Success story

lily52_2

My husband had paid approx. £3,500 in bank charges over 6 years. I wrote and said I did not accept the charges some of which were £30 and stated that I thought £8 per item was a reasonable charge and gave them a breakdown for each year. I put in a claim for £2450. They did not agree. I then claimed on hardship as my husbands working hours had dropped, I again stated £8 per item was reasonable and said I would go to court. I gave the amount of interest they would have to pay if this happened. (Using the calculator to figure the interest for me for each year) The amount then would be over £4000, but I said I would accept £2450 WITHOUT PREDJUDICE. £2450 was paid into my husbands account on the 26/5/2009. My first letter to Barclays Bank was on the 27/3/2009! Not long at all! I could have claimed the full amount (charges + interest) or 25% less but there is no point in being greedy, and I honestly think that £8 is a reasonable amount to pay for the use of other people's money each time my husband went overdrawn or for an unpaid item. The money was a God send as my husband has since been made redundant and I thought I would have to write and claim further hardship. Barclays paid the money back stating it was a 'goodwill gesture' they have not written to us as yet to inform us of this.
We are very pleased with the outcome as you can imagine. Thanks Martin! And thanks to all those that posted stories for me to read and gain confidence to go ahead with our claim.

natweststaffmember

Lily52, there is a part of me that wants to congratulate me and another part that wants to thump you. Congratulations on the win for getting an amount that will ease your hardship.
However, I would suggest that NO ONE follows your lead in stating £8 is reasonable to negotiate because should the OFT test case go in consumers favours then EVERY SINGLE CHARGE made under an unfair term will have to be refunded. Furthermore, in 2006 the BBC using a former director of NatWest amongst others calculated that £2.50 was more likely to be a fair charge.
As I said, mixed feelings on this one cos I don't agree with the approach but yet you had a result.

Hailz86

congratulations on the reclaim

xx