MSE News: Bank charges: banks win test case appeal

birchy87

I think this just goes just goes to show that there is no fairness in this system anymore and this ruling from the highest court in the land is a slap in the face of those millions of people who are blatently being ripped off. The government has no back bone and it seems that the finanacial authourities have no power to protect the consumer being told by the court that they cannot investigate the banks when their primary role is to make sure there is fairness in the system is just sickening.

What kind of system in this where the consumer counts for nothing and the idea of fairness is a back hand accross the face of people who have practically had thousends of pounds stolen from them. This decision comes after Mervin King told the public that two of the biggest banks in the country were given more than £61.6bn to save the financial institutions that they have destroyed all the way through with vegas style gambling with money they did not have. They called on the government to help them then the government to which we elect into power give them billions of pounds of our money. Then when all the people want is a little fairness in the system we get nothing. Bah humbug to the court the government and all the people who play a part in making this system unfair and those who choose not to act at all.

I used to live in Manchester and am now living Dublin where most banks in the ROI charge just 5 euro why banks in the UK charges £39. This decision will only say to banks that it is ok to charge people whatever they like. While they say its about administrative costs maybe they should have asked why halifax over here charge so little and in the UK they charge as they please like the rest of them do. Considering the minimum wage over here is 8.65 per hour and in the UK is 5.84 an hour and banking jobs pay extremely more handsomely in comparison to uk finanacial positions would the cost not be more over in the ROI that the UK, yet we are lead to beleive that the reflection of the cost is fair.

I would like to say thankyou to the UK legal system and the spineless government for one giant waste of time more than two years for a decision made in 2 minutes. I look forward to now paying the £400+ of charges which I will never get back. I feel bad for people who have to pay or have paid thousends

PS. 3 banks im talking about over here do offer free banking while charging much less and the rest charge less than 5 euro per quarter for the running of the account

blahblahdoh

lewis07 wrote: »

What does it take for you all to see not all cases are equal in fairness.

I was taken into an unauthorised overdraft by the banks charges. By not canselling my direct debits as I had requested they took me into a state of unauthorised overdraft and then compounded charge on charge until i was 1500 overdrawn. Ignoring my voiced concerns and formal complaints to such a degree they and still charging me today.

this is not a case of my mismanagement of my acount but the BANKS!

how can that be fair??

Spot on Lewis. Every case is different. Too many people on here are arguing that the banks should be allowed to decide what is fair, some even equating their 1000% markups with 'unfair' prices elsewhere - they'll never understand what this actually feels like until it happens to them. The banks have no interest in fairness. It MUST be forcefully imposed upon them, and those who are opposed to it should be removed from positions of power. We've waited long enough. The OFT, judges and politicians have failed. Direct action seems inevitable.

*MF*

So ... the Supreme Court rule that the OFT cannot adjudge on fairness - a point of law.

So ... we assume that the Banks will use that legal ruling to refuse to deal with complaints.

So ... time perhaps we remembered that where a financial institution rejects a consumer complaint, it is open to that consumer to approach the Financial Ombudsman Service.

And ... also time perhaps we remembered that the FOS are there to make judgements on the basis of fairness and reasonableness, and are NOT bound by Court decisions.

matthew_peake

This is not the end of it there is still plenty of mileage in this the banks have won very little. The oft have still other routes to go down

The banks will use this still as a bullying tactic.

My own personal opinion is the banks need to be taught a big lesson by the customers. What everyone should do is co - ordinate a massive withdrawal of money from the banks. including savings... If everyone done this on a specific day the banks would not be able to cope with this. They certainly would not have the funds
.
As the government actually owns large parts of the bank they should now say pay up or nationalise them and then sell them off and in the mean time pay the bank charges.They are not fair.

euronorris

blind-as-a-bat wrote: »

Bank transactions have been 'live' for years, they just dont want you to realise that, and that fact means it is possible to stop you going overdrawn via debit card.

With a live system you take the money from the available ballence at the same time as the purchase is finalised, so no not exactly the same as a ballence check, but the transaction is instantly availabe to your bank to reduce your available ballence, not found a shop with a PDQ that does not for years, but im sure there are some 'odd' ones, but the sytem has been in place for years, so why has it not been perfected yet?

Sorry if you do not understand the logic here, but i do and there is no reason the bank have not made it imposible to go overdrawn via debit card, well apart from profit that is

So true.

Every transaction I make with my Dutch card updates my bank balance immediately! There are exceptions of course - like transferring funds abroad for example (although I'm sure that, in this day and age, that should be instant too).

Plus, they have something called ChipKnip attached to your debit card. With this, you can top up the card with a pre paid balance for smaller purchases. And they have little machines everywhere to check that balance and top it up.

You can check your bank balance online as often as you like, or at the cash mahine also and it will be up to date. Plus, if you don't have enough money left and try to make a payment it is simply rejected at the POS. Thus avoiding any problems.

I cannot fathom why it isn't like that in the UK.....unless of course the banks like it that way as people being overdrawn creates profit....mmmm. Seems bl00dy obvious to me.

emerald_sailor

I have today received an E-mail from Nat West setting out their new terms, interestingly all their charges have been drastically reduced.
Could it be that they thought they were going to lose?

fileyflyer

Well looking on the bright side - it may just wipe the smug look of the self publicising egomaniac who also told us all to put our money into Iceland!

anne.flowers

Hi to everyone today - am sorry for the result.....

I claimed my overcharges because of the way I was treated - breifly, I separated from my husband and was told by my solicitor to go to the bank and explain etc etc. Froze our account immediately, refusing to pay d.d's cheques already written and couldn't draw out any money or pay in. Took 2 weeks to sort - had to write to companies etc. They also called in the overdrafts on both my personal and business accounts, which were only used at certain times of month and heyho - got into merry go round of charges - used to ring me up at work demanding payment - I had no money left out of my wages as had to support husband in house meanwhile, including paying his bills as I wasn't working. When house sold, cleard off everything and now no longer have any credit from anyone - pay cash or don't have! But was determined to get back all charges and took them court - they caved in and paid up night before court hearing... I was one of the lucky one's - these charges were caused by "their help to me in my hour of need" and were totally unfair!!!

They now charge a reasonable fee but if I had any choice, like previous posters, I would not use them at all - robbing gits they are.....

LATWTTB

Miguel1979 wrote: »

It is to discuss the charges and also to give advice to those who need it, if you bothered to read all posts you would see that a lot of the cases have not been caused by 'mis-management'.

I don't see how a pay reduction of over £10,500pa as a couple as a result of the recession can be classed as 'mis-management'?!

Failing to assess possible risks for the future-take out insurance to safeguard these risks. Not doing so-Mis management:rotfl:

PROLIANT

matthew_peake wrote: »

This is not the end of it there is still plenty of mileage in this the banks have won very little. The oft have still other routes to go down

The banks will use this still as a bullying tactic.

My own personal opinion is the banks need to be taught a big lesson by the customers. What everyone should do is co - ordinate a massive withdrawal of money from the banks. including savings... If everyone done this on a specific day the banks would not be able to cope with this. They certainly would not have the funds
.
As the government actually owns large parts of the bank they should now say pay up or nationalise them and then sell them off and in the mean time pay the bank charges.They are not fair.

Talk about cutting your nose off to spite your face! :rolleyes:

So, if you were not happy with your Electricity bill and your little campaign managed to get 2/3 of the UK to turn off every electrical appliance in their homes - do you think that would make the slightest difference? No, the electricity company will still be there come Monday morning, lets see how long you can go without a bank account.