Bank Charges - illegal?

Brown_suga

I issued a claim against HSBC on the 15th March, on the forms it said they had 14 days to reply (which was yesterday). I've heard nothing from them. What action do i take now??

BWZN93

Log on to the moneyclaim website and there should be a judgment tab where your claim is listed, go into it, and ask for default judgment. This means that they havent done anything and therefore you win by default automatically. Lucky you!

Jo xx

comicmankev

Can someone tell me the form I need from the court office? And dooes it matter which one I go to, does it have to be my local one? Or can I use the one near work??

Cheers

tempest42

N1

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/n6w/index/your_rights/legal_system/small_claims.htm

Brown_suga

What happens when i issue judgement, this all seems a bit too easy. I don't know if i've done something wrong now ????

competitionscafe

Got this email from Which? (consumers association)

See their website for more information, along with template letters you can download and send to your bank, and a factsheet on taking your bank to the small claims court.
http://www.which.net/campaigns/personalfinance/bankingcharges/index.html

<email>
Challenging unfair bank charges

Which? slaps an ASBO - that's an Anti-Social Banking Order - on UK banks and building societies for the way they treat customer who go into the red...
ASBO stamp

Have you been hit by charges for going into unauthorised overdraft, even by just a few pounds? You're not alone.

If you don't have an arranged overdraft facility and you dip into the red, or if you go over an agreed overdraft limit, you'll be using what banks call an 'unauthorised overdraft'.

Banks apply exorbitant charges to your account (normally around £30) when you stray into an unauthorised overdraft - even if the amount you are in the red by is just a few pounds!

And banks don't just apply this as a one-off charge when your account goes into unauthorised overdraft. In addition, fees of up to £39 may be levied on transactions not honoured. And while you're in the red, banks might also charge a higher rate of interest, not just on the unauthorised part of your overdraft, but on the authorised bit too!

Unauthorised overdraft charges are a real money-spinner for banks. A Which? survey found that one in four people used an unauthorised overdraft in 2004. In the same year, banks raked in a whopping £3billion pounds in charges and interest.

We think these charges are unfair and cause real distress to customers. Indeed, the decision of the Office of Fair Trading to set a £12 threshold on credit card default charges strengthens the pressure on banks to reform charges on current accounts.

What can you do?
If you have been charged then you may have legal grounds for claiming back your money, although some people may have better claims than others. See our website for more information, along with template letters you can download and send to your bank, and a factsheet on taking your bank to the small claims court.

Your experiences can help us campaign. If you've been hit by charges, we want to hear from you. Tell us your story in Moneytalk.

http://www.which.net/campaigns/personalfinance/bankingcharges/index.html

kaznelson

Brown_sugar, yes it is that easy to enter a Judgement in default. Once you have got judgement you can apply for a Warrant of Execuiton (£50 or £60) which means the Bailiffs will go to the address where you issued your claim. They will levy goods. Which means they will list all goods of value that they will remove and sell if they dont pay within XXX amount of days. It wont come to this as the bank will pay up. Dont forget they will also have to pay the Warrant costs.

ali82

If you ask the bank or other lending company to remove any negative refrences from you file caused by their unlawful behavior, will late payments and being over your limit due to the charges also be removed?

eg: I brought a rug from ikea on my store card for £100 (I know-Birthday money). Being student I then got behind with a couple of payments in my final year which meant charges then more and more etc.. My balance then was something like £120 then; now it is £447. I know I can get the £327 back but does anyone think that there will their be a negative trail left behind one it is back to £120?

Matlow

:j Recieved refund of £270 for Commision charges,excess charge and service charge today of Smile,they have said Debit interest is not a charge so is not included,but seeing as that £270 0f charges were calculated into that debit interest surely I'm entitled to some of that back?
A big thanks to everyone who helped me out on this,didn't even have to go to the small claims court.

travel_freak

Hi, wondering if someone could help me with a query on this thread - apologies if the answer is already above in the other posts but I've not seen it.

My sister is often overdrawn and I was just wondering if there's something I could do to help her to recover charges as she's very strapped for cash at the moment and is "between" jobs. At the moment, I think she has an agreed overdraft facility so my understanding is she can't do anything about charges/interest incurred under that - which seems perfectly fair to me. Am I right that the only charges she could attempt to recover would be those incurred as a result of unauthorised overdrafts? And does one just claim for the charge levied for this or the interest element as well.

Her bank is NatWest - does anyone have experience of claiming against them and what sort of stance they take on these claims. i.e. do they just pay up - as I don't think we'd really like to go down the route of actually having to issue a court claim.

Many thanks.