Sample letter to send to your bank "Illigal Charges"

ukbill69 · 13 February 2006 at 10:59PM

[your address]

[their address]

WITHOUT PREDJUDICE

Dear Sir,

ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxx

I have held the above mentioned current account with your bank for the past 6 years. During this time I have incurred charges for exceeding my overdraft limit due to cheques being cleared at unfortunate times, unauthorized overdraft fees, direct debits and standing orders being dishonored (and in some cases honored) due to insufficient funds.

It is my opinion, and that of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), that these charges are punitive in nature, not a genuine pre-estimate of cost and not intended to re-imburse your losses for a breach of contract occurring. Further to the 1999 Consumer Credit Regulations quoted by the OFT, there are numerous cases in law that prove that punitive charges in contracts are unenforceable at English law.

Murray v Leisureplay (2004)
Dunlop Tyre Company v New Garage and Motor Co. (1915)
Bridge v. Campbell Discount Co. Ltd. (1962)

There are many more cases of this type ? far more than I have room to list here.

Further to these cases, I also believe these charges to be a direct breach of the 1977 Unfair Terms (contracts) Act which require that contract terms be reasonable. I do not believe these charges are reasonable as outlined in the aforementioned act.

With this in mind, I respectfully request that you return to me ALL charges made on this account in the last 6 years within 30 days of receipt of this letter by way of personal cheque. If you choose not to do so, I will start proceedings for recovery in the County Courts, as I believe that legally I am entitled to this money back. By doing so, you will be eligible for my court costs and for an extra 8% APR as allowed by the County Courts Act (1984). This money would be used in some way to clear my overdraft on this account.

Further to this, if you decide NOT to accept my offer of settlement of this issue, I would like to make a formal request under the Data Protection Act (1998) for a complete and exhaustive list of all charges made on this account over the last 6 years. As you are no doubt aware, you are afforded 40 days to comply with this request or you must request an extension from the Information Commissioner. If you are of any doubt that this information is covered by the act, may I respectfully draw your attention to the case of Durant v FSA 2003 where the judge ruled that bank statement information is indeed personal information and thus covered. In any event, this information is requested with a view to prospective legal action on my part and therefore would be covered under the same act.

Yours faithfully,

[name]

Sourced from: http://www.bankactiongroup.com/

tamzin2006 · 13 February 2006 at 11:04PM

Great Looking letter - Not sure if I'll need it, only been overdrawn a couple of times

Tamzin

dchurch24 · 13 February 2006 at 11:14PM

You've (or rather I have) spelt Leasureplay wrong, it should be Leisureplay.

ukbill69 · 13 February 2006 at 11:17PM

Thanks updated.

denys · 13 February 2006 at 11:18PM

I would think twice before sending this one if I were you. Feeling can be written about in the formal letter but not shown – you do so by giving very unreasonable time limits. As I understand you have OD you are using and currently owe this institution some money. These facilities can be withdrawn at any time just to make you feel more independent.

But it is good initiative to post this and have my thanks for good intentions as well.

dchurch24 · 13 February 2006 at 11:45PM

The facility can be withdrawn with 14 days notice or they are in breach of the Banking Code.

Banks are in the business of making money - they won't kick out a profitable customer because they have pushed too hard. Abbey had my account (with OD) open for the whole time I was suing them - right up until I insisted it was closed (as part of my agreeing to settle out of court) - in fact, even after this they kept sending me statements.

Also, you do not always have an overdraught with them - the letter can be amended easily if you do not have an overdraught but have incurred charges for 'bounced' DD's and SO's etc...

PS. Thanks for crediting the site ukbill69. The more people that find it, the more people we can help.

Gers · 14 February 2006 at 12:02AM

ILLEGAL... spelling is important! Especially when confronting 'authority'.

pin · 14 February 2006 at 12:18AM

One thing, why should the letter be WITHOUT PREJUDICE, which, BTW, is spelt wrong up top?

dchurch24 · 14 February 2006 at 12:25AM

pin wrote:

One thing, why should the letter be WITHOUT PREJUDICE, which, BTW, is spelt wrong up top?

So it is! Blo*dy hell - I must have had a few when I typed that out.

It basically means that they cannot use it against you in court, in essence.

pin · 14 February 2006 at 12:33AM

dchurch24 wrote:

So it is! Blo*dy hell - I must have had a few when I typed that out.

It basically means that they cannot use it against you in court, in essence.

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I'm aware what it means. Was just checking you (and others who would use the template letter) were aware what it meant and what its implications are.

Also, some small points:

Its the Unfair Contracts Terms Act 1977, not 1977 Unfair Terms (contracts) Act.

Don't need brackets around Data Protection Act (1998).

"There are many more cases of this type ? far more than I have room to list here" - is a redundant (sp?) phrase, you have already quoted three authorities, they will get the point.

Very last word in your letter "act", should be "Act".

inmypocketnottheirs · 14 February 2006 at 9:26AM

Don't worry about getting your account closed. I sent the same letter as above (spell and grammar checked!) had £1331.50 refunded from the co-op and my account is still open. However I have been in credit and have not had any items returned etc for the last 12 months or so.

Sample letter to send to your bank "Illigal Charges"

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