Bank Charges - illegal?

virgin_moneysaver

CODEBREAKER wrote:

the other month i went over my overdaft by £3, i was charged in total £56 for this £3 as the banks month starts from around the 5th of each month, i was charged £28 for being over for 2 days and then another £28 of another 3 days, the total cost for going over was £11.20p per day.

i rang the bank asking why the month did not start from the 1st as i have been charged twice in a month? the reply i got was ''read the terms and conditions you will find it all in there'' so much for NATWEST customer services.

i have since moved my income to a different bank, just getting the family allowance paid into natwest, they are now getting shirty with me telling me ''they will be forced to close my account if i do not use it for my main sorce of income, will this wipe my overdraft if they close it''??

FYI - the charging periods are printed on the back of every statement for the year

Russe11

seanparkin wrote:

dchurch24, thanks for all the help and advice in this thread - I've just heard back from HSBC after writing them a very lengthy and wordy letter detailing the things you've mentioned.

Result, they've refunded all of my bank charges as a 'gesture of goodwill' though they don't usually refund 'correctly applied charges' haha

Thanks again!

no such luck here hsbc are not playing ball, how much was you contesting ?

seanparkin

It wasn't much to be honest compared to some of the others here, a couple of hundred.

Still, it is my money, not theres, and its good to have it back where it belongs!

tempest42

Idid this for £79 after money we put in the cash machine on the friday didnt clear till the following wednesday night and caused 2 DD's to bounce at £39 each.
This was with the Halifax, I sent them a short note asking them to refund the charges or I would file in the small claims , they wrote back saying they have overheads and no chance of a refund.
So I issued the claim and kept it as short as possible, they filed a defence and then about half way through their 28 days paid up in full and even backdated the payments.
So "GO FOR IT" one letter to say what you will do then after a week off to moneyclaims online and issue papers.

As a side note one of the DD's they didnt pay was to a credit card (with them) and that also incured charges of £40, they had a letter (ignored) so last night I was on moneyclaims, papers issued to funnly enough the Halifax again.

This was all caused by them so I have no moral doubt about claiming this back after all they had my CASH for over 3 days. Not a transfer, this was raw CASH.

seanparkin

i have since moved my income to a different bank, just getting the family allowance paid into natwest, they are now getting shirty with me telling me ''they will be forced to close my account if i do not use it for my main sorce of income, will this wipe my overdraft if they close it''??

I did the exact same thing with Natwest two years ago, hence why I am now with HSBC.

No, they will not wipe your overdraft if they close your account, and yes they will close your account. They will insist you pay your overdraft off in agreed monthly instalments whilst still putting interest onto the account.

I am at the minute attempting to obtain copy bank statements from when they put the £200 of bank charges onto me which prompted me to move my account, but they are refusing. Telephone banking are telling me to go into the branch who will provide them, my branch are telling me to call telephone banking, neither will budge. They tell me the DPA is not applicable to bank statements.

I WILL get them...

*Update*

The 'Debt Management' department have put six months of statements 'on order' for me without cost. These are due to arrive in 14 days and I'll update on the what happens with this case as well.

dchurch24

If anyone else gets the bank telling them that bank statement info is not covered by the act, point them at the Durant vs. FSA (2004) case. The judge ruled unambiguously that bank statement information is most CERTAINLY personal information and covered by the act.

seanparkin

Thanks for that info, it will come into use when trying to get the statements out of Alliance & Leicester for my fiances account - they have flat out denied they have to provide them and have refused to budge so I'll include this with the written letter I will be sending to them tomorrow.

Thats another pint I owe you I think!

seanparkin

BTW, does the information here also apply to store cards etc, such as Littlewoods accounts (who charge you £25 if you are late with a payment etc) ?

Thanks!

regularsaver1

do not pay money in through the machine - it will not clear for a few days

and the reaosn is because evey envelope has to be checked, otherwise i could go and say i've out £1 million in the envelope

dchurch24

seanparkin: yes, the law applies to all punitive charges no matter how they were levied.

Have a look over at https://www.bankactiongroup.com for pro-forma letters and information regarding how to get this back - read the FAQ first - it has many answers to questions you probably haven't thought of yet ;-)

Also, we are staging a peaceful protest outside the OFT's headquarters in March to try to embarress them into following through with their threat on the credit card companies who levy these charges.