Bank Charges - illegal?

westernpromise

Smile have just coughed up £120, in case anyone is interested.

They took £65 in December and another £55 after I challenged this. I got two stupid emails from them in response, one stallinga nd one denying everything, so I told them they had 7 days to cough up or it was Small Claims Court Time.

They credited the whole lot back the next day.

Result!

This was actually the missus' account. Next target is the NatWest, who I reckon have had thousands off her since 2000.....

Thank you very much Mr Church!

dchurch24

I actually had to start proceedings against Smile before they would refund the cash.

...but give it back they did! Plus interest, which if they'd given in when I'd asked they could have saved themselves.

Just like Barclays have just done!

tesuhoha

I thought I would share this as I am very pleased with the advice I have received from this site. I noticed last Saturday that I had been charged a £25 fee on a late payment to my Citi Credit card so I wrote the standard credit card letter and I received a letter yesterday (in less than a week) stating that out of good will they had refunded the amount to my account. I know its only £25 but as they say at tesco, every little bit helps. So thanks guys.

Thenotsowyzewun

dchurch24 wrote:

I don't 'intend' to break the t&cs. All banks have these t&cs - if you have to have a bank account (and in 1986 Thatchers administration got rid of an employees right to choose how they get paid, so now nearly everyone will be paid directly into a bank account - no account, no pay), you have to sign up to these illegal t&cs.

I actually had a Australian come see me a month or two ago (when I was working for Electoral Services), he was over here working and the company was refusing to pay him because he did not have a bank account, and could not get one because he wasn't on the Electoral Register (which was correct, because he was in temporary accomodation).
So it's Thatcher who thought up that stupidity, I should've known!

pinkangel_3

i have a basic bank account with natwest without an overdraft facility. on lots of occasions they have charged me £38 for an unpaid direct debit of £14.99.. is there anything i can do.. i've tried e-mailing them asking for a refund but everytime they don't reply in anyway..i use this account for my child benefit & a direct debit leaving me with just enough money for things for my 3 little ones,imagine my horror when i see they often charge me these shocking charges..hope someone can help me.. thanks if you can..

Tabs_2

Tabs wrote:

Thanks again for replying!

Just to let you know that, as we had no luck gaining the information from the bank, we put in a claim for £4,999 maximum as a pre-estimate based on some calculations that we made (not sure how close these figures are to the actual ones as we have no paperwork whatsoever from the account as we closed it three years ago).

Also, we were very specific to say that this was inclusive of any interest and court fees to ensure that we did not go over the £5k mark.

We were half expecting to receive a letter from the bank to say our actual charges were "x" amount and not the amount being claimed for, and whether or not they were prepared to refund these. Still not heard anything from them.

The Information Commissioner has told the bank to supply us with the DPA information immediately so we may have to amend the claim amount to accurately reflect the charges. However, as the Yorkshire don't seem very keen on writing to us, I won't be holding my breath :rotfl:

Hooray :j

Just received a call from the bank to say that "we do have to supply you with the requested information under the Data Protection Act, so we will be sending it to you within the next five working days" .... Result :beer: I suppose that's what happens when you have to get the Information Commissioner involved :rotfl:

It's very likely that we will have to alter the claim amount once we receive the statements, but we'll deal with that as and when. The bank has until this Saturday to file a defence. If they don't then it's to our understanding that we would then apply for a default judgement and we would automatically receive the full claim amount without going to court

Tabs_2

pinkangel wrote:

i have a basic bank account with natwest without an overdraft facility. on lots of occasions they have charged me £38 for an unpaid direct debit of £14.99.. is there anything i can do.. i've tried e-mailing them asking for a refund but everytime they don't reply in anyway..i use this account for my child benefit & a direct debit leaving me with just enough money for things for my 3 little ones,imagine my horror when i see they often charge me these shocking charges..hope someone can help me.. thanks if you can..

Hi there,

Welcome to MSE!

Are you sure the Bank received your emails? If so, then you need to follow the steps mentioned on here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1141050760,24632

Good luck and please keep us updated with your progress!

mandi

Hi guys,

I Really really ,need your help..

I asked my bank for details of charges over the last 6 years, and after 1 month theyve finally sent roughly 70 pages of A4 withe details of transactions ...


Firstly, I cant understand any of it... :eek: I can see where Ive gone overdrawn, but it the banks actual charge hasnt been shown!!

eg...
1st april..£10.00 overdrawn, ...

4th April.. paid in £100.00 cleared balance. £ 70.00.. ie £ 10.00 overdrawn, and £20.00 in charges!!!

Obvously the charge has been applied to my account between the 1st and the 4thth but they havent shown it as a debit on the statements they have sent......

secondly.. they have not sent a stetments for March 05, till feb 06 ( which is when I made my request)although on the accompanying letter they are telling me that they have.... and I cant find them...

All looks very suspicous to me

Please please can anyone advise me.... B........DS are trying to pull a fast one on me I think.............


Thanks everone in advance


Mandi

dchurch24

Maybe, get a statement that you have and try and reconcile it with the printout they have provided.

The DPA does state that information provided by a data controller has to be legible, however this would be a difficult point to argue.

If you can tie up a few things from your statements, it may go some way to helping you decipher the garbage they have provided.

A bit like the Rossetta Stone!!

maforduk

I recieved a hige PILE of print out's off their system as details of my accounts.
I found them easy to understand and I totalled a total of £1,395 in charges!
Some show up and highlighted as charges...BEWARE...the other's are harder to spot, you have to look at EACH INDIVIDUAL ENTRY! They state a charge of £20 and increase to £25 and £30 later on as the year's progress.