Bank Charges - illegal?

fagun

Carli, I'm not the expert on this as I haven't need it myself. There's info on the web, and nothing better than a face-to-face with CAB or one of the other volunteer organisations. What they can do is advise you on how best to improve your credit score. And to get any black marks on your credit file removed by persuading the financial institution who put them there in the first place to remove them.

Try the Debt-Free Wannabe Board for more expert advice: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=76

Citizens' Advice Bureaux
See phone book for local branch
www.citizensadvice.org.uk

Consumer Credit Counselling Service
0800 138 1111
www.cccs.co.uk

Community Legal Service
(only England and Wales)
0845 345 4 345 (Call rates may vary)
www.clsdirect.gov.uk

National Debtline
0808 808 4000
www.nationaldebtline.co.uk

Money Advice Scotland
0141 572 0237
www.moneyadvicescotland.org.uk

sueh6

Hi everyone, I've started the ball rolling today after thinking long and hard about this. I currently bank with NatWest who, over the period from 2000 - 2003 compounded our o/d by adding charge after charge. We were going through a very difficult time and am now happy to say 'solvent' (although still paying off debt!). I've applied for a new joint account with Cahoot today and have been conditionally accepted pending ID checks as I know that when NatWest receive my letter they will definitely want to close the account down. As soon as the new account's confirmed I will contact Nat West. My question is, do I need to have actual figures to request they pay back the 'illegal' charges (I havn't kept my statements) or should I ask that they send me a breakdown of all charges over the last 6 years? How long should I give them to respond.

TIA

Sue

Skint_Phil

Hi everyone,

reading through this thread has taken quite some time, but the more I read the more I'm convinced that a lot of my historic money issues have been as a result of the bank charges incurred.

This was mainly with the HSBC who incidently, closed my account and passed my outstanding overdraft and loan to their collections agency, (despite the fact I made them a re-payment offer based on the CAB's advice...but that's another story). Since I was forced to change bank, I decided to just forget about it and move on and keep paying their collection agent. I don't have any record of the charges as all statements were cerimonialy cremated!! From what has been written before am I correct in thinking that:

• They must provide me with details of all charges applied to my account over the last 6 years, under the data protection act
• I can add interest to the charges when requesting that they are repaid in full

As I have been repaying my debt to them via a collections agency is there anything I can do with that?

Now for a gripe about the Halifax:
I guess the main problem I have with my current bank is that they agree an overdraft limit with you and then proceed to let you take out more than has been agreed. If a £500 overdraft is agreed, then they shouldn't authorise transactions that take me past this amount, especially when it is using a debit card, which I believe is meant to ensure you have sufficient funds before authorising the transaction (?). I'd be interested to hear thoughts on this one...apart from the obvious profiteering agenda...how does it benefit the customer? At £30 a time...not to mention the unauthorised overdraft fee to be add later....it's cost me about £200 in the last month....I'll be asking for my charges back from them too!!

What's the success rate with reclaiming charges from HSBC and Halifax?

Can I do the same with my credit card charges?

verypoor

Hi Skint,

I had the same problem with the Halifax regarding the debit card transaction and thought that they should nt charge me as it should nt authorise if the funds are not there. I wrote a letter to them and they advised that the debit cards have a floor limit so if the amount is less than that then they do not check the account for the balance, these payments get authorised. However when I wrote in Halifax refunded me the two £30 pound charges that was placed on my account for visa debit payments. So might be worth writing in to them regarding this to see if they will refund you.

Skint_Phil

Thanks verypoor....they didn't happen to tell you what the floor limit is? I'm just curious to see if it's ludicrously high to take advantage of the potential revenue they can generate if the account goes into unauthorised overdraft...it wouldn't surprise me!!

Other than that the floor limit "excuse" seems flawed: when I didn't have an arranged overdraft I had my card declined several time because there was insufficient funds....even on payments much smaller than those that were allowed to go though and take me into my unauthorised od.

Hmm...it all seems like a grat big profit making scheme to me!!!!!

verypoor

Hi Skint,

They did nt say how much the floor limit is but it is definatley flawed because I have had payments authorise for £22.99 however there has been occasions when I tried to purchase something online for £5 and that has declined so I believed the banks just do it on descresion as on both occasions there was not sufficient funds. However I stated all this on my letter and they refunded the payments in questions, naturally they went along the line of goodwill rather than admit they are wrong.

One thing that the banks mentioned was it was to comply with Visa agreements so they seemed to be pushing it on to another party, however surely if they are the provider then they have control over what goes out etc.

gothicf0rm

the halifax will refuse to pay a direct debit where yuo dont have the funds but will pay a debit card transaction where you dont have the funds even if both transaction sizes are identical and your balance is the same.

phil -
1) request all your statements from hsbc under the DPA
2) add up all your charges, plus the interest they charged you on them. add 8% interest (if it happened five years ago for example youre in luck!).
3) contact the collection agency and notify them of the sum involved. tell them you do not owe the money and then warn them if they continue to contact you you will take action against them for harassment of a debtor.
4) sue HSBC for the amount owed.

once youve done all that you can sort out your credit record, threats of suing banks for defamation usually works.

jenniferpa

verypoor wrote:

One thing that the banks mentioned was it was to comply with Visa agreements so they seemed to be pushing it on to another party, however surely if they are the provider then they have control over what goes out etc.

The thing to remember about visa (and Amex and all the others) is that they have a lot of power when it comes to enforcing their own T & Cs, and they don't hesitate to enforce them. It would be very difficult for any bank to keep customers if they didn't have to right to put a Visa or similar logo on their cards, with all that implies. I doubt though that Visa would require any card issuer to keep handing out money if you were over your limit.

westernpromise

dosser wrote:

therefore each time somebody wins, someone loses{limited resources on planet}

Rubbish.

If I am a carpenter and I take a pile of wood and upgrade it into a chair, I have created wealth. The chair is worth more than the wood was. I have created wealth and I have not done so at anyone else's expense.

gothicf0rm

but what if its the only tree in the world of that species? what if you expend more resources making the chair than you do from selling it?