Bank Charges - illegal?

Andy_S_6

As I posted earlier in this thread I had sent the GLC letter to the Halifax bank requesting £1485 worth of bank charges to be returned. (The account was only opened in 2003). I sent the same letter to a) my branch and b) head office. The following has happened:

a) Last week my local branch phoned me to see if I had copies of my bank statements going back three years as their computer system only went back one year. I told her I had already obtained copies of my statements through their telephone banking and would only be happy to pop in and give them a copy of my bank statements. Surely I should be charging them the £5 they charged me to get the statements. That was last week - no further calls back from local branch.

b) I got a call from Halifax head office a few days ago saying they were making a decision on what should happen about my claim. This morning I got a call back from their complaints department (Tel: 0141 204 6451) to say they WERE NOT refunding any bank charges and that they had an appeals procedure which I could go through and then if not happy the banking ombudsman.

So basically I've been told to get lost and no apparent emotion from the caller when I said I was filing court papers. The original letter requesting the refund was sent on 25th January 2006 so they've had more than 7 days to respond.

I'm in a dilemma here:

1. Should I go for it and take them to small claims court?
2. Should I roll-over, kiss their !!!!!! and apologise for being a bad boy?

What do you think? Comments here!

Andy S

carlih1

Andy_S wrote:

I'm in a dilemma here:

1. Should I go for it and take them to small claims court?
2. Should I roll-over, kiss their !!!!!! and apologise for being a bad boy?

What do you think? Comments here!

Andy S

Um,

I wouldn't have thought you were going to do the second option otherwise you would have applied for the fees back in the first place, if you do this they have won, and you might as well go and throw another £1300 away in the street, as this is what you are doing, giving in to their charges.

I would go the whole hog, i am currently waiting for a reply from the Halifax to my letter requesting bank charges from last week i have asked for the charges to be refunded into my account in the next 7 days (up on friday) then i will send them a letter before action giving them 7 days to respond them file a claim without notifying them, my view being that if you keep saying i give you another 7 days ect you will never get anywhere and they will see you are taking your time and may not go to court at all, go for it, its quite obvious your not going to lose!!

Carli

tempest42

Andy S,
I wouldnt think twice about this one, moneyclaim online is what you need, I mean £30 to claim back £1300.

mandi

Hi,
Wondered if anyone can offer some advice. I wrote to My BS on monday asking for a break down of charges to my account over the last 6 years.. They called a few minutes ago and advised me(After they had consulted the societys solicitor!!) that they could only give me the breakdown, by sending duplicate statments, and would be charging me for all of them............

Ideas please, not going to let them get away with this...!

dchurch24

visit the https://www.bankactiongroup.com web site - your question is answered in the FAQ.

The crux of it is, that they HAVE to comply with the DPA - they have 40 days to comply or you can report them to the information commisioner.

If they have any doubt that the information requested (date of 'offence', amount and reason) is covered by the DPA, then tell them to inform their (no doubt corperate solicitors who wouldn't have expertise in the DPA) solicitors of the Durant vs. FSA case, in which the judge ruled that bank statment information is indeed personal information and thuis covered by the DPA.

mandi

dchurch24 wrote:

visit the https://www.bankactiongroup.com web site - your question is answered in the FAQ.

The crux of it is, that they HAVE to comply with the DPA - they have 40 days to comply or you can report them to the information commisioner.

If they have any doubt that the information requested (date of 'offence', amount and reason) is covered by the DPA, then tell them to inform their (no doubt corperate solicitors who wouldn't have expertise in the DPA) solicitors of the Durant vs. FSA case, in which the judge ruled that bank statment information is indeed personal information and thuis covered by the DPA.

They are telling me that the DPA doesnt cover my charges.. and are quite adamant about this should I call them back do you think?

dchurch24

I would just write them a letter demanding the list, and pointing them at the aforementioned case - tell them that you have emailed the comissioner about their refusal.

http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/

The information is most certainly covered by the act - they all wriggle like the worms that they are, simply because they know what you are going to do with the information.

It's the only real defence they have - they hope that you give up. Don't. If it ever got to a court regarding the charges they would lose, and they know it, that's why at this stage they are unhelpful - I mean, to be honest, if someone was suing you and asked for your help to do so, you wouldn't be very happy about it and would probably wriggle as much as they are.

mandi

Ive just rang them back, and the person I spoke to is conveniently in a meeting, However, not to be put off ive e mailed the person concerned, and the whole of the investmant department quoting the Durant V FSA case... They were squirming at my origional letter, otherwise why ask their solicitor for advice????

Mark7799

Just wondering, has any bank yet given the defence that the information has already been supplied to the customer via statements and that the Bank is being asked to carry out additional work? I don't know the Durant case in detail so not sure if this is the point covered there?

fagun

There's been a number of mentions of Durant vs FSA in relation to Bank Statements. The case was not about Bank Statements - see http://www.ico.gov.uk/documentUploads/Durant%20v%20FSA%20Case%20Summary%2022.pdf.

However, the ruling did give some clarification on what is "personal information". In this context, Bank Statements is explicitly identified - see bottom of Page 2 http://www.ico.gov.uk/documentUploads/webversion%204%2004.10.042.pdf

The ICO also makes clear in its guidance that:

A data controller may charge a fee for dealing with subject access. Currently, the maximum fee chargeable is £10, or £2 if it is a request for limited information from a credit reference agency. There are special rules that apply to fees for access to manual health records (where the maximum fee is currently £50) and education records (where there is a sliding scale ranging from £1 to £50 depending upon the number of pages to be provided). Details can be found in S.I. No. 191 referred to above (as amended by S.I. No 3223) and on the Commissioner’s website.