What charges you can claim

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
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)

Credit Card/Store Cards/Catalogues

Late payment fee
Over limit fee

CANNOT BE CLAIMED

Cash Machine Withdrawal Fees (ATMs)
Account Service Charges
Service Fee / Annual Fee
Charges related to foreign currency transactions and conversions.
Monthly account fees on certain type of accounts (such as RBS Royalties)
Normal overdraft interest charges<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->


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 (unauthorised 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.