MSE News: PM wants swift bank charges compensation

FknDummBstrd

as i am 67 and in poor health can i include my payback in my will ?:money:

Nathan_Spleen

FknDummBstrd wrote: »

as i am 67 and in poor health can i include my payback in my will ?:money:

I think the answer is yes as amongst the information the FSA requested from the banks recently on their preparedness for losing the test case was this one:

5.5 How will your method of repayment provide for non standard cases, such as complaints in relation to charges levied from accounts that previously were previously in joint names, complaints from the estate of deceased customers or complaints in relation to charges levied on accounts that have been closed?

stuartthfc

Im no financial or legal genius BUT i would like to know one simple thing:

Why are banks allowed to continue to apply these 'unfair' charges when no final decision has been made and claims have been put on hold to stop consumers claiming money back?

Unless im wrong has it not already been decided in several court cases that these charges are illigal - or at best unjust? Ok so its been appealed hence the delay, but if them decisions have been made then WHY havent banks been told they cant apply charges until the verdict?

This whole process is a joke and yes ive been charged £76 today, leaving my account overdrawn through no fault of my own. Ive no doubt it will be sorted out eventually but in these hard times how can they justify this? Ive been told to write to a 'customer response service unit! yet this could have been avoided had a judge said freeze these charges until its sorted, as with the claims against them.....I guarantee it would have been sorted alot sooner had this happened!!!

natweststaffmember

stuartthfc wrote: »

Im no financial or legal genius BUT i would like to know one simple thing:

Why are banks allowed to continue to apply these 'unfair' charges when no final decision has been made and claims have been put on hold to stop consumers claiming money back? The Supreme Court is not deciding on the fairness of the charges only on whether they apply to UTCCR 1999.

Unless im wrong has it not already been decided in several court cases that these charges are illigal - or at best unjust?
They have already decided that they are not penalties in law and they have decided that the terms do fall under UTCCR 1999 and can be assessed for fairness.
Ok so its been appealed hence the delay, but if them decisions have been made then WHY havent banks been told they cant apply charges until the verdict?
Delay is a common word used by many people who do not understand the court case. Furthermore, the courts are currently deciding whether the terms fall under UTCCR 1999 and not whether the terms themselves are actually fair or unfair.
This whole process is a joke and yes ive been charged £76 today, leaving my account overdrawn through no fault of my own.
Insufficient funds to cover outgoing is the reason, right?
Ive no doubt it will be sorted out eventually but in these hard times how can they justify this?
When the announcement of an OFT test case there wasn't a recession at the time so the question is irrelevant.
Ive been told to write to a 'customer response service unit! yet this could have been avoided had a judge said freeze these charges until its sorted, as with the claims against them.....I guarantee it would have been sorted alot sooner had this happened!!!

But the court are not deciding on the fairness of the charges. They are deciding if UTCCR 1999 applies to bank charges.

mackers8923

I think it is crazy that the banks regardless of how or what the court case is about are allowed to continue charging people in the way they do. I stand to lose £230 this month to the bank in charges, I was ill between Jun and Sep and my other half does not work during the summer (school job) and now in Oct we finally see some £££ coming into the bank to see it grabbed by the bank for something which probably cost them about £5.

I actually think it is illegal in the way they take the money out of the account without authority and I wonder has anyone tried calling the police to investigate such an unauthorised removal of funds for these so called "Service Fee's"

I'm so pi**ed off with everything money, me thinks its time to keep it under the bed at least there no one can dip their hands!

natweststaffmember

mackers8923 wrote: »

I think it is crazy that the banks regardless of how or what the court case is about are allowed to continue charging people in the way they do.
To clarify what this case is about. Currently we are awaiting whether the terms that allows the charges to occur can be assessed for fairness under UTCCR 1999. Currently the courts are not considering on the fairness of charges which the OFT can look to get an injunction against them.

I stand to lose £230 this month to the bank in charges, I was ill between Jun and Sep and my other half does not work during the summer (school job) and now in Oct we finally see some £££ coming into the bank to see it grabbed by the bank for something which probably cost them about £5.
The term itself may be unfair but that is for secondary litigation.
I actually think it is illegal in the way they take the money out of the account without authority and I wonder has anyone tried calling the police to investigate such an unauthorised removal of funds for these so called "Service Fee's"
The police deal with criminal and civil law but not disputes between an individual and a company.
I'm so pi**ed off with everything money, me thinks its time to keep it under the bed at least there no one can dip their hands!

That is one way of avoiding charges which is dealing with cash only.

mackers8923

natweststaffmember wrote: »

That is one way of avoiding charges which is dealing with cash only.

To move on from your point about the police, is it not criminal that "A Bank" can take without permission money from your account? No other organisation can do this without going to court etc

I'm stuck now this bank I'm with at the minute does not charge you on the day of the DD failing etc they group it all together and then nail you a month later in one go, meaning anything you have to pay after misses again which leaves the gates open for them to charge you more money. It is a terrible way and other companies don't help they nearly all charge now if you don't pay by direct debit and they also charge you if they don't get paid on time. It is a terrible culture where you get nailed by everything and anything but then again I forgot your not allowed to live in this country anymore its s****

Oh and thank you for the note on the case, I understand the case very well having had a case on hold for almost 2 years now. I find it quite amusing watching how long this is going on for, it should have been boxed up a long time ago and the government needs to get the powers to tell the banks what they are allowed to charge as you now have everything from £5 to £39 a time........depending on what bank your with, asuming of course they let you in!

natweststaffmember

mackers8923 wrote: »

To move on from your point about the police, is it not criminal that "A Bank" can take without permission money from your account? No other organisation can do this without going to court etc
This is the crux of the OFT test case. You agree to the terms and conditions of the account which include the charging terms(currently at issue) so therefore, you have agreed that the bank can take charges if the situation arises in which you do not have enough money to pay for outgoing payments. These terms and conditions could be assessable for fairness rules and that is when the case will really get interesting(providing the Supreme Court rules in the OFT's favour).
I'm stuck now this bank I'm with at the minute does not charge you on the day of the DD failing etc they group it all together and then nail you a month later in one go, meaning anything you have to pay after misses again which leaves the gates open for them to charge you more money. It is a terrible way and other companies don't help they nearly all charge now if you don't pay by direct debit and they also charge you if they don't get paid on time. It is a terrible culture where you get nailed by everything and anything but then again I forgot your not allowed to live in this country anymore its s****
No doubt if they are grouped together then they are part of charging periods which may be aligned to your statement date so the statement date can be changed to make sure that the charges go out on the day or after the day you are paid.


Oh and thank you for the note on the case, I understand the case very well having had a case on hold for almost 2 years now. I find it quite amusing watching how long this is going on for, it should have been boxed up a long time ago and the government needs to get the powers to tell the banks what they are allowed to charge as you now have everything from £5 to £39 a time........depending on what bank your with, asuming of course they let you in!

This court case is more important than you think. How can a legal case with huge amounts of evidence have been "boxed up a long time ago"? Have you read the test case transcripts including the House of Lords appeal?

mackers8923

natweststaffmember wrote: »

This court case is more important than you think. How can a legal case with huge amounts of evidence have been "boxed up a long time ago"? Have you read the test case transcripts including the House of Lords appeal?

Pardon me for being simple minded and being like the thousands of others waiting for the end result of this case. Like all the other monumental !!!! ups of the banks they should have had the balls and stood up and said yes you know what we were wrong here is your money back.

But no they carry on as before and rob people blind of their hard earned cash... Playing the mind games which they have always been very good at.

and as far as the T&C's are concerned these are no way different to any T&C in that they are designed to screw the customer, its only a few far reaching laws that look after the consumer such as DSR's but there you go. I'll go hide in my corner stand-by while my bank and no doubt others like me get screwed into the ground by those with interesting post codes!

Natwest I wonder, how many people working in the banking industry have to worry about where next week's money is coming from! because the bank is taking their money illegally.

natweststaffmember

mackers8923 wrote: »

Pardon me for being simple minded and being like the thousands of others waiting for the end result of this case. Like all the other monumental !!!! ups of the banks they should have had the balls and stood up and said yes you know what we were wrong here is your money back.

But no they carry on as before and rob people blind of their hard earned cash... Playing the mind games which they have always been very good at.

They do not believe that their terms are assessable for fairness so they are vigorously defending that as I would argue to you if you said that the bank were taking you to court over bank charges.

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/showthread.php?t=18261
For reference, here is the link to the HOL transcripts so well worth a read.