has anyone tried to claim back unfair bank charges from an NI bank? 24 April 2006 at 11:35AM in Reclaim Bank & Credit Card Charges 27 replies 4.4K views

thetope

With regard to martin's article on claiming back unfair bank charges:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1141050760,24632,

the legislation seems to point to england and scotland only. has anyone tried this with one of our "big four" yet? or is there some loophole that they can squirm out of it?

would be interested to hear anyone's experiences

thanks

declanmcc

A couple of people have started proceedings with First Trust Bank (yuck, washes mouth out) and other institutions. I'm keeping a watchful eye on their progress. The last post in this link seems to be a defiant one from First Trust - more or less defending their charges and blaming the acount holder for poor account management.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=303&page=4

wotnoshoeseh

As a student a good few years ago now I was a customer of BOI and charges were basically non existent. However once I became a "valued member of society" and had to work for money, lo and behold, they started to charge me for looking after my money. I quickly realised that what I needed to do was get out of the red. I had an overdraft that I was constantly using but never going past my overdraft limit. A couple of months later I got myself on an even keel and never looked back. I realised that if there were any charges that I didn't appreciate or want to pay, all I had to do was shout loudly down the phone about it and it was refunded.
With respect, I think it's up to individuals to look after their own money. If you are not prepared to challenge people taking your money from you then you deserve all that you get.
I've therefore not really had a problem because I resisted the bank's attempts to take my money from me, and threatened, on numerour occasions, to vote with my feet and take my business elsewhere.
Good Luck to any of you out there taking on the banks, and I wish you every success.

D.A.

I still can't figure out people in this country - even though there are far better fee-free, interest-paying accounts available with the likes of the Halifax, A&L, etc., people here still stay with the local banks and think they're getting a good deal because they get their charges dropped. It baffles me.

thetope

would just like to add it's not for me, i've never paid a bank charge in my life! i escaped from northern irish banks as soon as i was 16 and able to open my own account!

it's my flatmate (and good friend) she is with BOI (has tried to switch to nationwide and alliance and leicester but they both turned her down) but she has moved house about 12 times she moved to norn irn and has had to pay those ridiculous £8 charges for setting up and cancelling direct debits everytime she moved into a new place.

I just wanted to know if it was worth her while trying it out, as by my reckoning she has probably paid about £600 in fees...

delirious_geek

I've started taking action to claim back from the Halifax Bank. You can check my progress from http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=5678

Polly

I have been urging a friend of mine to move to Nationwide for some time as he is paying horrendous overdraft charges, even though his money comes in to his account every month like clockwork and he is a big earner. Had no luck but lo and behold, his bank, the Bank of Ireland, has now told him they are closing his account at the end of the month! Have never heard of this before and I'm surprised as they make a fortune out of him. However, he now has to move and agrees that they're doing him a favour. Anyone else heard of a bank booting out an account holder (of 25 years no less!)?

jnm21

declanmcc wrote:

A couple of people have started proceedings with First Trust Bank (yuck, washes mouth out) and other institutions. I'm keeping a watchful eye on their progress. The last post in this link seems to be a defiant one from First Trust - more or less defending their charges and blaming the acount holder for poor account management.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=303&page=4

Bluff & bluster? I'd certainly defend it with a no cost bluff.

NatalieD_2

Hiya

I've been researching this topic on the net for a while but I'm a bit confused because all the info and standard letters I have found relate to banks in England, Scotland and Wales but no info on Northern Ireland banks.

I am with the Halifax and even if I am overdrawn by 20p for a day or so I get charged £39 plus the direct debit or cheque bounces and this usually ends up in me having to pay a fee to the company who could not debit my account. :mad:

I have seen on various websites that for England and Wales you can claim back charges for the past 6 years, and 5 years with Scotland. Does anyone know how many years it is for NI?

Any further information would be much appreciated.

Many thanks!

Natalie x

big_aid

the law is almost the same over here and you can claim back up to 6 years charges but in england and wales you can claim £5000 in the small claims court but over here the maximum claim is £2000. apart from that the laws are the same but it has not been tested to the end yet. the next month should see a few cases coming to an end

furrychimp

This is my first post to this (or any!!) forum, so please bear with me & apologies if I get it wrong! I have several credit cards that I want to try reclaiming charges from, they are with banks whose head offices are in England or SCotland (ie, Capital One, Sainsbury's & Barclays). What I am trying to get my head around is which law will apply (English, Scottish or N Ireland), as I am NI resident??Does anyone know? The reason I want to know is that if it does get to the point of a court action, is it claimed through the courts here or in England/Scotland?

Sorry that's a bit long, but I want to have all the info before I get in over my head!!

Oh, and regarding the bank charges, I have worked for a couple of our "big 4" banks, they have so little regard for their customers (and not much for staff either!!)...if customers did complain of charges the attitude seemed to be that the bank didn't care if they took the account elsewhere, as people who went over their limits or had financial difficulties were "not the type of customer the bank wants" !!!