Bank Charges - illegal?

fagun

dchurch24 wrote:

Thanks for that Fagun.

I have already done this some time ago regarding Abbey. As yet, nothing has happened.

That's sad, because the case studies used by them have less impact on people than high bank charges. FSA has a big project on Treating Customers Fairly, so you'd think they'd be interested in highlighting this as an example.

Promsan

I pressed the red button today... well, I phoned the online Armitage and was polite but firm (not to say a little tongue-tied, but that's another story...).

Young lah (he was scouse) opted to get the branch to phone me...

I'm going for the Colombo (Peter Falk) approach...
[= first date (polite but shy), coupled with a peppering of "Arm jast a poo werkin' man troyin to urn a crust" (it's hard to write cockney on t' t'inter int' it?), and a dash of "I'm a ninja with maths" etc...]

Anyway, it turns out that the £28 is for going over, and the £30 is for.. erm.. going over... differentiated by the terms "Maintenence Charge" and "Referral Charge".
Amazed how they can print "Unauthorised overdraught rate of 2.2% for maintenence" underneath the words "Maintenance Charge" - I might start charging them for my water and gas bills, under the the heading "Customer Maintenence Emolument".

so they want to charge me £58 for going over by... wait for it.. alright, we did go over £51.69 - but that was because the ATM said there was more than that available, and of course we didn't get a printout - who does? (of keeps them if they do.. your living room would be like a giant hamster's cage). Still, it was only for less than 24hrs before my wife's wage arrived... wait a minute, I'm sensing a pattern here... the other main charge I was on about was for going over 37p just a couple of days before my wife's pay came in... could there be an ATM issue here?

My plan is to go on this tack, I think eliciting sympathy and humility has a chance of working, especially in the midst of garbled blibbling about legal things. It's that 37p one that I really want... that made me so angry.

Please could someone clear up the thing about "refusing to pay"?
They state on the bottom of their slips "no need to (refuse to!) pay, it's deducted automatically" - ooh what fun! Isn't this some kind of theft?
(This is not a rhetorical question).

Ta.

Promsan wrote:

I've heard about all this before, but I only decided to look into it today after seeing it on Working Lunch today.

We got a charge for going over after using it in a supermarket just before Capitalismas - the cash machine said we had enough. The bank sent us the usual notification, but they deigned to avail themselves of £30 English pounds instead of £28, and on the 10th instead of the 19th - this could have left us with another charge (being church mice etc...), I think it's a bit "pearl necklace" (reckless, feckless, ...) and "King Kong" (wrong, pong, large meaty don[snip] [never mind]...).

What really piped me up though, was how in May 2005, we got a charge of £28 for [gulp] going 37p, yes, a vain and vulgar 37p over the agreed overdraught [correct spelling] for a digraceful three days before my wife's pay decided to land after circling the bank account.

Being a dab hand at the old manual calculator as an engineering student, I was able to calculate that the interest should possibly be 0.000814p in total at 2.2% a month, making the total debt still a matter of pence even with bulk stationary [including the "free" hole-punching (I'd like to punch their holes... erm, on second thoughts...)], ink, electricity and sychophantic staff costs for the "Armitage Shank" (bank).

This charge came at a bad time for us, and led to a naughty knock-on charge (as them making an unfair charge caused me to "break T&Cs), the following month, of £28 as we were shoved over the limit by the first charge! - and to an even more profligate sum of £12 over . That naughty little 37p had exponentiated 151 times to £56 in charges.

I think back to us shuffling into the branch like a pair of Oliver Twists gazing up at bespectacled Scrooge, humbly scrunching our tawny threadbare clothcaps, asking him if (begging your pardon sir) he might let us off the charge... "Sorry I can't" boomed the clarty fecktroll without making eye contact - I bet that felt good, made his willy seem like a mighty obelisk of middle-class alpha male power. (and people wonder why poor people damage and steal?!)
Anyway, the cheek of the feller with hindsight - he was breaking the law! (I should have had my butler thrash him to within an inch of his lucrative retirement package).

So, I've totted up a couple of other less impressive but similar "charge" events (they once pinched a tenner off me for going £6.23 over in 2001 and I want interest!), and thrown in a couple of other refunded errors due to staff incompetence ("Ah fink ah prissed vuh rong buh'on Trayce" "Ooh, you go 'ava tea break lav, you've bin on yer ahrse awl mownin'"), and I've decided to round it to a nice binary figure of £100.

This will constitute my charge to the bank for posting me a letter saying they we going to charge me one amount on one day, and then actually a different amount on a different day - strike three, as far as I'm concerned, because what it adds up to is them putting me in a position where I might break T&Cs, which being the third error (a previous one was charging me for NOT going over my limit; and setting payments to go to the wrong account incurring a compouding charge - both refunded without me charging them for incompetence), and coupled with that 37p experience, it's an absilyute phacking cheek Carruthers.

Not that they're a bad bank, but like all of them, if you don't know yer maths or yer law, they'll do yuz.
Seriously though, I've done the online small claims thing before, it was quite cheap if I remember... surely I can still DO VEM for 100 nicker?

The other thing I don't get, is people keep talking about "refusing to pay", well don't the banks just take it anyway?
Perhaps my bank (The Perfidious Royal Colombian Racehorse Bank & Pawnbrokers of Corruptistan) is a special case?

- - -

My thoughts on reading this thread - I won't name any names ('cos I can't remember 'em), but all that sanctimonious "ye merrie folk of englande suffering 'cos of a few bad apples deliberately mismanaging their accounts" crap is, well, utter, crap.

It's not like most middle-earners can't afford to pay a few pence a month for services they decreasingly use as t'inter seeps into every fetid crevise of life.
All we want is the fair price of summat - I've been poor for quite a while, and they make a tidy profit of my credit card (same bank) thank you very much - as they do with most proles.

I don't need some insolent sibilant spotty tvvat telling me "it's not our job to manage your finances sir" down the phone to me after I've listend to Chris de Burgh over and over again for half an hour. As far as I'm concerned, if I an't got the money in my account, then the payments should be declined, not profiteered from usuariously. (...but of course, I'm being idealistic, the whole capitalist system is a giant status-anxt-based usuary and pyramid-selling racket - paah tu tha peepoo!)

And now we've got a loan from them (don't athk), a huge chunk of which big dribbly gravy covered profit. You want thympathy? You want me to lithen to the merrie middle clathh of englande being fleeced whilst they sit in their very Chelsea tractors? you want me to weep at wail of the bank's diamond-encrusted stradavarius, I'd sooner smash it over their heads, the cheeky cun...[snip]

kennyward

well guys recieved my reply from nat west and am unsure what to do.they have admitted that and i quote march 16th 1999.at that date i do consider that charges where unfairly applied to your account during 98-99.its a long winded statement pointing some of the blame to my local branch.at the end of all the recalculation they want me to give them £346.34 as a final payment instead of the current £1500 balance then they will close the account.i have looked at the figures and i pay more in interest each month than i do off the balance so its all self perpetuating and grows bigger and bigger.anyone got any advice .i would be glad to send the illustration if needed for study. all the best.kenny ward.

fagun

wabbit02 wrote:

Hi,

I was recently charged by Abbey. £100 in charges - when I queried it the immediately gave me a £30 "goodwill" gesture. Both charges are recent (we have only just opened the account) so haven't been applied to my account as yet. First one is on 3rd feb, not sure when the next one will be - probably 3rd of march.

Sorry not sure if I understood correctly what you said. If they've given you £30 as goodwill, that suggests they've cancelled the charges. Phone up and check. If not...

wabbit02 wrote:

Do I need to wait until the charges have been applied to my account before I can take action?

Also I have looked at the standard letter on www.govanlc.com - should I start by sending this in or are you required to make a softer query first?

Why wait? Especially if they've given you the Goodwill - that suggests they know that they're wrong. Write to them saying that you disagree with the charge and will take legal action, without further notice, if they proceed with the charge.

Turning_into_scrooge

I had the missfortune of bouncing a DD 18th of this month. I was in my bank today and thought i shall ask before i write. So went up to the desk and asked for my bank charges back bearing in mind that they wont be taken out before next month anyway. Absolute amazement yes no problem i shall do that for you now?!?!?? Looks like things are really begining to change, had no problem at all, thats 2 sorted now, 2 more to go

carlih1

hi,

I have initiated proceedure with regards to the Halifax and i am awaiting missing statements.

I was just reviewing the discussion and it seems so unfair that the banks can do this to such an extend.

Let me get to my point. Because of the governments great way of dealing with tax credits i was left with only income support of £50.00 and child benefit to live on with two small children. Basically they had stopped my tax credits saying i had received too much.

Because of this i had numerous bank charges for things that i didn't have enough money to pay for. If they hadn't charged me so excessively i may have managed but because they took nearly £2000.00 in such a small period i fell behind with everything, credit card catalogues the lot, now i have an awful credit record and am trying to get 1. the money back from tax credits with compensation and also the money back from the bank, but they have right royally had me. Now i can't get credit even if i wanted to (in case if an emergency for example).

Hopefully i will get back the money back from both places and pay off my debts but it still doesnt take away the fact that myself and my children had more of a hard time at home because of their charges and my credit history is recked for 6 year!!!

They absolutely take the p!ss

Carli

fagun

carlih1 wrote:

hi,

I have initiated proceedure with regards to the Halifax and i am awaiting missing statements.

I was just reviewing the discussion and it seems so unfair that the banks can do this to such an extend.

Let me get to my point. Because of the governments great way of dealing with tax credits i was left with only income support of £50.00 and child benefit to live on with two small children. Basically they had stopped my tax credits saying i had received too much.

Because of this i had numerous bank charges for things that i didn't have enough money to pay for. If they hadn't charged me so excessively i may have managed but because they took nearly £2000.00 in such a small period i fell behind with everything, credit card catalogues the lot, now i have an awful credit record and am trying to get 1. the money back from tax credits with compensation and also the money back from the bank, but they have right royally had me. Now i can't get credit even if i wanted to (in case if an emergency for example).

Hopefully i will get back the money back from both places and pay off my debts but it still doesnt take away the fact that myself and my children had more of a hard time at home because of their charges and my credit history is recked for 6 year!!!

They absolutely take the p!ss

Carli

Carli, You can work with Citizens Advice Bureau, etc to get your credit history improved. As I understand it, you can put a personal statement into your Credit Agency File. It won't help you apply where the financial institution uses an automated scorecard, but may help you appeal a rejection. "Financial inclusion" is a big thing at the moment especially if you can demonstrate that you're financially responsible.

Turning_into_scrooge

carlih1 wrote:

hi,

I have initiated proceedure with regards to the Halifax and i am awaiting missing statements.

I was just reviewing the discussion and it seems so unfair that the banks can do this to such an extend.

Let me get to my point. Because of the governments great way of dealing with tax credits i was left with only income support of £50.00 and child benefit to live on with two small children. Basically they had stopped my tax credits saying i had received too much.

Because of this i had numerous bank charges for things that i didn't have enough money to pay for. If they hadn't charged me so excessively i may have managed but because they took nearly £2000.00 in such a small period i fell behind with everything, credit card catalogues the lot, now i have an awful credit record and am trying to get 1. the money back from tax credits with compensation and also the money back from the bank, but they have right royally had me. Now i can't get credit even if i wanted to (in case if an emergency for example).

Hopefully i will get back the money back from both places and pay off my debts but it still doesnt take away the fact that myself and my children had more of a hard time at home because of their charges and my credit history is recked for 6 year!!!

They absolutely take the p!ss

Carli

Similar thing happened to me with LloydsTsb when i was in a bad car accident and fighting to get my health back on track. They owe me somewere between 2k and 3k and i inted to claim every penny back even if i have to stand up in court in front of a judge. They made my life hell, now its pay back time .........

carlih1

fagun wrote:

Carli, You can work with Citizens Advice Bureau, etc to get your credit history improved. As I understand it, you can put a personal statement into your Credit Agency File. It won't help you apply where the financial institution uses an automated scorecard, but may help you appeal a rejection. "Financial inclusion" is a big thing at the moment especially if you can demonstrate that you're financially responsible.

Hi

Thanks for this can you tell me a bit more about it or where i can find out about it on the net maybe?

Quote - Similar thing happened to me with LloydsTsb when i was in a bad car accident and fighting to get my health back on track. They owe me somewere between 2k and 3k and i inted to claim every penny back even if i have to stand up in court in front of a judge. They made my life hell, now its pay back time .........

let me know how you get on with this!!!!!

inmypocketnottheirs

I thought of an analogy today when explaining my success to someone similarly affected. I said 'Its like the banks are pickpockets, they help themselves to your money. If I took 30 quid out of your pocket, you'd have something to say about it, right?'