Open Letter To David Cameron - 25 AUG REPONSE NOW IN

Nathan_Spleen

clarelea wrote: »

I admit that the amount of bank charges are high, but they are supposed to act as a deterant to abusing your account. !

This analysis is precisely the opposite of the one put forward by all the banks during the test case, not to mention the judge in his ruling. In fact a large part of their entire defence was taken up by pleading the charges were in no way a deterent and were in fact a revenue stream.

As a bank employee I do find it disapointing that you can argue the principle for charges but don't know why they're actually levied.

kathleen499

Martin Lewis I think I love you for continuing to fight the corner for us small people :0) Thanks to your encouragement, we curenty have a claim in for a ridiculous amount of money, which we hope and pray will come through so that we can pay off the loans we had to take out to keep our heads above the water when we were getting charged scary amounts of money. The banks have escaped for far too long for treating those in trouble like a pay day for them rather than trying to help. I admire you and am in debt to you for what you are doing. It is about time the political parties stood up and fought for the people they are supposed to be representing, this is a t least a first step.
Please keep up your good work :0)
kathleen:T

reiver_2

Mr Lewis, more power to your elbow. I have no beef with the banks making an appropriate admin./penalty fee for clear cases of abuse, it is the sheer cheek at it being set at £25-£30 that outrages me and their intractabilty when faced with a reasonable excuse for incurring the charge.

I have fallen on hard times and I'm long-term unemployed, but diligently trying to get work. I thought it might be best to enlist the help of one of those companies that represent you in claiming back bank charges, if only to take the pressure of doing it myself. I chose Financialclaimsuk.com and it has been a real uphill struggle. I have had a hardship case going since about September 2008 and was under the impression that hardship would mean a claim would be dealt with quickly and sympathetically - how wrong I was. nI have filled out means forms on at least six occasions (by FC and the baks) and have recently been asked to do another. I am being shoved around from pillar to post and the strain has told.

My main claim is with the Nationwide, with whom I have been a customer since 1986. When life was more amenable for me back in the early to mid 2000s, I was putiing a lot of money through this account. When things started going wrong, they took my much-needed overdraft without warning and plunged me into further debt. In particular, one account which I had ceased using incurred two charges as there was no funds to meet the direct debits (DD), but then I had cancelled all DDs on the account prior to this. No, say Nationwide, these two debits were not cancelled. Well I cancelled all of them online (there were five DDs in total, so three cancellations made it through)) and they can not provide proof I did not. They said they had written to me, not just about this but about bank charges and refused to believe me when I protested I had received no letters or statements (I was using on-line banking until one day, I could not access my account - despite re-setting passwords, etc.) I found out by chance why I was not recieving letters on a visit to my branch. The counter assistant asked if I was receiving mail from them and I related my story, she confirmed no mail was being sent to me as my account had been marked not to - her explanation for this was that it MIGHT be because previous mail had been returned to them - this is patent nonsense. I have yet to recieve a reply or apology from Nationwide for calling me a liar. Anyway, as I was not using this account, I saw no reason to check it, and unwittingly incurred further charges. These had risen to over £350 when I found out about it. My protestations and offers to pay the original charges of £60 went unheard. The sum is now nearly £500, nearly 90% of which are charges upon charges, and I am being hounded for it by a debt recovery company, despite my informing them that the charges are disputed.

I am at a loss as to how the success stories posted on your site are achieving settlement with their banks. I am met with a brick wall wherever I turn, and dealing with Financialclaimsuk is a strain all by itself.

Now, as a result of Barclaycard reducing my credit limit on my account by the exact amount of the buffer I had slowly built up, despite my servicing the account diligently (apart one one payment, late by two days six months ago), I am once more backed into a corner from which I was slowly starting to emerge.

I have other debts: £1500 left to pay on an original loan of £10,000 has been handed to a debt recovery company, despite my offering to pay a reduced amount to the lender until I was back on my feet - which they accepted initially and I was paying, but as my situation worsened, I could not pay as much, so, rather than understand this, they cut me off. A similar story with my only other credit card, I was paying reduced amounts and then suddenly, this was no longer acceptable and they have off-loaded it to a debt company. I have tried to keep managing my debt but the banks and credit card companies are uncaring and unresponsive. The crazy thing is, my total debts only amount to about £5000, which is a drop in the ocean compared to some - but can I get any help from these institutions? No.

Like many people, I am not trying to avoid paying my debts, I am simply looking for sensible short-term repayment plans that take into account I get £256 unemployment benefit PER MONTH, but to no avail with these people. The really annoying thing is that I have an expectation of funds from a long, drawn-out insurance claim that started last year which would turn my life around completely, but even this cuts little ice with them. So, good luck with your campaign and if anyone can suggest a course of action for me, it would be appreciated because I am just worn down with it all.

clmtucker

Here is a Vince Cable quote from Jan 2008

Banks Should Reduce Charges - Cable

2.12.00pm GMT Mon 14th Jan 2008
Commenting at the start of the court case between the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and several high street banks about bank charges, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said: "Banks are not charities and it is perfectly acceptable for them to levy charges when customers breach the terms of their bank accounts. However, trying to pretend that it costs upwards of £30 to return an unpaid direct debit is laughable.
"As Northern Rock has shown, banks hold an unrivalled position of government protection yet more than any other industry they continue to unashamedly profiteer.
"As has already happened at many small claims courts throughout the country, we can only hope that the High Court finds that these bank charges are indeed illegal.
"Customers must continue to be able to claim back unfair charges from previous years."

Brightness

clarelea wrote: »

Can I also just add, although I'm sure it's obvious to most. But if you have a problem go in to your branch and talk to the staff nicely. Trust me, we are MUCH more helpful when we aren't shouted at.

I would never go into a bank and yell at the teller - they're not the ones who levy the charges are they? Nope, if you want to yell (and yelling isn't one of my fortes) then you go right to the top and scream your loudest. Personally, i find that remaining clam and rational works better in 9 times out of 10.

However, I DO feel sorry for my lovely bank manager who informed me that he wished he could refund 9 out of 10 bank charges as he could see how they had happened and were not in his opinion due to the fault of the customer!

natweststaffmember

reiver wrote: »

Mr Lewis, more power to your elbow. I have no beef with the banks making an appropriate admin./penalty fee for clear cases of abuse, it is the sheer cheek at it being set at £25-£30 that outrages me and their intractabilty when faced with a reasonable excuse for incurring the charge.

I have fallen on hard times and I'm long-term unemployed, but diligently trying to get work. I thought it might be best to enlist the help of one of those companies that represent you in claiming back bank charges, if only to take the pressure of doing it myself. I chose Financialclaimsuk.com and it has been a real uphill struggle. I have had a hardship case going since about September 2008 and was under the impression that hardship would mean a claim would be dealt with quickly and sympathetically - how wrong I was. nI have filled out means forms on at least six occasions (by FC and the baks) and have recently been asked to do another. I am being shoved around from pillar to post and the strain has told.

My main claim is with the Nationwide, with whom I have been a customer since 1986. When life was more amenable for me back in the early to mid 2000s, I was putiing a lot of money through this account. When things started going wrong, they took my much-needed overdraft without warning and plunged me into further debt. In particular, one account which I had ceased using incurred two charges as there was no funds to meet the direct debits (DD), but then I had cancelled all DDs on the account prior to this. No, say Nationwide, these two debits were not cancelled.
When was this?

Well I cancelled all of them online (there were five DDs in total, so three cancellations made it through)) and they can not provide proof I did not. They said they had written to me, not just about this but about bank charges and refused to believe me when I protested I had received no letters or statements (I was using on-line banking until one day, I could not access my account - despite re-setting passwords, etc.) I found out by chance why I was not recieving letters on a visit to my branch. The counter assistant asked if I was receiving mail from them and I related my story, she confirmed no mail was being sent to me as my account had been marked not to - her explanation for this was that it MIGHT be because previous mail had been returned to them - this is patent nonsense. I have yet to recieve a reply or apology from Nationwide for calling me a liar. Anyway, as I was not using this account, I saw no reason to check it, and unwittingly incurred further charges. These had risen to over £350 when I found out about it. My protestations and offers to pay the original charges of £60 went unheard. The sum is now nearly £500, nearly 90% of which are charges upon charges, and I am being hounded for it by a debt recovery company, despite my informing them that the charges are disputed.

I am at a loss as to how the success stories posted on your site are achieving settlement with their banks. I am met with a brick wall wherever I turn, and dealing with Financialclaimsuk is a strain all by itself.
Successes are really interim hardship payouts which go to clear priority debt arrears(mortgage/rent, council tax, utilities)
Now, as a result of Barclaycard reducing my credit limit on my account by the exact amount of the buffer I had slowly built up, despite my servicing the account diligently (apart one one payment, late by two days six months ago), I am once more backed into a corner from which I was slowly starting to emerge.

I have other debts: £1500 left to pay on an original loan of £10,000 has been handed to a debt recovery company, despite my offering to pay a reduced amount to the lender until I was back on my feet - which they accepted initially and I was paying, but as my situation worsened, I could not pay as much, so, rather than understand this, they cut me off. A similar story with my only other credit card, I was paying reduced amounts and then suddenly, this was no longer acceptable and they have off-loaded it to a debt company. I have tried to keep managing my debt but the banks and credit card companies are uncaring and unresponsive. The crazy thing is, my total debts only amount to about £5000, which is a drop in the ocean compared to some - but can I get any help from these institutions? No.

Like many people, I am not trying to avoid paying my debts, I am simply looking for sensible short-term repayment plans that take into account I get £256 unemployment benefit PER MONTH, but to no avail with these people. The really annoying thing is that I have an expectation of funds from a long, drawn-out insurance claim that started last year which would turn my life around completely, but even this cuts little ice with them. So, good luck with your campaign and if anyone can suggest a course of action for me, it would be appreciated because I am just worn down with it all.

My gut feeling from reading the above post was two things: on the one hand, I wasn't reading a financial hardship case on the outline of the facts alone.
However I was reading a bank error which didn't need to use of a claims management company to sort out.

Cat75_2

I totally agree with Martin's letter. As the youngest of 7 children my parents spend the majority of their modest earnings putting all of us through University. When my father retired due to ill health we lived on my mothers wage of £13,000pa.
I can remember the bank applying a charge to mums account which made her overdrawn (for the first time ever!!) they then charged her for being over drawn which left us with no money to live on for a whole week. This was more than 10 years ago but it still makes me really angry.
These charges should never be allowd and they do have a real impact!!

kathie

well done Martin... can't stand critical whingers... especially when you are doing anything and everything in your power to help... keep up the good work and keep fighting our corner. I am looking forward to a bumper payout when the final phase is 'thumbs up'

angrySE_W200i_user

Hi all,
I think it's a great letter and should be sent to both Labour and Liberal leaders as well. The truth is we will only get excuses, and none of the above will do anything.The governement do not have the power - the bankers do.

"Give me control of a nations money supply, and I care not who makes it’s laws."
Mater Amschel Rothschild, founder of the Rothschild banking dynasty

Goodtimesahead

Martin Lewis> Well done, lets hope we get the Tories to support this, if they want to get back in power they need to be seen to be supporting ordinary folk that have been ripped off "conned" by these money grabbing banks.

Please also I beg you to look at another disgrace, those that have got into financial difficulty as a result of these bankers and their reckless gambling of our money, the matter that credit reference agencies, lenders, debt collectors continue to insist that credit data is held on file for 6 years (execpt CCJ's & Bankrupcy data) but there is no law that states they can do this. New credit laws need to be introduced to a more fair period of 2-3 years, which will also help get people back on their feet quicker (this also helping stimulate the economy) than being persecuted for 6 years, its a damn outrage. I believe some new bill is proposed on this matter, I will post the link in my next posting.



Please help do something about this, its damaging many people's lives for a far too long a period.