Bank Behaviour During Reclaims

Seefer_2

Can Banks Ever Be Trusted?

Consider the following:

The continuing banking crisis that has contributed to the damage of our economy and the appearance of the ‘credit crunch’ has highlighted the shoddy behaviour in which banks have operated in the past. Our government is bailing out our banks to the tune of billions and, at last count, the cost is nearly 20% of GDP.

To further highlight how banks seemingly cannot be trusted we now have revelations on how they’ve been unfairly charging everyone for years with their disproportionate bank charges, which appear to be geared towards profiteering to the tune of billions per year. I suspect these profits have undoubtedly helped spending within the ‘Bonus Culture’ within these institutions that, according to many MP’s resulted in a “lethal combination of reckless and excessive risk-taking”.

Based on such wide-ranging poor behaviour, isn’t there cause for the people of this country to realise that dubious behaviour of this kind within large financial institutions is effectively systemic and simply the ‘way banks operate’? I find any apologies from those in positions of responsibility within banks to be meaningless. Words are cheap and I personally find that the only kind of ‘sorry’ we hear from these institutions can only be seen as ‘sorry we got caught’.

It begs the question whether, after things calm down after the banking crisis and whatever the outcome of the test case regarding unfair charges turns out to be, those in positions of power at the banks will simply return to ‘business as usual’ and continue to find new, hidden ways to hide their behaviour that has contributed to the mess we’re in.

How Will They Continue To Behave

Can I put forward a suggestion to everyone in here going through the process of claiming back unfair charges to keep a diary of their efforts and the treatment they get from their banks? After all, whatever the outcome of the Test Case and the ramifications it will have for those seeking to get back their money, at the end of the day we will all still be left with the question “Which bank can I trust with my money” and which banks behaved the worst in attempting to dodge paying back the money they unfairly took from loyal customers?

I’ve been with Nationwide Building Society for years and am at the beginning of making a claim so I’ll be keeping a close eye on how they treat me. I’ve been fairly happy with them up to now but that might change as my claim proceeds.

We should all look out for the following acts of poor behaviour (feel free to post more points):

Constant efforts and ‘tricks’ to stall customers to put them off making their claim
Up to now my contact with Nationwide Building Society on how I go about getting information on 6 years worth of charges and making a claim has been positive. My local branch as well as Customer Service telephone helpline have been helpful and clear. This might not be the case be the case for other banks and I hope I don’t see the Nationwide ‘Good Guy’ mask slip as I make my way through the claims process.

Closing a customer’s bank account because they had the cheek to reclaim the money the bank unfairly took from them.
I personally feel any bank that does this should be vilified. I’d go as far to say that a customer should be legally protected from being treated this way. Just because they can legally do so does not make it right. We’ve seen this notion of ‘It may be legal but it’s not right’ in the press during the recent revelations of MP expense claims, so it should apply here too.

Which banks decide to not automatically pay back charges to ALL their affected customers regardless of whether they make a claim or not.
If the Test Case rules in favour of claimants then by simple logic, everyone with that bank should get their money back.

Again, remember that at the end of all this mess of reclaims and the banking crisis, we are all still going to need somewhere to put our cash, so we should be diligent in watching how all the banks involved behave during this period. Those that show a complete disrespect for their customers as well as general ‘fair play’ should be held to account and publicly vilified in the press. Governments should also bring those who behave badly before committee to justify their actions.

On that note it seems to me that we should pay particular attention to banks that have had substantial cash injection of taxpayer’s money to bail them out and, as a result, may now fall largely under state ownership.

Banks such as Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Lloyds TSB for example. Such banks should be especially held to high levels of behavior considering that we, as taxpayers, largely own them and they owe many of us money because of these unfair charges.

My only fears about all this ‘reclaiming of unfair charges’ is that the House of Lords appeal or the Government will step in and effectively cripple any current or future hopes of people getting their money back on seedy excuses that it will not be right for the economy.

I welcome your thoughts.