Bank Charges - illegal?

westernpromise

gotnobread wrote:

[*]Received letter from HSBC Solicitors stating charges fair, as published, would stand up in court etc. They are mindful of management time and so have agreed to cough the money in full (including court costs and 8% APR) - does this mean they'll settle any claim of any type so that their managers don't have to look at it?;
[*]Wrote letter today stating will accept their offer but won't accept the "reasonable" gagging clause they've inserted

You have to laugh. "The charges are fair but we're capitulating on condition you don't tell anyone else we capitulated, in case it encourages people to find out in court if they really are fair..."

dchurch24

You should have written the them explaining that you would enter into a confidentiality agreement, but you will see this as a seperate commercial agreement (which it is) - and the bidding starts at £50k.

This is more-or-less what I said to Abbey on the phone - they told me that I couldn't cause them £50k's worth of damage!! ;-)

(I didn't think that they would go for it - it was my way of saying "no" to confidentiality; however, faced with £50k - I would have kept my mouth shut. I have morals, but they don't stretch that far!! ;-) )

dchurch24

Microsoft Money 2006 = The worst piece of software I have ever used.

I'ts going back tomorrow.

seanparkin

After my previous success with HSBC (refund of £140 charges), just thought I'd provide an update on current events.

We have sinced moved onto Natwest and A&L. Natwest owe me a couple of hundred from two years back, and A&L owe my fiance hundreds and hundreds, dating over several years.

Natwest, on speaking to the lending department a couple of weeks ago, agreed to send me the six months of statements covering the time my charges were incurred. These however have yet to arrive.

A&L is causing is a problem. We've called four times now and each time they are refusing to provide previous statements, for anything less than £5 a statement (IE £360 for six years). HOWEVER, we have persisted, and the fifth time, just now, spoke to a 'senior' manager. After some heated debate (I asked to speak to who was in control, she said 'that would be me', I replied 'You're obviously not in control as you clearly do not understand what we are discussing!') she agreed with us, and is sending us out a form to request all of our previous statements for a cost of £25.

Bingo. I think. Is £25 reasonable? Although I'm not really bothered about argueing for £10.

Next on our list, is Littlewoods and perhaps Barclays who owe us a couple of hundred each.

Great. Revenge is sweet.

moxie_2

I've had £120 refunded today from Nationwide, and £150 in charges which they were going to take in March, cancelled. This after 2 letters. However I am not leaving it there as my claim is for £850 in total to be refunded. A small victory though!

dchurch24

seanparkin wrote:

After my previous success with HSBC (refund of £140 charges), just thought I'd provide an update on current events.

We have sinced moved onto Natwest and A&L. Natwest owe me a couple of hundred from two years back, and A&L owe my fiance hundreds and hundreds, dating over several years.

Natwest, on speaking to the lending department a couple of weeks ago, agreed to send me the six months of statements covering the time my charges were incurred. These however have yet to arrive.

A&L is causing is a problem. We've called four times now and each time they are refusing to provide previous statements, for anything less than £5 a statement (IE £360 for six years). HOWEVER, we have persisted, and the fifth time, just now, spoke to a 'senior' manager. After some heated debate (I asked to speak to who was in control, she said 'that would be me', I replied 'You're obviously not in control as you clearly do not understand what we are discussing!') she agreed with us, and is sending us out a form to request all of our previous statements for a cost of £25.

Bingo. I think. Is £25 reasonable? Although I'm not really bothered about argueing for £10.

Next on our list, is Littlewoods and perhaps Barclays who owe us a couple of hundred each.

Great. Revenge is sweet.

You only need a list of charges with dates and amounts - they can only charge £10 for this.

Fedz

Awhile ago I contacted LloydsTSB to give back bank charges that total £260'ish.

After a few faxes and phone calls they agreed to pay £130 (half) but then a week later I noticed a further £130 credited to my account.

I promptly withdrew the lot!


Then due to my 'oversight' I was charged £70 for 2 failed dd's but then this took me overdrawn again from Feb 1st.

They wrote and told me but to-date have refrained from adding further charges (possibly to my previous requests).

For the past few days I have been getting the local branch leaving answering messages for me to contact them - I know why but, I ain't bothered.

Today I answered the phone and this lady from the local branch was ever so polite to inform me and casually asked when will I be bringing my account back into credit, I played thick and said why am I overdrawn she said it was because they put £130 credited to my account twice (a week apart) in error instead of just one.

I said yeah it's the total of my charges given back but, she explained one was in error as they agreed £130 was the final amount - I said more fool you then!

She wasn't too happy but, laughed as I said I won't be paying the £70 charges either for 2 failed dd's - if you want that, you can take me to court, so the boots on the other foot now, instead of me threating court action for my £260, your now asking for the £70 charges.

I said looks like you been caught out in my favour.

Anyway as I don't use the account I advised her to close it as I certainly won't be using them ever again as my new bank is alot more friendlier and thankful for my custom (been with LTSB for 15 years and all they'll give me is an electron card).

Halifax gave me a visa (delta) with £100 cheque guarantee card, cheque book plus a £400 autherised overdraft.

I advised her of the above as the reason for closing the my LTSB account.

Nice to get one up on banks when they stupidly blink

davilown

Fedz wrote:

Awhile ago I contacted LloydsTSB to give back bank charges that total £260'ish.

After a few faxes and phone calls they agreed to pay £130 (half) but then a week later I noticed a further £130 credited to my account.

I promptly withdrew the lot!


Then due to my 'oversight' I was charged £70 for 2 failed dd's but then this took me overdrawn again from Feb 1st.

They wrote and told me but to-date have refrained from adding further charges (possibly to my previous requests).

For the past few days I have been getting the local branch leaving answering messages for me to contact them - I know why but, I ain't bothered.

Today I answered the phone and this lady from the local branch was ever so polite to inform me and casually asked when will I be bringing my account back into credit, I played thick and said why am I overdrawn she said it was because they put £130 credited to my account twice (a week apart) in error instead of just one.

I said yeah it's the total of my charges given back but, she explained one was in error as they agreed £130 was the final amount - I said more fool you then!

She wasn't too happy but, laughed as I said I won't be paying the £70 charges either for 2 failed dd's - if you want that, you can take me to court, so the boots on the other foot now, instead of me threating court action for my £260, your now asking for the £70 charges.

I said looks like you been caught out in my favour.

Anyway as I don't use the account I advised her to close it as I certainly won't be using them ever again as my new bank is alot more friendlier and thankful for my custom (been with LTSB for 15 years and all they'll give me is an electron card).

Halifax gave me a visa (delta) with £100 cheque guarantee card, cheque book plus a £400 autherised overdraft.

I advised her of the above as the reason for closing the my LTSB account.

Nice to get one up on banks when they stupidly blink

Sorry to put a downer on, but you refusal to repay could cost you your next credit application if ltsb decide to mention it to credit agencies as a non payer

beer monster

YorkshireBoy

Fedz wrote:

Nice to get one up on banks when they stupidly blink

Doesn't it concern you that they may now mark your credit file with a 'default'?

I concede that if you've no immediate need for credit, then it might not be so much of a problem - but 6 years is a long time!

By the way, and disregarding whether the charges are punitive or not, I don't believe you can actually close an account if you owe them money.

PS: Sorry for the inadvertent thanks!

dchurch24

YorkshireBoy wrote:

Doesn't it concern you that they may now mark your credit file with a 'default'?

I concede that if you've no immediate need for credit, then it might not be so much of a problem - but 6 years is a long time!

By the way, and disregarding whether the charges are punitive or not, I don't believe you can actually close an account if you owe them money.

PS: Sorry for the inadvertent thanks!

I should think not - when they start legal action - or indeed the other way around (which is the way I like it simply because then I'M in charge not them), he can make it part of his settlement conditions that they repair his credit.

If they start legal proceedings against him, if I were in his shoes, I would immediatly launch a counter-claim - and then sit back and laugh with glee!