continuing problem is, (in common with the 100s of other cases currently being brought by other bank customers), that the banks refuse to reveal the details of their penalty-charging regime. As the banks have a fiduciary duty towards their customers, they have a duty to deal straightforwardly and in utmost good faith.

Accordingly, I would respectfully ask that the court in this case, not withstanding allocation to the small claims track, order standard disclosure. I understand that it is in the courts discretion to do so. This would bring a rapid end, not only to this litigation, but would also likely bring an end to much of the litigation in progress against other high-street banks.

.................................................. ......

They have also been recommending a different way of filling in section G over on THIS THREAD (you need to be logged into the site to read read the thread, it's free to join). If you use this second method, it could make the claim shorter (it is a very good tactic). However, it would need more work on your behalf, and I advise you to use this method only if you fully understand what it requires of you.

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Questions about interest come up a lot, and there seems to be some confusion about what can and cannot be claimed.

There are two types of interest to keep in mind, contractual interest, and statutory interest.

Contractual interest

This is what you see on your bank statements charged by the bank when you go overdrawn. It appears on your statement as 'INTEREST', or 'INT'.

There are normally two different interest rates charged. A lower rate is charged when you are overdrawn, but still within your agreed overdraft limit. Under no circumstances can this interest be reclaimed. There is a higher rate of interest (up to 29.9%) charged when you go over your overdraft limit (unnauthorised overdraft). This is a bit trickier to deal with. You cannot claim any of this interest if your spending has caused you to go over your overdraft limit, but you can claim this interest on any bank charges that have caused this. The problem with this is working out the interest only on the charges. It can be difficult to get right, and you have to be very accurate with your figures in case the bank at any stage challenges them. Generally, most people don't claim this interest.

Statutory interest

This is the 8% interest people are claiming on top of their bank charges. It is not anything to do with reclaiming your charges, or the banks. It is allowed for claims in the county court. This is allowed under s69 County Courts Act.

In his article, Martin recommends adding this interest from the beginning of the claim, but he also mentions that you are not entitled to this interest until you issue a court claim. Untill the court claim, you are using this as a bargaining chip......

Quote from the article..........

If you won via the courts, you would be entitled to add 8% interest (not compounded) on top from the date you were ‘first deprived’ of the money (i.e. the date of each charge). Therefore you may want to ask for the interest as part of the initial claim. It's important to understand that you are not legally entitled to interest unless you win in court, yet all prior letters are a tool of negotiation; think of it a bit like haggling.

You may get lucky and get the interest on top, but even if not, the legal feedback I've had is that it’s one route to pushing the bank to settle quickly so it can offer to pay you without the interest. Of course there is a risk that asking for too much makes them less likely to settle too - sadly this is an art not a science. This isn't an easy concept so I've recorded a quick audio file which may help explain it.
For those who do want to ask for interest, I’ve had the calculator below specially built to work it out for you and included it as an option in the template letters later. However, if you'd prefer to play safe simply ask for the charges without interest in the early stages.


This means that if you add on the interest at the beginning (steps 3 and 4 of Martins article), and the bank offers you the full amount of your charges, but no interest. You MUST accept the offer. This is the maximum you would be entitled to up until you issue a court claim. Before you issue a court claim, if you turn down an offer for the full amount of your charges because the bank hasn't offered the interest as well. You will weaken any claim you make in court. At the very least, you will most likely lose any claim for interest and the court fee if the bank defends this in a hearing.

Edited to add, have a listen to Martin's audio file regarding using the interest as a bargaining tool, sometimes you can read too much and listening to Martin simplifies it.

Please read this new thread by Martin....

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=476403


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***** I'VE JUST HEARD THE OFT ARE BRINGING A TEST CASE AGAINST THE BANKS, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR ME? *****

Please see the following links for information, they should answer many questions:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=512661
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.u...-26-07-07.html
http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_res...dies/personal2
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.u...quickguide.pdf

The bank have told me it will cost £5 per statement requested to get my charge details, what can I do?
You must make the request under the Data Protection Act, there is a maximum charge of £10 payable for all information held.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=364035

I have more than one account with a bank do I have to send separate letters and cheques?
No, one letter and one cheque
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...=364761&page=3

40 Days and no information/statements
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=323057

new thread..
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=464574

Can I claim on closed accounts?
Yes you can.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=443765

The bank have told me it will take x number of weeks to investigate my complaint, shall I wait?
No, if you have followed the templates, you have given them sufficient time at each stage to resolve the matter. Continue with your timetable.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...html?p=4888980

Has anyone been successful claiming from x bank?
Virtually every UK bank has repaid charges, even if they haven't the principle applies to all banking institutions and therefore following the process should allow you to claim your charges back.

I have sent the first letter and haven't had a response within the timescale, do I now send the second letter?
Yes

I have sent the second letter and haven't had a response within the timescale, do I now send start the court claim?
Yes

I haven't heard anything, should I phone up and chase the bank?
Generally it's better to communicate by letter only, however if you're confident you know what you're doing, some people have had success in speeding up the process by calling.

The bank have said they are charges for a service and not for breaching Terms and Conditions
Many banks have recently changed their T&C's to state that for example when you exceed your overdraft limit, they are providing a 'service' in considering to extend it. This is another way of trying to justify the penalty charges. In the OFT report titled 'Calculating Fair Charges...' they warn institutions not to 'restructure accounts' in this way and they will be 'viewed as disguised penalties'. Try and obtain a copy of the T&C's for when they charges were incurred. It is very likely they are defined as breaches of contract and should dismiss the banks assertions they are services.

In the Letter Before Action template, which court do I specify in the part where it says [INSERT NAME OF COURT]?
This is the name of your local court.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...91&postcount=6

Has anyone ever lost against the banks?
Yes, there are several well known cases.
The first was over a year ago to NatWest, the claimant didn't prepare properly and the banks defence would now not hold up.
The second was in Northern Ireland against CitiBank who tried to justify their costs, the case went to appeal but the judgement was upheld.
Recently, two more claimants lost to LloydsTSB in Birmingham County Court. The first was because basic information about the claim was not provided to the court. The second was dismissed because the Judge ruled that the charges were service fees and not penalties for breaching contract.

I can't afford the court fee, what can I do?
If you meet certain criteria, you may be eligible for a reduced fee or complete exemption. See this link for details:
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/i...tion/index.htm

I'm scared I might end up in a court room, what are the chances?
It's unlikely at this time you will actually get as far as appearing in court, you should be aware that a possibility does exist though.

Will the bank close my account if I claim?
Maybe, some banks do, there seem to be no hard and fast rules. You need to be prepared in case this happens including making arrangements to pay off any overdraft facility.

What happens if the bank do close my account?
At the present, it's unlikely you will perusade them otherwise, however you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman who have forced a bank to pay compensation to a customer whose account was closed. Before you go to the FOS, you must first exhaust the banks internal complaints procedure.

Will the bank demand repayment of my loan/mortgage etc I have with them when I claim?
If the payments are up to date, it's unlikely they will do this as they're covered under a seperate agreement.

The bank have offered me a part of my claim, should I accept it?
This is a personal decision, if you're happy with the amount offered then take it, otherwise you will need to let them know it is only being accepted as partial payment and you will claim for the remainder.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=434975

The bank have offered me part or all of my claim but have said I must sign a confidentiality clause, what shall I do?
If you do sign the letter, you must honour the clause. Many people have just crossed out this clause and returned the letter, the banks have still paid up. Generally, they are not in a position to make demands like this.

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