Claim back any unfair bank charges! Article Discussion Area

bookworm1363

I believe on the article it says that you can only claim the money back if the charges ie £25 are larger than the amount of the payment you were trying to make ie £10! Am I correct in thinking that?

No. The charges are unlawful because they are not a true representation of the bank's costs, it has nothing to do with how much you went over or why.

Don't let the bank set the timetable, go after them now.

big_aid

do these rules apply in northern ireland as i have paid an absolute fortune in bank fees over the past 4 years. most of these were referral charges of £13 each time i went over on my current account. total must be thousands!!!!

bookworm1363

melsuggett wrote:

Does this apply to overdraft charges too? I get charged £25 by HSBC everytime i go into my unauthroised overdraft (even by 1p!) for even 1 day - adding up to quite a bit everytime it happens! However, I have discovered that if I go over and stay there - I only get charged £25 once even if it is hundreds over!

Anyway, are these charges on overdrafts reclaimable?

Thanks

mel

Yes. Overdraft, credit cards, finance companies.

kfn1502

I work as a volunteer personal budget counsellor, usually with people on low incomes (benefits, mainly). I have two people at the moment who are affected financially as a result of bank charges.

1st case - a single mother whose ex-partner defaulted on the mortgage payments for months, causing arrear letters to litter her doorstep at the cost of £35 per time. Since I've been working with her, her finances are much more organised, and she has contacted the bank (numerous times in person, by phone & by letter) to explain what's happening regarding mortgage payments & her finances. In January, they charged her £35 for responding to one of the information letters which she had sent. Her solicitor wrote to the bank asking them to refund these costs & they have refused saying she didn't keep them informed (how much more information they wanted, I don't know!!!).

Question: can she legitimately claim back these £35 charges from her mortgage lender using the process described in the article?

2nd case: a grandmother who constantly bails out her adult kids' financial mistakes (another story!) and then goes into unauthorised overdraft herself. She has also occasionally made late payments to credit card companies.

Clarification: from what I've read in the article & in the chat forum, this lady should be able to write to the various financial institutions (her bank and the credit card companies) to reclaim the charges. Is this a correct assumption?

Thanks so much for your help.

stevewiseguy

Just a quick note on the process for claiming bank charges back by Dave Smith. The bit about Money Claim Online – ‘There are fees, but you will get them back from the bank when they refund your money.’

That maybe true, but you can't automatically claim your court fees or solicitor's fees back from the Small Claims Court even if you win. It comes down to the court's discretion and it's rare.

I took an old landlord to court through Money Claim Online and won, luckily I never used a solicitor. I only spent £120 on court fees, he lost over £3000 in solicitor's costs. I got my £1,500 bond back though. I'd recommend anyone to do it; it's not as scary as it sounds.

wee_mouse

does this work with Student Loans too?

rjkthomas

Great Stuff.

I'm not sure if this applies to me yet but if the amount exceeds £5000 by a lot is there and alternative.

Or could i claim for the last three years followed by the three years before?

Thanks - RT

wee_mouse

I'd love to win against my bank (RBS) and I've tried to find the letter requesting a list of all the charges made against me in the last 6 years on the Bank Action Group website. Does it actually exist?

I'm pretty sure the bank will just tell me I have to pay for my own bank statements. Has anyone else tried this and found out?

skbuncks

Im about to set the wheels in motion for claiming back 6 yrs worth of heavy fining by various financial institutions including LloysdsTSB, natwest and barclay card. Since I dont know what fines i,ve incurred over the years im sending of a Data Protection Disclosure act to each bank concerned, problem is i've no idea who to address them too - dont want some work experience chump :rolleyes: opening my letter and throwing it away without realising its significance. Any help would be much appreciated

NeilW

I'm glad to see that this article has finally been written. Well done Dave and Martin for publishing.

Remember that these charges are ILLEGAL. What the banks are doing is tantamount to theft.

If you went to the supermarket and had no cash in your purse/wallet, would you let them 'fine' you by taking your watch or some of your jewellery? So why do you put up with the equivalent from your bank?

What astounds me is that the so called 'consumer protection' groups haven't had the banks over a barrel with this before.

NeilW