Claim back any unfair bank charges! Article Discussion Area

Jonni2bad

debbie_b_23 wrote:

Do I have to state how much I am claiming in my preliminary letter...

Hi Debbie

You should specify it - if you haven't already asked for the list of charges via a DPA request, do so first. If you have and it has not arrived yet, just give it more time (up to 40 days max). There's no need to jump the gun.

Best of luck

Jonni2bad

princessgriff wrote:

Hi all
In the process off filing my claim online against Alliance and Leicester.When completing the 'particulars of claim' section online, is this where i include a breakdown of charges, dates, and what they were for.

If making a claim online, you will not have the space. Send off a separate breakdown of charges once you have received notification of the claim being served - include 2 copies and send to the court with a covering letter explaining its use (1 copy for the court and one for the bank which will be passed on for you).

Alternatively, claim in person at your local county court and give 2 copies of the claim form and 2 of the charges spreadsheet.

Jonni2bad

atticus2006 wrote:

...Their first point was that i did not specify the dates and times of the alleged unfair charges!...

Usual practice... Just send off another copy to the legal department as shown on the defence papers, and also a copy to the court.

You'll find that their left arm doesn't communicate very well with the right...

Jonni2bad

wrbryce50 wrote:

Has anyone else been successful and if so what did the bank come up with next.
Thank you for all the advice.

Have a look at the Aliance & Leicester forum on https://www.ConsumerActionGroup.co.uk and you'll see more on this.

xanderd

debbie_b_23 wrote:

Hi,

This is my 1st post so sorry if I sound a bit thick.

Do I have to state how much I am claiming in my preliminary letter or can I just ask for all charges to be refunded then if it goes to court have the amount worked out by then?

Thanks

Debs x

work out exactly what they owe you, and when and why the charge was made before claiming. Otheriwse they can just make excuses and you sound like you dont know what you are asking for. Use the subject access request letter in the consumer action group forums to get the charges they have applied if you don't already know.

Bill_Lumbergh

dchurch24 wrote:

Lloyds have capitulated and given the money back to the claimant in the 'test' case, rather than go to court.

this still leaves a decent chance in small claims presumably but .... i imagine by now the banks' legal departments have got a template for handling these cases like we have, any ideas how small claims courts are finding these cases?
litigation can be like poker, i just want to be pretty sure Natwest are bluffing if i have to sit in front of a magistrate and ask them for my £3k back

82616

Hi, I work for a Bank so thought id let you all know something about how we deal with charge refunds.

If a customer calls us to complain about a charge staff are told to only refund 50% of the charge.

However if a customer writes in to customer care they just refund to whole charge straight away.

So whoever you bank with, write in to complain instead of ringing them.

Hope this helps some of you!!!!

bookworm1363

Bill_Lumbergh wrote:

i imagine by now the banks' legal departments have got a template for handling these cases like we have

Yes, they try to scare you off with big words, huffing and puffing... then pay up. Not much of a template for them, I grant you, but it works quite well for us, lol.

any ideas how small claims courts are finding these cases?

With great difficulty, lol, as they never have to actually handle them.

litigation can be like poker, i just want to be pretty sure Natwest are bluffing if i have to sit in front of a magistrate and ask them for my £3k back

That's assuming that you will in fact end up sitting in front of a magistrate. The spate of cases worth more than 5k and therefore potentially subject to fast-track, yet, the banks settle anyway, suggests that it is not likely to happen...

Princessa_2

Hi guys!

I've sent two letters off to Barclays, asking them to refund £90 on my account, and £440 on our joint account due to being charged £30 a time for going over our overdraft or having things bounce. Since we sent the letters off, we went over our overdraft again, so we went in and complained about it and they gave us that £30 back (this was a couple of weeks ago) ), though we were still waiting to hear about the previous complain of 390 and £440.

This morning I got a letter off them saying basically this:

'We are sorry that you are unhappy with the charges made to your account over the last 6 years. You state that the charges you have incurred do not reflet the cost of the bank. Upon checking our records I can confrim that your account has been credited with £30 as a full refund of one of the charges applied on the 27th July 2006 by our branch. I have today thoroughly checked our records of your account and as no bank error has occured I regret to inform you that I am unable to offer any refunds.

When an account is opened with us our customers are provided with a copy of the terms and conditions...including details of our charges. This information clearly explains our obligations to our customers, as well as thier obligations to us. If you would like to talk further about this please call... I will keep your complaint open for 8 weeks and if I have not heard from you in that time I will regard your complaint as closed.'

Then they ask me to fill in a survey on their customer care. Any tips on what I should do from here? Thanks!

debbie_b_23_2

Thanks for you help everybody.

What happened was, I wrote to the bank last week when I was really angry at being charged again, I used a template document from one of the websites.

I didnt put an amount in, I just asked for all the charges they had made over the last 6 years to be refunded and gave them the usual 14 days.

I've worked out the full amount now, nearly £500. Do I need to write to the bank again and ask for the specific amount or just wait until next Tuesday when the 14 days is up and fill the MoneyClaim?

I wasn't sure what I had to do, as they must know exactly how much they have charged me over the last 6 years.