Claim back any unfair bank charges! Article Discussion Area

bookworm1363

Yes, you can reclaim the charges, no, they're not legal, yes, they can charge "something", but they're not allowed to make a profit out of those charges, and since they won't say what their cost actually are, they'll have to repay the lot.

Have fun.

kelly1e

I have receive a letter saying I am overdrawn and would have to pay £30 per transaction for 5 transactions (£150). On visiting the bank they offered to reduce this to £90 which they Kindly agreed to accept in two easy payments :-;

Having read this article am I too late to go back and refuse their offer?

pjala

If you are charged a fee, and it is on a credit card this will then incur higher interest thant the standard 8%. Can you claim back this interest incurred on the penalty charged? I am thinking of the normal interest charged on credit cards of around 18 to 25%.
Thanks

pjn1978

I had a £30 charge applied to my account by the Halifax i phoned them up and told them i would shift all my banking to my other account with Nat-west as i thought the charges were unfair got told to hold the line and after 5 mins the woman came back and said the charges had been lifted.And would i like a loan to which i said no :T

bookworm1363

kelly1e wrote:

I have receive a letter saying I am overdrawn and would have to pay £30 per transaction for 5 transactions (£150). On visiting the bank they offered to reduce this to £90 which they Kindly agreed to accept in two easy payments :-;

Having read this article am I too late to go back and refuse their offer?

Unless you have signed something saying full and final settlement, no. Just write and say that you have reconsidered, and that on second thoughts, you don't think it's acceptable to only partially refund charges they have unlawfully deducted from your account.

Click on the link under my sig if you need further info and support.

bookworm1363

pjala wrote:

If you are charged a fee, and it is on a credit card this will then incur higher interest thant the standard 8%. Can you claim back this interest incurred on the penalty charged? I am thinking of the normal interest charged on credit cards of around 18 to 25%.
Thanks

Yes, you can, but the calculations are very difficult, as part of the interest will be on the existing owed amount at normal rate, part will be from the interest on the penalty charge. On the grounds of that difficulty and the fact that the banks should be allowed to recoup the (alleged) costs incurred from your breach of their T&Cs (going overlimit, payign late), I usually advise not to bother. But then, that's me, I'm no mathematician, lol.

Reverend_Darkman

Hi All sorry if this has already been discussed but there's £4000 at stake here!

I'm currently £2k overdrawn with a £1k limit and have just added up briefly my charges since May 2000 and it comes to a whopping £3179 !! as you can see it would put me in credit by a long way!

I've already fallen out with HSBC as they kept stopping my ATM card so I couldn't get cash to feed the family etc etc and because of that I have already opened an account with NatWest with NO overdraft!!

Anyhow my question comes down to teh template letters.... I want to get tthis right first time so the line....

What I require
I calculate that you have taken £XXXXX plus £XXX which you have charged me in overdraft interest for the sum which you have taken. Total £XXXXX


How do you work out the overdraft interest (XXXXX above) or is it the totals from the spreadsheet?

I also spotted a post with the letters saying something about demanding 8% interest, that if you get it wrong then you'll never get it.....

ranting I know bit I'm excited now about putting a big dent in my debts!

asphyxia

More Questions - sorry!

BTW Did anyone happen to catch the report on BBC Breakfast 21/05?

Last quarter British Gas charged me £30 to send a reminder telegraph thingy - can i claim this back as unfair charges?

While looking through other people's comments about claiming from Lloyds TSB it seems that they like to close accounts with the excuse "customer not sticking to T&Cs". Is there any comeback for this (seeing as they haven't stuck to their T&C to operate in a legal manner). I really need my overdraft!

Also, would it be worthwhile asking for only part payment, say all charges over the last year in the hope they won't close my account? And if I do, should i tell them how much I could claim back in total if this offer is rejected?

Down with the man!!!!!!!!!
V

GrahamD_2

Hello all

I too saw the article on Breakfast (very elightening!) which has led me to this site...and this forum article....

I want to follow Dave Smith's advice to reclaim charges but cannot seem to get the forms from the linked website (https://www.www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk). Has anyone downloaded these already?

bookworm1363

Reverend_Darkman wrote:

Hi All sorry if this has already been discussed but there's £4000 at stake here!

I'm currently £2k overdrawn with a £1k limit and have just added up briefly my charges since May 2000 and it comes to a whopping £3179 !! as you can see it would put me in credit by a long way!

I've already fallen out with HSBC as they kept stopping my ATM card so I couldn't get cash to feed the family etc etc and because of that I have already opened an account with NatWest with NO overdraft!!

Anyhow my question comes down to teh template letters.... I want to get tthis right first time so the line....

What I require
I calculate that you have taken £XXXXX plus £XXX which you have charged me in overdraft interest for the sum which you have taken. Total £XXXXX


How do you work out the overdraft interest (XXXXX above) or is it the totals from the spreadsheet?

I also spotted a post with the letters saying something about demanding 8% interest, that if you get it wrong then you'll never get it.....

ranting I know bit I'm excited now about putting a big dent in my debts!

Ok, it's 2 different sets of interest. The 2nd one (the 8%) only comes in play if you have to file claim, it's the statutory APR allowed by the County Court Act. Don't worry about it right now.

The 1st set is a lot more complicated. Basically, when you pay interest on your o/d, a part of the interest will be "legit", eg the interest on the money you have borrowed, at a lower rate, and part of it will be interest levied on the penalty charges added to your account, and/or the unauthorised borrowing (higher) rate. Some banks actually charge unauthorised rate on the whole of the o/d, not just the unauthorised part... As you see, it's extremely complicated, and there is as yet no precise formula to work these out.

Another argument is that the banks ARE allowed to recover their costs from your breach of their T&Cs (going over limit) and that by not reclaiming that part, you are effectively letting them do that more than effectively.

My advice is, unless you're an accountant or a mathematician or both, don't claim the interest, It will cause you more of a headache, and you're more likely to make a mistake. Claim your charges, then if you have to issue a claim court, add the 8% APR, using the spreadsheet supplied at the consumeractiongroup forum.