Reclaim Unfair Bank Charges Discussion Area

Welcome to anyone coming to this brand new board after reading Martin's updated article on the Main Site

To any users who haven't had an answer to their question on the old discussion thread please feel free to place it here and hopefully someone will have an answer for you.

If you want to ask a question about a specific bank please check the boards to see if you can find a dedicated thread to your bank and pop your question on there.

Don't forget to put your Success story on this thread when you complete your claim and good luck.

Alliance and leicester, apply on lline.

uk52rob wrote:

Bank: First Direct
Amount Reclaimed:£338 + £46.05 Interest
Amount they paid: £338

I sent out the template letter, and after a week I got a letter back to say they would refund the £338 in charges, but not the interest. I signed the reply and sent it back (as £338 is better than nothing!) and, sure enough, they credited the amount back. :beer:

Three months later, I get charged £135 in one month. I sent a secure electronic message to them online this time stating that I was not impressed with their £135 charge for the month, and that it was my final notice for them to refund it (+ a pending charge of £30 at the end of the month). :rolleyes:

I did not hear anything back, until I noticed that they had credited the £135 back into my account. The next day I get a letter which is in no way pleasant.

They basically said that our banking relationship has become "untenable" and, after consideration of the breakdown of trust between us, they have served notice that my account will be closed as of 16th November (the letter was sent on the 18th October). The letter went on to say the following:

"On this date any standing orders and direct debits paid from your account will be cancelled, as will your Cheque Guarantee Card. Please ensure that any overdraft is repaid in full by this date. If you are unable to do this, please forward your repayment proposals. For clarity, it is not our intention to offer banking facilities to you in the future and, with that in mind, I would ask that you refrain from making any applications to open accounts with us or HSBC.

Finally, it is always regrettable when a banking relationship ends in this way, and I wish you well with your future banking arrangements."

My God, some people love their job there, don't they??! :mad:

The closing of accounts is something I am interested to hear about or at least the attempts of banks to do this. There are a number of issues with them trying to do this as far as I can see.

Although they have T&C, which allow them to demand closure at any time, I'd like to see this put before a court as the only reason they are trying to close an account is because people are getting charges back, to which they are fully entitled, so for them to try and close your account simply for that, I think is something they should not be allowed to get away with as they are the ones in cloudy water in the first place, not you.

If this happened to me, I'd reject their offer based on that fact and put it before the court. I'd find it hard to accept the court would justify and accept the bank can do it, they might as well start a counter-claim. On a second note, they state they their charges in the T&C - We still get those back due to the legal issues around it and it usually is cheaper for them to return the charges than have to let it hit court which from a business point of view is bad because it would probably mean more about it in the press - Barclays and probably others too, make you sign to keep you quiet, another reason why they settle out of court.

Also, if you pay anything for your account, like I do with Barclays Additions, you're actually paying for the extended overdraft and so on, so if they even just try to remove that without closing the account, it would not look good in court, again the T&C in a lot of cases when compared to the law mean nothing and since you might pay for a service, they have to offer it - stating they are removing it due to a person executing their legal rights will not look good for them in court.

It would be an interesting test case anyway, as I don't think out of the few cases that have hit court, the closing of accounts or removal of services were discussed.

Since you've got no outstanding case, I'd send them a letter telling them you are taking this matter to the courts unless they terminate the idea of closing your account due to the previous charges being refunded.

I'm worried that the Co-op bank will demand repayment of my personal loan and credit card if I ask for a charges refund. I have repaid the overdraft, have no savings with them (or anyone else!) and the loan is just below 12k, far more than any possible refund. I have opened a parachute account, so wouldn't mind if they closed my current account. Has anyone had experience of these problems?
I am really appalled by the Co-op's attitude as reported by some forum members - I joined them because they were supposed to be an ethical bank, and I'm planning on leaving as soon as I can because they're not - even now, they're still levying huge charges! Why can't they see what's coming and save us all a lot of hassle by lowering their charges NOW?

I ditched Natwest precisely because they were charging me so much in late charges etc. Are they still obliged to do all of this even if I no longer bank with them?

We've been serially crap with bouncing cheques for well over a decade - be great if there was gold in them there hills!

:j