Late Payment Charges

dchurch24

Write a letter to them, quoting the case law here:

http://www.bankchargeshell.co.uk/legal.html

and politely ask for a refund.

It may also be worth mentioning that you feel that the charges are a breach of the Consumer Credit Act (1999) - Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts regulations, as this is what they [the top 8 credit card providers] are currently being investigated for by the OFT.

Let me know what their response is. If you feel it would help, I am happy for you to mention my name as the press officer for the bankchargeshell website/campaign.

PM me for more info when you get a reply from your letter.

shays_mum

I just called in & said if "you are not going to be reasonable about refunding the money, seeing as its the first one we have not paid on time, you obviously don't value my business enough & with the deluge of credit cards on offer, i think its about time i moved on......", worked for me, they refunded the £20 charge. Hope it helps, goodluck

donnomuch

Thanks for that, as it's my husband and he's always away working, i'm going to try the letter approach, and if that doesn't work ensure on his rare day off he goes in. Cheers

dchurch24

I must admit, a few months ago I lost my visa/debit card. Each month, if I use my Barclaycard - which is rare, I will phone up and pay it off. However, I was due to pay on the 1st of the month, and a replacement debit card didn't show until 2nd. I phoned up and paid.

In the next statement I had a £20 charge added for late payment. I phoned up and said:

"You've added a £20 late payment charge to my account. I'd like it back please."

They said, "hold on one second.....there it's done."

Just like that.

dchurch24

To Shays_mum:

no-one said it would be hard either :-)

Bossyboots

My young colleague is in dire straits because of bank charges this month (we have just been paid and it has all gone). While my own view is she should manage her money better (she could have prevented some of this) as these charges are illegal I want to help her sort this out and get at least some of it back. Some advice as to where to start the process would be appreciated. I think she would prefer to handle this without resorting to court action if that is possible.

Edit: just saw the post above which for reason did not appear on my screen before I started to post. I will try writing a letter for her first.

dc

Stonk wrote:

Why don't you divert your time from fighting charges, to spend more time looking after your finances so that you don't incur the charges in the first place?

That would be OK if the companies played fair! I was going to start a thread similar to this cos MBNA for some reason moved my pay by date forward by 6 days last month, after being the same date for over a year.
6 Days is in excess of a " Banking Week" so I was extremely annoyed when I was charged, having paid 3 days before the old date.

I called to complain, and they stone-walled saying that statement dates can vary by a day or two, when I threatened to close the card they offered half the fee.
Pointing out again that it was 6 days not 2 or 3, and seemed like a deliberate entrapment, and that I would close the account, they said that they were allowed to refund one late payment fee per 12 months and did so.

MBNA are deliberately trying it on IMHO, what with annual fees and now leaps in statement dates, I will still be closing it and telling A&L why as it seems there is no love lost by A&L with MBNA, just a marriage of convenience.

dchurch24

To Bossyboots,

It is my experience that Credit Card companies generally give in when threatened with court (MBNA & Barclaycard), apart from Smile, I had to start legal action against before they gave in.

Banks wait until you have started legal proceedings and in some cases actually put in a defence. I was getting quite excited with Abbey, expecting it to go to court, but at the last minute made a really bad offer of settlement, so I wrote back with my offer and they accepted.

It may be worth letting your colleague know that taking legal action against them is risk free (apart from the possibility of losing the inital court fee, which is usually nominal - it ranges from 20-220).
Even if she/he were to lose in court (and I don't know of any bank that have actually let it go that far) then it is only the court fee that she stands to lose.

dc

Bump for wolftom2001,

as this longer thread was just a few threads down from his.

youreds

dchurch24 wrote:

Write a letter to them, quoting the case law here:

http://www.bankchargeshell.co.uk/legal.html

and politely ask for a refund.

Has anyone done a sample letter in which you can fill in your details & send it off? I've done a quick forum search & can't find anything. I've just had Nationwide sting me again for £20 for being a few days late. Having just had a baby son & hence quite busy the last few months, this is my second "offence" with them in the last 6 months (They refunded the first offence, but maintained this was a one off).
Although I should have been on the ball, Nationwide haven't helped by changing their payment dates, meaning you have little more than a week to pay from the statement landing on your doormat.

:xmassign:

Youreds!