Bank Charges - illegal?

gothicf0rm

the bank would be breaking the banking code if they just closed your account without
1) giving you a months notice
2) you having carried out behaviour such as being offensive to staff or breaking the law
if your bank do just close your account because youre taking them to court for THEM breaking the law you can get them for that too, the banking ombudsman will likely fine them and youll get compensation. i know of one person who got 1600 for that happening.

gothicf0rm

jay, i see they used the exact same letter for you as for me. interesting as i picked out one charge and said it was unfair not only because it was totally ott compared to the size of the infringement but also because it was their fault! when i wrote back pointing this out i got nothing but silence...
as for actually going to court, you wont. the banks will NEVER let a case progress that far and defend it in court because they have a totally undefendable contract.

FieryBlondeScot

my latest letter from A&L reads:

Thank you for your letter of 31 Dec 05. having reviewed the
circumstances surrounding yur complaint i can confirm that the
charges have been raised in accordance with the charging policy and
clearance timetables within the T&C's of the account. i can also
confirm that that there have not been any restrictions on processing
CHAPS payments during any business day
(as i argued that all my charges result from me doing a chaps
payment AM which did not get processed till PM and the direct debits
bouncing AM)

with regards to the charges on your account as a furthere gesture of
goodwill and to bring this matter to a close i am prepared to refund
a total of £136 (equiv to one months charges). i should highlight
that as this is the second goodwill gesture (the first being £60)
that no further consideration will be given to any future charges
correctly raised or to any charges that have already debited your
account. this offer is made on the understanding that we have looked
favourably at your case, should this not be acceptable to you, you
may wish to consider alternative banking arrangements (eek that
would screw me up) i do hope that this offer is accepatble to ypou
and that you will continue with our banking facilites. please sign
and return a copy of this letter to confirm your acceptance.

now... i was toying with just taking the money to avoid further
headache, however i look at my account this morning and have a
further £50 charges for unautorised overdraft use pending for 3 feb
bringing total bank charges to nearly £400, i intend to fight this tooth and nail via http://www.bankchargeshell.co.uk and recommend everybody else to do the same

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Edited by BoardGuide to amend the URL

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digp

i note with interest that some banks are closing the accounts of those who sue them; whilst they are entitled to close said accounts, on the heels of litigation, i am of the view that the banks might be (a) in contempt of court or (b) committing a criminal offence, or both!

digp

i dont agree

Russe11

dchurch24 wrote:

Russe11, you cannot take a Govt. institution or Royalty to a county court.

who said anything about country courts, have been informed however theat they are more like to claim it as a FINE rather than a "penalty charge" as they are advertising.

mjanet

I have sat and read this thread from start to finish with amazement.I have never paid bank charges but my sister does and I am going to relay what I have learnt on here to her and ask her to come and read this site and the others mentioned.I wish to thank dchurch24 for all his posting and am somewhat bewildered why so many have 'attacked' him when after all he has pointed out many a time that they are ILLEGAL practises .I can only come to the conclusion that the people attacking him must work for the banks etc or why else would they do it .
THANKYOU dchurch24 and of course all the others who have given very imformitive articles in this thread.To all the ones attacking him no body is making you take this advice if you don't like it then ignore it and leave the ones who want to make use of it to it .

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@ MAY I noticed you said you had got your money back from Halifax thats great news for you .I was just wondering what happened in between them passing it to a debt collection agency and you getting your money back ? I mean as far as your dealings with the debt collecting agency.

Russe11

I think one of the reasons the poster mentioned is attacked is because the people who are attacking him are currently annoyed that he has got "savings" at a better rate of interest. PMSL :rotfl:

also the motions that are currently being caused could set the idea of 'FREE BANKING' a thing of the past, the people who have the money are getting services for nothing at the expense of the poorer customers.

The banks some how would not post on here as they do not want to cause them self more problem than they already have, also if one said individal was responcable for the siding with the banks have a problem.

I'm none the wiser, however if the banks know about such threads they why they have not taken action againt the website containing this post is beyond me, lucky for us the forces behind this site are on our side most of the time - well one would hope.

Bokken_2

Nicely put mjanet.
don't forget to be nice to others that is what makes this site so readable.

dchurch24

I'm none the wiser, however if the banks know about such threads they why they have not taken action againt the website containing this post is beyond me, lucky for us the forces behind this site are on our side most of the time - well one would hope.

Action for what? How can they take action against a post purporting to allege that their charges are unfair and punitive in nature.

None of the banks I have asked for a breakdown of costs have provided it - leaving us to draw our own conclusions. They have had ample opertunity to prove us wrong, and haven't done so.

Nowhere in this post has anyone been defamatory - apart from (foolishly) to other posters.