Bank Charges - illegal?

Pere_Ubu

msaquib wrote:

Hi All,

I have sent a letter to capital one regarding charges for £345.00.

I have now received the following response:-

---

Dear XXXXXXX

Account No. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXX

Thank you for taking the time to write to us about the fees we've added to your account. I understand you feel these are punitive in nature and unfair and I'm sorry to hear you feel this way.

Looking at your account, I can see you last used your card on 2 August 2004 and spent £3.65 over your agreed credit limit. In September, we received a payment of £10 but it wasn't enough so we automatically added a late payment and overlimit fee.

In your credit agreement, which you signed when we opened your account, you agreed to pay our fees. To explain, we add a late payment fee of £20 to your account if your payment is late or hasn't reached us by the date on your statement. We also add an overlimit fee of £20, if your account goes over your agreed credit limit.

Because we didn't receive a payment for six months, we sent you a default notice on 23 February 2005. This asked you to pay your overlimit amount of £345.79 within ten days. Unfortunately, we didn't receive this so we passed your account to a debt collection agency.

I understand you believe these fees are unfair, and the Office of Fair Trading has investigated this. However, our fees are in line with fees other banks and financial institutions charge.

You've mentioned you'd like me to refund all the fees we've added to your account in the last year. I'm afraid I'm unable to do this, because we've added them correctly and in line with your credit agreement. However, as a goodwill gesture I've refunded £40 of fees to help reduce your balance, your outstanding balance is now £505.79. I've also included copies of your statements as you've asked.

Your account is now with a debt collection agency called Equidebt, so you'll need to contact them directly to discuss a payment arrangement. Their telephone number is 01789472180.

I realise this isn't the answer you were hoping for but I hope I've explained things clearly. If you have any more questions about this, please write to me again within four weeks. I've included a copy of our complaints leaflet, which gives my address.

Once again, I'm sorry you feel our fees are unfair, and that I've been unable to refund all of them for you. I hope you can work together with Equidebt and set up a payment plan that suits you both.
Yours sincerely

Lee Powell
Executive Office Manager

---

Any suggestion? What next step can I take??

Thanks in advance
S11

I might be wrong but I thought a debt in dispute cannot be pursued. It's in dispute as they have added charges etc. Perhaps someone else can confirm this??

digp

try https://www.debthelpuk.co.uk/forum

Pere_Ubu

Apologies if this has been covered else where here but...I have read through a statement and read that I was charged £50 twice for "service of a default notice and calling in letters". These were simply letters reading me the riot act. Can this be recovered through the same channels? Also they ahve added £130 litigation fee. How do I question the validity of this charge with a view to recover?

djohn2002uk

tempest42 wrote:

Sorry, must have interpreted it wrong, didnt mean to come across as having a go so can we call it quits ....

..........

Turning_into_scrooge

Not sure if this is allowed but hope its ok - sorry if its not
If you have had help from this thread and you feel that dchurch24 has gone the extra mile which i feel he has to help people on here to recover money then please vote for him on the Most helpful/useful £50 a month post award thread

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?s=&daysprune=&f=51

dchurch24

Pere_Ubu wrote:

I might be wrong but I thought a debt in dispute cannot be pursued. It's in dispute as they have added charges etc. Perhaps someone else can confirm this??

It says in the Banking Code that a debt in dispute will not be passed to debt collection agencies etc...

However, the banking code is useful for only one thing.....and that's if you've run out of toilet paper.

msaquib

msaquib wrote:

Hi All,

I have sent a letter to capital one regarding charges for £345.00.

I have now received the following response:-

---

Dear XXXXXXX

Account No. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXX

Thank you for taking the time to write to us about the fees we've added to your account. I understand you feel these are punitive in nature and unfair and I'm sorry to hear you feel this way.

Looking at your account, I can see you last used your card on 2 August 2004 and spent £3.65 over your agreed credit limit. In September, we received a payment of £10 but it wasn't enough so we automatically added a late payment and overlimit fee.

In your credit agreement, which you signed when we opened your account, you agreed to pay our fees. To explain, we add a late payment fee of £20 to your account if your payment is late or hasn't reached us by the date on your statement. We also add an overlimit fee of £20, if your account goes over your agreed credit limit.

Because we didn't receive a payment for six months, we sent you a default notice on 23 February 2005. This asked you to pay your overlimit amount of £345.79 within ten days. Unfortunately, we didn't receive this so we passed your account to a debt collection agency.

I understand you believe these fees are unfair, and the Office of Fair Trading has investigated this. However, our fees are in line with fees other banks and financial institutions charge.

You've mentioned you'd like me to refund all the fees we've added to your account in the last year. I'm afraid I'm unable to do this, because we've added them correctly and in line with your credit agreement. However, as a goodwill gesture I've refunded £40 of fees to help reduce your balance, your outstanding balance is now £505.79. I've also included copies of your statements as you've asked.

Your account is now with a debt collection agency called Equidebt, so you'll need to contact them directly to discuss a payment arrangement. Their telephone number is 01789472180.

I realise this isn't the answer you were hoping for but I hope I've explained things clearly. If you have any more questions about this, please write to me again within four weeks. I've included a copy of our complaints leaflet, which gives my address.

Once again, I'm sorry you feel our fees are unfair, and that I've been unable to refund all of them for you. I hope you can work together with Equidebt and set up a payment plan that suits you both.
Yours sincerely

Lee Powell
Executive Office Manager

---

Any suggestion? What next step can I take??

Thanks in advance
S11

Any suggestions what to do next.

The credit limit was £200.00 and the balance owing now is £545. £345 are the charges. Do I have to pay the charges??

S11

homer_j_3

read the post, you can claim the charges back. You need to sit down and patiently read - it is not difficult to do but you need to follow the process.

dchurch24

I have outlined the process in a step-by-step guide in the FAQ's in the forum on https://www.bankactiongroup.co.uk (or .com - both work)

sujman

Thanks dchurch24 for the advice posted on this thread re: bank charges.

Last year, I was charged total of £300 for exceeding my over draft limit over a 6 month period. Totally my fault for not managing my account properly but I was annoyed none the less. The overdraft limit was breached by only small amounts, 3 / 4 days before my next pay reaching the account.

After complaining twice about the excessiveness of the charges and threatening to close the account, I got 2 batches of £75 refunded but they refused to give back the final £150. I was resigned to losing that money and am in the process of closing the account and moving to A&L.

However after reading this thread and advice on bankactiongroup, I am looking forward to making a claim and getting my last £150 back!!

I wonder of there is similar advice on another charge I incurred with Barclaycard that I tried to get refunded but was unsuccessful...

2 years ago, over the period of a year, I was charged about £150 for PPI (? - the 70p per £100 insurance in case of illness, redundancy etc). Stopped using the card a year ago and all balances were paid off.

Thing is, for the last 3 years I have been working on contract jobs, therefore I reckon wouldn’t have been entitled to claim any money if I wasn’t working. I am sure they would have argued that as I was working as a temporary employee, I wasn’t covered by the insurance etc etc.

I tried to use this fact to say that as I was never covered by the insurance, they should refund the charges. They just kept replying along the lines “the insurance cover was available and therefore the charge was valid”.

As with the Barclays account, gave up and have since closed the credit card account.

What do you reckon, can I get the money back for that as well?