Claim back any unfair bank charges! Article Discussion Area

Keith

hopelesscase! wrote:

Hi, I`m getting cold feet about this now, Halifax has said they will refund SOME charges but, on the understanding that I sign an agreement not to do it again! while I realise this is a bluff, I have a £2000 overdraft, and they are threatening to close the account! Eek! Any advice would be welcome, Thanks.

Open another account! I went on to Nationwides website and opened an account with a £1000 over draft in around 30 minutes, the paper work came in 2 days.

Good luck, I'm waiting on Halifax to answer my DPA request at the moment

tomsaxton

Hi

I sent a letter to HSBC complaining about excessive charges some time ago (before I had heard about them being illegal) and they wrote back saying they haven't done anything wrong but here, have £150 anyway (good will gesture or whatever). That is less than half of the charges I had incurred so I'm now writing back to tell them to refund the rest.

One question though: These charges were for going over my overdraft limit. They detailed their charges in the letter they sent me and one of their points is that they will never charge more than the amount of excess borrowing (ie the charge will never be greater than the amount by which I am over my limit). Are these charges still illegal and therefore can I still claim them back?

I think I can but just getting slightly nervous before putting the letter in the post.

Thanks in advance

Gemmzie

I've just been charged £38 for a D/D bounce (the D/D is a separate issue) and they are saying that there will be a further charge of £25 on the 31st of May for going overdrawn.
I have no overdraft set up as I have barely touched the account since I turned 18 last year and didn't see the use.
Is there anything I can do about this? I'm a student and these charges will wipe me out for at least a month!

chipmunk

Keith wrote:

Open another account! I went on to Nationwides website and opened an account with a £1000 over draft in around 30 minutes, the paper work came in 2 days.

Good luck, I'm waiting on Halifax to answer my DPA request at the moment

Hi Keith,

I'm going to approach Abbey for a refund of my charges but am looking at setting up another current account beforehand, just in case Abbey get the hump

I see you say you opened an account online with Nationwide which gave you an overdraft. Do you mind me asking which account it was because according to their website, the "basic account" does not offer an overdraft, cheque book or debit card.

Thanks in advance

chipmunk

davina464

My daughter followed your guidance on reclaiming her bank charges and got ALL of it refunded. £190. Fabulous! Thank you Martin.

hopelesscase!

Thing is....we use and need that £2000 o/d because we run a small livery although we are not classed as a business (only 5 horses) so if Halifax close our account, we would be stuffed yes? Thanks though, I think it would probably be wise to open another account. We never exceed our limit, its just sometimes the juggling act goes wrong! Thanks again.

Keith

chipmunk wrote:

I see you say you opened an account online with Nationwide which gave you an overdraft. Do you mind me asking which account it was because according to their website, the "basic account" does not offer an overdraft, cheque book or debit card.

I opened a Flex account, I've a poor credit rating and it went through straight away, I've been a loan customer of theirs for 6 months so that may be why.

Hopelesscase - Apply for an account and adjust the overdraft limit

I've recieved my first response from Halifax to my DPA request hopefully I can get things underway asap!

Saban

Hi

Id just like to say i think all of this is fantastic! :money:Banks make a disgusting amount of money from bank charges and its great more people are taking actions against them.

I am currently waiting for Lloyds to get back to me regarding £105 bank charges due to be applied at the start of may (the only bank charges i have ever incurred). Once i see how that goes we will do the same with OH's account who has paid thousands in charges! Imagine if all that money had been in a high interest account for the last 5 years instead of the banks pocket!

But. I have a query? Obviously the banks make a lot of money from charges but they are also a detterant. If unfairly high bank charges were stopped by the OFT or whoever, how would the banks stop customers going overdrawn by as much as they like, or never paying DD'? Now thats an interesting dilema!:p

Also im interested to know, what happens in other countries? Do Europe and America have similar charges? Are they also unlawful there?

Any answers on comments on the above would be much appreciated!:D

nambola

Thanks to all the advice on this site, I claimed back ca. £250 of overdraft charges from First Direct. It took just the initial letter setting out the charges made, duration etc with the threat of legal action. I expected to have to take this a couple of extra stages, so this was a great result for very little effort.

ajbaker

There is a lot of discussion here from people who are claiming back large sums of money. I am hoping people who have been faced with small charges will also do there best to reclaim the money.

I have only once been charged for a returned direct debit: £39 by Halifax and £25 by Amex. It has taken almost four months but I have now had these charges refunded in full. Amex were the hardest but I got there in the end.

So please, if you have faced even one small charge consider taking the time to reclaim the money. If you would like a sample letter please drop me a PM.