Bank Charges - illegal?

YorkshireBoy

arbrctb wrote:

...I went down to my branch and paid cash into my account to cover the transaction several hours after the direct debit had been requested from the bank. In effect, I have been charged £38 for a few hours worth of credit!

This isn't so much advice on recovering your charges, as ensuring it doesn't happen again.

Setting aside the issue of 'unlawful' default charges, if you check your account T&C's, you'll probably find that the funds have to be in your account the WORKING day before the DD is called. So, putting cash in after you realise isn't going to work. A couple of examples...

For a DD due on a Monday, you'll have to have the funds available in your account by close of business on the previous Friday.

At it's extreme, if your DD is due on the Tuesday following Easter, you'll need funds in your account the previous Thursday (due to Good Friday).

arbrctb

YorkshireBoy wrote:

Setting aside the issue of 'unlawful' default charges, if you check your account T&C's, you'll probably find that the funds have to be in your account the WORKING day before the DD is called. So, putting cash in after you realise isn't going to work.

I never realised this - thanks for the advice. I was having a busy week at the time and was getting ready to go on holiday and the direct debit was a bit of an oversight, but I will bear this in mind in the future, although even for a day's worth of credit, £39 is still extortionate

Mc4ndy

Just a quick question to see if anyone thinks there is any scope for claiming owt here...

My GF has a Barclays Bank account (we are in process of moving it now). She has banked with them for ages.

She has regularly gone overdrawn but normally within her agreed OD limit of £475.00 - When she gets paid it's back in credit, then she spends back up to the OD limit normally.

Anyway at some point in the past (probably two years or more ago) someone at Barclays advised her that their Additions account would be better for her because she would get a better interest rate on her OD. However, she has been paying a £10.00 fee per month for this account!

Based on the figures alone I calulate she is actually worse off.

The interest on the normal account is now 1.22%/month
The interest on the additions is 0.79%/month but the first £250 is interest free.

If she had been overdrawn by the full £475 per month every month she would have paid 'em:

Normal: £475 @ 1.22% £5.80 interest
Additions: £475 - 250 = £225 @ 0.79% = £1.77 + £10.00(fee) = £11.77

Now this account does has other features! Such as Green Flag road side recovery... My GF does not drive and did not even know she had this. In fact she only thought it was saving her on the interest as she was told by Barclays Customer Services. Do you think we could argue this product was mis-sold, mis-advised by Barclays.

I just wondered before I spend too much time on it.

Cheers

Andy

Bernard_Coleslaw

Mc4ndy wrote:

Just a quick question to see if anyone thinks there is any scope for claiming owt here...

Do you think we could argue this product was mis-sold, mis-advised by Barclays.

I just wondered before I spend too much time on it.

Cheers

Andy

Well, it doesn't fall into the ongoing debate about default bank charges, as she's been paying for a service (i.e. an "upgraded" account:rolleyes: ). So you wouldn't be able to reclaim charges that way.

There's perhaps a case to say that she was mis-sold the account, but in honesty I don't think it's that strong. Might be worth making a complaint to see where you get, but I wouldn't expect much.

The best thing to do, which you're already doing, is to vote with your feet.

Hope this helps.

BC

VISITOR_3

dchurch24 wrote:

Expert? Moi? Well maybe.

The bank will almost certainly not agree with the legal analysis, they will hope that you just go away.

It really is cheap and easy to start legal proceedings against them for recovery of these charges.

There is a whole host of reasons why they are illegal.

Write them a letter explaining that they are a breach of the 1999 Consumer Credit Act and that they are punitive charges and therefore not enforcable in law. Tell them to send the charges back to you within 7 days or you will take legal action.

When they don't give the money back (sometimes they do - MBNA, Barclaycard just roll over and give it back when threatened with legal action), start an on-line money claim at the HMCS site and add the 8% APR for each charges.

You will have to pay up front but you will get this money back from the bank. If the amount is over £1500, then you will have to pay an additional £100 when a court is allocated, although, again - you will get this back from the bank.

I have done this 3 times now and am about to start another 2 cases against Barclays and Abbey.

As to not risking it with the courts - there is no risk apart from your initial court costs (minimal expense - to get £1711 from Abbey cost me £120, which I got back).

I do not know of any bank that has let it go as far as court - they know as well as I do that they would lose, and that it would open the floodgates for similar cases - a situation that they will avoid at all costs.

Out of interest, which bank is it?

Does this only apply to banks? For instance NTL has charged me £10 for a slight delay in payment. Can they do this legally?

MarkyMarkD

£10 isn't particularly high so I don't think you can argue that it's an excessive penalty.

But I'm sure some of the "never pay anyone anything ever" brigade will disagree with me.

GemmaC82

:beer: I've never posted here before but over the last week I have been researching how I go about reclaiming my direct debit charges for unpaid direct debits.

It was initially my fault that there was not enough money for the first direct debit, however, the direct debits were for £30, £10, £6 & £4. I got charged 4 lots of £38 amounting to £152 by last Friday!! I then transferred some money over on the Friday evening to cover the charges and my car insurance, only to find out that on Tuesday morning when I checked, because I hadn't moved the money over in "business" hours, they'd rejected that too, totalling £190!

Needless to say I was livid and read this forum and some other sites about what I should say to the bank manager, he very kindly responded without so much as a letter, just two leaflets explaining bank charges and the banking code. By now my blood was boiling, I couldn't believe he could be so cheeky!!

I then wrote again to the customer relations department explaing the laws they're flouting and why I believed I should get my money back. I sent the letter this Tuesday, I've just looked in my account and there's a payment sat in my account for £190 from customer relations!

WHAT A RESULT!! I'M SO PLEASED ;-)

I get married in 5 weeks and this was the last thing I needed, now I don't have to worry any more! Power to the people.

Thanks for all the information! :j

Ratty_2

Gemma,

Thank goodness for good news on the NatWest front - I've just rattled off a letter asking for £104 of charges back (£85 of which were incurred by a devious little twerp at their call centre being evasive about costs - needless to say he gets an "honourable mention" in my letter...).

Fingers crossed...

Ratty

berry_2-2

Hi, I have been following this thread recently and i am considering claiming back what probably amounts to £100's of BOS charges from when i was at university.
But- my mortgage is with BOS. Does anyone know if they can 'cancel' for want of a better word, my mortgage if I were to take them to court?

Thanks everyone

bookworm1363

berry wrote:

Hi, I have been following this thread recently and i am considering claiming back what probably amounts to £100's of BOS charges from when i was at university.
But- my mortgage is with BOS. Does anyone know if they can 'cancel' for want of a better word, my mortgage if I were to take them to court?

Thanks everyone

No, the mortgage is a different type of borrowing, secured against your property, and separate from your banking, they can't call it in unless you default on payments. And even then, there are procedures.