Bank Charges - illegal?

westernpromise

Curry_Queen wrote:

I use MS Money to track all my finances and I know exactly to the penny what funds are available to me in every account, and I also know exactly when BGC's, DD and SO's are due etc.

Yes, quite. As soon as I write a cheque or set up a payment, it goes into Money as a deduction from the appropriate account, with an estimated withdrawal date. If it's not collected on that date, great - I keep the payee's money for longer and nudge the due date back a few days until it eventually does get collected.

Technically, if it's a cheque, I could delete it altogether after 6 months, because it has expired and cannot now be cashed. That said, I've still had whatever goods or service that I wrote the cheque to pay for. So if a cheque expired, and I were contacted by the payee asking for a replacement, I would write one.

I am not surprised people run into problems if they do not do this. The most basic rule of cash management is that you never, ever assume the balance in an account is all yours to spend. The second rule of cash management is probably that the only balance which is definitively correct is the one you work out yourself.

Of course if you have incurred penalty charges, the timing of these hitting your account is unpredictable and usually to the bank's advantage. When I was with the Midland, they routinely used to apply their charges just before payday, so I'd go into overdraft. This gave them a pretext to write to me to say I was overdrawn and apply more charges. As a result of those new charges, taken just before next payday, I would become overdrawn again the next month. At which point they'd send me a new letter.

They kept this up for a year before I escaped their clutches, but they took the equivalent of a month's net pay off me in the process.

dchurch24

carlih1 wrote:

Hi

just got a letter, sent mine on 17th jan, saying their charges are fair and in line with their terms and conditions. Also that they have to apply the charges manually and that is why it costs so much.

Anyone done this roll? job title yes or no man? like the little bird that keep pecking!!!!

Anyway do i have a stronger hold over them now can i ask who is in control of this decision when and where?

Thanks

Carli

Wow - have you still got a copy of that letter????

If they claim that there has been manual intervention then we/you can request under the DPA that they give you all recorded information regarding the intevention (they HAVE to keep records if there is a manual intervention regarding personal data - and bank account statements are deemed personal) - then we can PROVE that the charges are nowhere near what they claim it costs them.

Please, please tell me you have kept the letter.

carlih1

dchurch24 wrote:

Wow - have you still got a copy of that letter????

If they claim that there has been manual intervention then we/you can request under the DPA that they give you all recorded information regarding the intevention (they HAVE to keep records if there is a manual intervention regarding personal data - and bank account statements are deemed personal) - then we can PROVE that the charges are nowhere near what they claim it costs them.

Please, please tell me you have kept the letter.

Hi Dave,

Yes i have the letter, i shall scan it and email to you if you want!

Carli

Newleaf_3

Hi everyone,
Wow... I can't believe that all this time I've been grumbling about ridiculous bank charges and I haven't legally had to pay the ruddy things! I actually left my bank, Barclays, as they did nothing to help me through a tricky time financially (student, then badly-paid first job, better job, then maternity leave, then part-time, etc) and if anything, their overblown charges just exacerbated an already stressful situation. As it is, I've left my account open and I know that the charges on the last six years will be pretty hefty.

I've also had problems with Marbles credit card - as soon as I was paid, I'd pay off a chunk with online banking, but because the statement hadn't sent by that time (I got paid 25th, statement apparently was sent on/around 28th), even though a payment was received every single month, I would be hit by £25 charges as I'd been paying late (surely though, they should have been paying me £25 for paying early every month?). Swines. This account is now closed, but I'm assuming I can still request these charges be returned? They refunded me half (about £75) when I was discussing closing the account, but I'd like to request the rest. Is this possible?

I have also incurred oodles of charges by Nationwide over the years and although they're brilliant at refunding them when I request it (when I've felt it unfair... other times I've felt it justifiable as I'd messed up), can I request the rest of them?

What do I need to do? Can I send a general letter to each, or do I need the specifics on each letter - ie. the dates, amounts and total amount owed?

Thanks so much for all your work on this amazing thread! I'm sat here, cheering every success the various posters have had!
Newleaf x

alunp

i'm going thru my friends bank statements. the charges here are just astonishing. if i went back six years it would very EASILY be over 5k. in fact, i'd say MULTIPLES of 5k.

if you want to recoup back over 5k what is the procedure and what is the risk?

mountainofdebt

Q. I'm worried about costs if lose the case.

A. If your claim is less than £5000 then it will be conducted within the Smalls Claims procedure of the County Court. Costs are not awarded either to the loser or to the winner unless the case is highly exceptional. Your case will not be exceptional in this way. The only costs you might lose are the cost of your summons and the reasonable travel expenses of the defendant.
If you win, the only costs you will receive will be your summons fee and your reasonable travel expenses.


If your friend is going to sue for more than £5K, she is going to have to go to a higher court and I personally would think very carefully as this is obviously a potentially more expensive exercise should she lose and I would imagine initially as well.

alunp

Thanks mountain. Looks like a 5k max makes more sense then.

dchurch24

carlih1 wrote:

Hi Dave,

Yes i have the letter, i shall scan it and email to you if you want!

Carli

That would be excellent!!

Thank you.

dchurch24

RE: 5k limit.

Not nessicarily - you can ask the judge to hear the case in the small claims court - even though it is over 5k - the case is very straight forward and he may well agree.

However, a better way, IMHO, would be to put a claim in for bounced DD's - then one for over OD limit fees, then another for SO fees.

If they have different wording on your statements, then you could reasonably be expected to see them as seperate offences.

sashacat

westernpromise....please can you tell me what Money is please s othat I can d othe same. Is it some program that's already on my computer that I don't know about.