Bank Charges - illegal?

dchurch24

Indeed it is.

inmypocketnottheirs

Just thought readers of this thread would be interested in a message I have had from Capital One on their message pad facility. Wrote to them a couple of weeks ago asking for a list of charges for exceeding my credit limit (no charges for late payment), as their online statements and telephone balances rarely, if ever, tally up. This makes it very difficult to know exactly where you stand with an up to date balance. Got their statements and reconciled that they owe me about £120.

So a few days ago I emailed them on the message pad asking them to confirm if these charges are made for breaching the terms and conditions of the account. Here is their reply:

Thank you for asking us if the charges have been applied because the terms and conditions of the account have been breached.

I can confirm that 'yes' you have breached the terms and conditions and as your account went over limit, an automatic fee of £20 was applied for being over the limit and not for the late payment.

If you have any other queries or need any help, please call us on our freephone number, 0800 952 5319. We're here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

So just a letter now pointing out the error of their ways! :beer:

Rafter

Be quick guys and girls. If the leaks are to be believed it looks like the office of fair trading is going to conclude that £15 fees are fair.

Press article this morning suggests it is going to cost the banks £1.2 billion in lost fees per year but I guess it will prevent these small claims if a government department says that they are fair in principle, although I guess on a case by case basis, people can still demonstrate they do not reflect the true costs under contract law.

R.

wilf55

just wrote to my bank rbs and got told basically on yer bike so what do i do now

step by step guide would be nice as i am really wary of this

thank you

ali82

Tabs wrote:

Since the Yorkshire Bank refuse to respond to my DPA request, we reported them to the Information Commissioner. The IC has acknowledged receipt of the complaint and say they will give the Yorkshire until the end of the 40 day time limit in which to respond to us. If we haven't heard from Yorkshire after 40 days, we need to let IC know and they will take it further.

Is this an additional 40 days to the ones provided for the DPA request?

Both of my claims are coming to the end of their 40 days with no sign of my info, so do I wait for this to end and then complain to the I.C or do I complian now?

Also by entering a higher claim amount this means that you have to pay higher court costs. If it gets the ball rolling I don't mind as I will get it back


One last question, NatWest have now issued me with a default notice for my o/d since starting this claim, would it be a good idea to make a repayment arragment with them, get this in writing then continue with my claim or should I continue with it anyway as I can ask for the default etc.. to be removed if they settle or go to court?

crazy_guy

Hurray got a reply from barclays regarding a copy of previous statements with charges on for my reference. Little bit confused and of course i like the confirmation of the experts on mse.

It states, I would be able to obtain the information you requested, this would mean obtaining the relevant statement in your past records from our archives. However we charge £3.00 per statement as stated in the terms and conditions.

Alternatively if you require a copy of the complete file barclaycard has on record, please provide a formal request in writing to legal and public affairs, po box..... including the charge of £10.00 in total.

Customer satisfaction is the utmost importance to barclaycard blah blah

Would the £10.00 request to legal and public affairs include the vital charge details i would need

Thanks in advance

turtle_3

I am just adding up all the charges and I have a lot of charges from 2002 they are called O/D Usage Fee.Is this a name for an unlawfull fee or is it a fee that you have agreed to for an overdraught , it's that long ago I can't remember and can't really phone them and ask them.I can't recall ever asking for an overdraught.
I think I know it's an unlawfull charge but would just like someone to confirm it before I post this letter.

mjanet

crazy_guy wrote:

Would the £10.00 request to legal and public affairs include the vital charge details i would need

As I understand it you are not asking for your statements , as such .You are requesting for a complete list of transactions and charges but are telling them that you will accept statements .You are asking for this information under a data protection request so the most they can charge you is £10. I suggest you register with https://www.bankactiongroup.co.uk and look in the libary section where you will find a letter template of a Data Protection Act Disclosure Request.

Tabs_2

ali82 wrote:

Is this an additional 40 days to the ones provided for the DPA request?

No, it's the basic 40 day DPA time period!

ali82 wrote:

Both of my claims are coming to the end of their 40 days with no sign of my info, so do I wait for this to end and then complain to the I.C or do I complian now?

I'd just wait until the end of the 40 day period if I were you. The only reason we complained to the IC before the end of the 40 day period was that the Yorkshire have categorically stated that they won't be responding to our Data Subject Access Request. They also refuse to cash our £10 cheque.

ali82 wrote:

Also by entering a higher claim amount this means that you have to pay higher court costs. If it gets the ball rolling I don't mind as I will get it back

We paid £120 for court costs and our claim is £4,999 maximum inclusive of any interest and refund of court costs.

ali82 wrote:

One last question, NatWest have now issued me with a default notice for my o/d since starting this claim, would it be a good idea to make a repayment arragment with them, get this in writing then continue with my claim or should I continue with it anyway as I can ask for the default etc.. to be removed if they settle or go to court?

Not sure of the answer to this, to be honest. Perhaps another MSE'er knows?

Tabs_2

wilf55 wrote:

just wrote to my bank rbs and got told basically on yer bike so what do i do now

step by step guide would be nice as i am really wary of this

thank you

There's a step-by-step guide on here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1141050760,24632#step

Good luck :j