Unfair Bank Charges

LinW13 · 27 September 2005 at 11:35PM

Hi All,

First, sorry if this has been covered elsewhere on this forum, but the search thingy is not working at the moment.

I found this article in Google about unfair bank charges:

http://www.andrewgeorge.org.uk/press/520.htm

And also this one :

http://www.bankchargeshell.co.uk/charges.html

The gist of it is that banks and the like can make a realistic charge to manage bounced cheques, over drawn accounts, etc. but if the charges are a lot more than the bank's actual costs, then they are a penalty. And penalties are unlawful.

Thinking about it, they usually send out automated responses, which surely cost the bank very little.

I've got a friend on low income and her situation has been made a much worse by some horrendous charges. And I'm seething with the cruelty of it all.

Anybody got any more information about this?

Take care all,
Lin

YorkshireBoy · 27 September 2005 at 11:45PM

LinW13 wrote:

Anybody got any more information about this?

Discussed in this thread...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=68507

You might want to make yourself comfy - there's 148 posts!!! :eek:

LinW13 · 28 September 2005 at 12:39AM

Thanks YorkshireBoy.

148 posts? Is that all? hehe.

file_wizzard · 28 September 2005 at 9:01AM

Feel free to try this;

has worked before;

Dear “ insert name of thieving bank / credit card company “

I write with reference to some recent charges that have been levied to my account and would request that you provide further information on these.

Insert Dates and amounts of charges

Please can you explain why these charges have been incurred, and also why they are at the values stated as it would appear that these charges are being placed on my account as a penalty charge rather than a true pre-estimate of loss.

I also feel that these charges are disproportionate to the true cost incurred by yourselves for the administration incurred by any account activity which is in breach of our original contract agreement.

In light of the above I would request that you either provide a breakdown of the charges levied to demonstrate that they are proportional to your true costs, or alternatively that you look to refund these charges to my account as a gesture of good will.

I await your prompt response & I trust that we can resolve this matter amicably between ourselves without the need to involve a 3rd Party such as the Office of Fair Trading with regards to disproportional or unfair bank charges.

tbathgate · 28 September 2005 at 3:43PM

Hi all,

I read the previous forums and took some advice from them and sent of a letter to my bank of the 9th of September.

I just wondered what everyone thought was a reasonable length of time to allow them to respond. As such i still haven't received a reply yet.

They were sent first class to the bank manager.

Any thoughts or advice on what i should do next?

Thanks all

Tom

nads · 28 September 2005 at 3:52PM

Hi,
I would think 45 days is sufficient, your bank mgr probably passed on to his manager and so.

If you don't receive a reply by then, send another letter but stating that you haven't received a reply to your first letter sent xx days ago and would it to be replied within xx (say 28?) days.

Nads

nads · 28 September 2005 at 4:05PM

file_wizzard wrote:

Feel free to try this;

has worked before;

Dear “ insert name of thieving bank / credit card company “

I write with reference to some recent charges that have been levied to my account and would request that you provide further information on [highlight]the following:[/highlight].

Insert Dates and amounts of charges

It would appear that these charges are being placed on my account as a penalty charge rather than a true pre-estimate of loss. Please can you explain why these charges have been incurred [highlight]and[/highlight]
why they are at the values stated.

I also feel that these charges are disproportionate to the [highlight]actual[/highlight] cost incurred by yourselves for the administration [highlight]activities[/highlight] of this account[/highlight].

In light of the above I would request that you either provide a breakdown of the charges levied to demonstrate that they are proportional to your true costs, or alternatively that you look to refund these charges to my account as a gesture of good will.

I await your prompt response [highlight]and[/highlight] trust that we can resolve this matter amicably between ourselves without the need to involve [highlight]third parties [/highlight] such as the Office of Fair Trading with regards to the disproportional and unfair bank charges.

I think this is an excellent letter, I've changed mine slightly.

I'm not sure how to word it but instead of prompt response, you could say something like "I hope to receive a reply within 45 days"

file_wizzard · 28 September 2005 at 6:14PM

nads wrote:

I think this is an excellent letter, I've changed mine slightly.

I'm not sure how to word it but instead of prompt response, you could say something like "I hope to receive a reply within 45 days"

Nad's

Good Call ! , only bit I would keep would be the "True pre-estimate of loss" as this is the legal definition used

Also on time scales I think 28 Days is more than fair !

LinW13 · 28 September 2005 at 9:17PM

Wow! Lovely letter. Many thanks File_Wizard and Nads.

I'll pass this on a.s.a.p.

Cheers!!
Lin

Unfair Bank Charges

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