Claim back any unfair bank charges! Article Discussion Area

pacart

Hi, this is my first posting on this site. I don't know if this is good advice or not but it worked for me. I calculated that the Northern Bank (Northern Ireland, the one that got robbed) had ripped me off to the tune of £1600 over the years. I sent them off the standard letter and got the standard reply, charges are valid, term and conditions etc, etc. I had a £1500 overdraft with them. I maxed it and then sent them a letter saying that they still owed me £100 and that I was closing the account, please forward me the money or legal action will ensue. Needless to say they replied saying I owed them £1500 and that they were refusing to close the account. I replied that I was still considering legal action over the £100 but if they thought they were right they could take me to court about it. I also told them that if they forwarded the details to a credit reference company I would sue for libel.That was ten months ago, not a word from them. I might actually go for that £100 now.

Jesse_James_3

Bank: Abbey
Amount claimed: £50:00
Amount they paid £50:00

Having incurred a £50:00 "fine", on several occasions, (one was for the "crime" of being £0:46p overdrawn) we tried your advice and made a polite phone call. Voila! Abbey immediately repaid the money.
Abbey are still charging the £50:00 "fee", for small amounts on overdrafts ( usually less than £2:00) so I am sure you will agree that reasonability must be put to the test!
Having read the above article, I intend to take more of your - extremely feasible advice - reporting my progress to you.
Please accept my sincere thanks, for your advice to date. I hope this will be of use to other forum members.
Kindest regards
Jesse James - never willingly ripped off!

netumenya

Apologies if this has already been posted, but has anybody challenged the early repayment charges on mortgages?

My situation is that I took out a 2 year fixed rate deal last year, but I am moving house. I can't find anywhere to buy at the moment so it looks as though I'll have to move out and rent somewhere. The Halifax tells me that despite the fact that I have paid them nearly £15,000 over the last year, if I allow the completion to happen and repay the mortgage, they will charge me around £9,500 as an early repayment charge. So, assuming this goes ahead I will have paid them around £24,500 and my mortgage will have reduced by just £4,000.

This seems like an unreasonable penalty to me. Any thoughts?

Blue_Lou

Well... lloyds tsb said they are not willing to cancel PPI or issue a refund - not sure what to do next,

oldwiring

netumenya wrote:

Apologies if this has already been posted, but has anybody challenged the early repayment charges on mortgages?

My situation is that I took out a 2 year fixed rate deal last year, but I am moving house. I can't find anywhere to buy at the moment so it looks as though I'll have to move out and rent somewhere. The Halifax tells me that despite the fact that I have paid them nearly £15,000 over the last year, if I allow the completion to happen and repay the mortgage, they will charge me around £9,500 as an early repayment charge. So, assuming this goes ahead I will have paid them around £24,500 and my mortgage will have reduced by just £4,000.

This seems like an unreasonable penalty to me. Any thoughts?

ERCs arise because the lende will have committed money to the mortgage, in fact many similar mortgages at a eateless than would be obtained under normal terms. The lender may well have acquired funds in the market to do the mortgages as well. Therefore the lender may well lose money if a mortgage is repaid early.

A coupe of years ago there was a BBEB program about ERCs and I have it in the back of my mind that they are now controlled gy the oFT or FSA.
http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=56598 is what happened with one bank, what the OFT accepted, and the calculation method.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_repayment_charge gives the Wikpedia definition, but the calculator may not applyl the site may be non-uk.

If the method of calculation broadly follws that in the NW example them I'd say that the lender is recouping the loss you are making it suffer by breaking the contract and so the charges are not unfair.

That said you could ask for a full breakdown of how the charge is calculated to ensure that no error has been made. Perhaps contact with the OFT/FSA to see if there is any guidance to the public about regulation of such charges

sassi

PLEASE HELP!!!

recieved a FINAL RESPONSE letter from tsb....

This letter is the banks final response, which means that if you remain dissaatisified you may refer your complaint to the financial Ombudsman Service

we have not sent LBA yet, only the 1st letter requesting repayment.

DO WE CONTACT THE OMBUDSMAN OR SEND LBA??????

HELP PLEASE REPLY ASAP!

xanderd

Blue_Lou wrote:

Well... lloyds tsb said they are not willing to cancel PPI or issue a refund - not sure what to do next,

impossible! You have every right to cancel it!! Asking for a refund is different..but its your legal right to cancel the PPI. If they refuse its practically theft.

xanderd

sassi wrote:

PLEASE HELP!!!

recieved a FINAL RESPONSE letter from tsb....



we have not sent LBA yet, only the 1st letter requesting repayment.

DO WE CONTACT THE OMBUDSMAN OR SEND LBA??????

HELP PLEASE REPLY ASAP!

dont worry! We all get similar letters. Ignore the bumf about the ombudsman and send the LBA. AFter 14 days issue a court claim. Dont let them scare you.

I suspect they are getting more worried about the volume of these complaints they are receiving . They know that with scaremongering 1 in 10 people will drop out. My letter even said "we are aware of all the media surrounding this issue" !!

melpomene

thanks xanderd for your reply to me above.

I'm going to reply to FD as you said, but reading their letter, there's an area of confusion i need advice on. They are saying that the reduced offer (no admission of liability, but they don't want to waste court time blah blah) is due to certain fees (ie 'overdraft arrangement' & 'overdraft renewal') are not refundable being for SERVICES requested BY ME.

Is this valid? Or can I still revert to my full claim? Thanks for any help on this as I'd like to move forwards.

Mel

Straykitten

!!! PLEASE HELP !!!

Hi,

Apologies if this has already been covered...

My husband and I have a joint current account in his name, a current account in my name, as well as two separate visa accounts in our own names - all with the Halifax.

Do we need to send two letters or can we amalgamate the request for the list of charges into one letter? IIf we can, can we also enter a joint claim?

Many thanks,

Gail