Bank Charges - illegal?

maka_2

I pay a charge of £7.00a month was £5.00 for my account do i ask for these charges back to??

Now to the main part

I recieved a letter from lloyds today as follows

Our local branch contacted us to review your complaint.
i am sorry you feel we have let you down.

CONCERNS
before i go any further i think it would be helpful if i set out my understanding or your concern:
1- you feel that charges you have incurred are contrary to the unfair terms in consumer contracts reg 1999.
2- you are unhappy with the amount of charges you have incurred as a result of being overdrawn and from returned items.
3- you have request all charges incurred since the account was opened 1/09/03 should be refunded.

BACK GROUND/ CIRCUMSTANCES
When you became a customer we give you details of any charges for the day to dat running of yur account. Details of our charges are also available from the branch staff telephone staff and web site.While banking with us can be fre we apply charges if a customer does not have enough money in their account to meet payments hey have requested us to make.

You incurred charges because you did not ensure funds were available in you account to cover payments set up by you. It is your responsibilty to operate your account within any agreed limits

As a business we are entiltled to set charges to cover additional work. these charges are not hidden and are notified in the guide to bank charges leaflet we produce.

So were to now?? all help very welcome
thank you all so far

mjanet

That is a standard letter that most are getting , just carry on .Wait until the time limit you gave them is up then send the next letter .
As far as the amount you are paying every month £5 -£7 you agreed to pay that for that account ? so that is not an unlawful charge.

cheddar

maka wrote:

I pay a charge of £7.00a month was £5.00 for my account do i ask for these charges back to??

No you can't ask for these back as they are for providing a service as part of your account. They are not penalty charges.

aliyah

mjanet wrote:

SORRY aliyah I wasn't ignoring you I just hadn't checked this thread.I see you have been answered and yes don't let them dictate the speed / deadlines .You set the time limits and stick to them .If you give them 14 days and they reply saying no after a week still stick to your 14 days as this shows you have been reasonable throughout.

thanks janet!

have responded with a reminder that the 30 day period elapses on march 30th -

watch this space............ :rolleyes:

tellyerworraldowivyer

It is interesting to read these posts, especially seeing that a few people are saying that people should not moan about high charges.
I have never been charged by any of the banks that I have dealt with but I don't think that just because I haven't they should charge others for 'mistakes'.
If there were no charges the banks certainly will not suffer too much, just search each of the major banks profits and see what I mean.
The banks are investor (shareholders) lead and must show some sort of decent performance to continually attract shareholder investment.
Just out of interest the Bank of Engalnd base rate has been the same since November but a few banks have LOWERED rates due to what they call inflationary pressures, people in the know just see it as "oh dear we may not make as much as last year if this continues"
Can anyone offer more on this?

mountainofdebt

I'm ready to kick @ss .....I've had a really !!!!!! day at work - even hubby was gobsmacked at my day, so its not female hormones running wild! - and as I can't kick the cat..........

Having looked on the bankactiongroup website it gives the sort of wording that I need to put on the claim form but - and I finally arrive at the question I need answering ! - do I need to know the date hubby signed the agreement opening the account can I just say that he has a contract with the bank that is operated on their normal terms and conditions?

YorkshireBoy

tellyerworraldowivyer wrote:

If there were no charges the banks certainly will not suffer too much, just search each of the major banks profits and see what I mean.

Which? estimate that the banks have made £1.4 billion from these fees & charges since last October, according to https://www.bankactiongroup.co.uk, so that's around £3 billion a year. Just where exactly do you think this revenue will be raised from if these fees & charges are declared unlawful? Or do you think that shareholders will 'take it on the chin'?

The banks are investor (shareholders) lead and must show some sort of decent performance to continually attract shareholder investment.

Exactly, so where is the revenue going to come from?

Just out of interest the Bank of Engalnd base rate has been the same since November...

It's actually been the same since it was reduced by 0.25% to 4.5% last August.

carlih1

YorkshireBoy wrote:

Which? estimate that the banks have made £1.4 billion from these fees & charges since last October, according to https://www.bankactiongroup.co.uk, so that's around £3 billion a year. Just where exactly do you think this revenue will be raised from if these fees & charges are declared unlawful? Or do you think that shareholders will 'take it on the chin'? Exactly, so where is the revenue going to come from?
It's actually been the same since it was reduced by 0.25% to 4.5% last August.

If you are saying that we are going to affect their business then it's tuff, you CANNOT make a living from doing something that is in fact illegal, it is unlawful to charge a fee which is higher than the actual cost, it's the law, no matter what anyone says!!!!!

YorkshireBoy

carlih1 wrote:

If you are saying that we are going to affect their business then it's tuff...

'tellyerworraldowivyer' stated that the "banks certainly will not suffer too much". I believe that (at least) £3 billion/year is a significant suffering, so my question was simply "where is the lost revenue going to come from?"


It might be from fee-based banking, but I hope not because that would mean I would suffer with 80+ transactions/month through my current account.

It could come from Vanquis/Provident Finance type unauthorised overdraft rates, say 59.9% EAR. These would be lawful wouldn't they? Personally, I'd rather it was done this way because it wouldn't cost me any money - unless of course I availed of the facility.

Those are my initial thoughts as to how they could generate the lost revenue. What are yours?

carlih1

YorkshireBoy wrote:

'tellyerworraldowivyer' stated that the "banks certainly will not suffer too much". I believe that (at least) £3 billion/year is a significant suffering, so my question was simply "where is the lost revenue going to come from?"


It might be from fee-based banking, but I hope not because that would mean I would suffer with 80+ transactions/month through my current account.

It could come from Vanquis/Provident Finance type unauthorised overdraft rates, say 59.9% EAR. These would be lawful wouldn't they? Personally, I'd rather it was done this way because it wouldn't cost me any money - unless of course I availed of the facility.

Those are my initial thoughts as to how they could generate the lost revenue. What are yours?

They should take it on the chin, just like m&s did when their profits fell, what did they do, they started producing better adverts, better ranges appealing to a broader variety of people.

I have noticed Barclays are doing quite a lot, like 10% savings cashback on insurance etc. I think better marketing and customer service will encourange the banks to gain more customers for a variety of reasons, including extra services etc, so if they actually do things fairly and work like normal human being instead of trying to go outside the law, they would get the revenue back and a lot more people would actually like banking with them!!!