MSE News: Bank charges: banks win test case appeal

Vigornian

The best decision in my view. I am glad to see the Supreme Court make such a common sense decision. Everyone knows that if the banks failed in their bid, it would have signalled the end of free current accounts. Therefore the majority of us who handle their financial affairs correctly would have been penalised because there are those who go overdrawn without getting authorisation from their bank in the first place. People know that when you sign up to a current account, you sign up to the terms and conditions that stipulate what the charges are for unauthoirised withdraws. The simple truth is that if you do not wish to pay these charges in the first place, handle your finances better.

fabforty

Harry_Powell wrote: »

benjy50 wrote: »

"I'm obviously in the minority here but I'm glad of this decision.
No-one will win - if the banks lost they would just end free banking and we'd ALL have to pay for it.

!

Unfortunately, there is nothing to stop the banks imposing charges for services that were once free. If they can justify charging £35 for an £1 overdraft, when even they admit that the actual cost to them is far lower, they can surely justify imposing a monthly/annual fee for administering a current account.I can see both sides of the reclaiming arguement - but we shouldn't assume that this decision guarantees free banking for all of us.

Harry_Powell

Eggyplop wrote: »

I am not a nasty person at all but i really do hope that everyone who has made comments about how they “have never had a charge” and that “it’s your fault you’re so bad with money” and other similar comment find themselves in financial difficulty in the future, then maybe they will think twice about being so judgemental and selfish. There are people on this board who are in desperate need of money.
41% of people would use the re-claimed bank charges to pay off bills/debt so its not like everyone would just spend it on “beer and fags” as someone so nicely put it.
i myself work every day all day and i am still struggling to get through each day, any help would be so appreciated, you cannot judge people for clutching to straws, people are losing their houses and all some people can say is “oh well, im ok!” where is your human decency?

I think the whole point is that if you budget properly, live within your means and save up, you're less likely to suffer badly from a financial bump in the road. I have no SKY or mobile phone subscriptions, no credit agreements to worry about and so my day to day outgoings are minimal. If I lost my job then my savings would cover me until my income protection insurance kicked in. I'd speak to my utility providers immediately and my mortgage provider (possibly going interest only for a while). What I wouldn't do is stick my head in the sand and blame everyone else. I'm an adult and control my own finances.

I also refuse to believe that going overdrawn a couple of times due to an overcharge of a mobile phone or other financial mistake could result in the payment of thousands of pounds worth of fines. No, the sort of money that some of these people were hoping to claim back points to a lifetime of financial mismanagement and not just a couple of mistakes, bit of bad luck or period of unemployment.

_Andy_

Garybono wrote: »

If everyone is so upset about this then they should start a movement to get everybody they know to remove their cash from the bank on the same day

Wow what a sensible idea. Hundreds of thousands of people with thousands of pounds of cash sitting in their houses (that wouldn't be insured). Yeah, really sensible.

Tiger_greeneyes

alexjohnson wrote: »

After your first charge, and the bank's refusal to write it off as a one-off gesture (because you asked, right?), did you move to a bank with an interest-free overdraft? Did you ask your own bank about pre-arranged borrowing? Knowing the money was leaving your account faster than you might have liked, did you add up all your direct debits, look at your cash balance, and make some choices? Or did you spend as normal and then get angry when the bank's letter arrived? Having got into debt, did you -back when money was cheap, which includes all the trapped claims - move that to a 0% credit card?

Or did you do none of this, hope it would get better, and really wish hard for a solution which required little effort, no belt tightening at all, and the added cherry on top of a good bit of moral outrage to whip yourself into a frenzy over? In fact, all most of the claimers have done is "jump through hoops", to use your phrase. Martin even wrote the letter for you!

You do make me laugh, you have no idea what my financial circumstances are, yet you have assumed I'm in all kinds of debt and not bothering to make sacrifices. Oh, to live in a black and white world such as yours! I don't have any debt, I got myself into that trap at 19 and I managed to get myself back on track by the age of 21. I do, however, have a very low income and have to budget very carefully because as has been very well documented in this thread, it is very easy to go overdrawn if you have to live month by month on what you have coming in. You may prefer to sneer at people who are financially not as fortunate as yourself but we'll still be here to give you support when it's your turn to be in our shoes. Just remember to change your user name and attitude There aren't many people who are fortunate enough to be infallible and many of us have had some sort of money problems at some point. Who knows when it'll be your turn?

danm

ouija wrote: »

No what happens is they take the £16.99 from you and when that charge is completed, they charge you £16.99 for making a payment. For which you are charged.... etc etc etc

I can't fathom how people can side with the banks. They make literally BILLIONS from the financial suffering others. Siding with massive profit machines? You're nothing but a sheep. This country is going down the drain and people are sitting back and letting it happen. As long as your television pumps out hundreds of channels daily and you can have your shopping delivered to your door, just bend over and take it right up the a$$.

No - they make billions from those who pay fess which THEY agreed to pay whne they signed the account opening form.

This is preferable in my mind to them making the same billions from the majority of people who currently do not pay for bank accounts.

Tozer

HalloweenJack wrote: »

hi ,i have a question regarding this:


the supreme court said it would not allow an appeal to the european courts , yet wasn`t the same limitation put on the banks , which they ignored and did it anyway?

so whats stopping the OFT simply going ahead and appealing to the european courts (since the banks allready ignored a court limitations)

Because there is clearly no issue of European law to be interpreted.

mramra

Vigornian wrote: »

The best decision in my view. I am glad to see the Supreme Court make such a common sense decision. Everyone knows that if the banks failed in their bid, it would have signalled the end of free current accounts. Therefore the majority of us who handle their financial affairs correctly would have been penalised because there are those who go overdrawn without getting authorisation from their bank in the first place. People know that when you sign up to a current account, you sign up to the terms and conditions that stipulate what the charges are for unauthoirised withdraws. The simple truth is that if you do not wish to pay these charges in the first place, handle your finances better.

Agreed - a sound decision. The majority of people who are prudent and take the time to budget carefully will not be penalised in the form of standard current account charges. Has to be good news, generally speaking. :T

euronorris

LATWTTB wrote: »

Actually you will find my comment more than you think. I am not rubbing anything in but I am allowed an opinion. But thanks for copying my comment again for me. Then you small minded idiots might get the message.

In this world you have to pay for things and amazingly you pay far more than what it cost. Just bought a case to protect my phone. It is a srelatively small piece of plastic yet it still cost me £16.99! Might take them to court, no the Supreme court for ripping me off!!!

OK, there's been a fair few of these 'examples' given on here.

Firstly, you went in into the shop, chose the item, weighed up the cost of the item, paid happily and left. Fine. However, this is not comparable to banks making high charges for going over your agreed overdraft limit.

A more accurate comparison would be if you went into the shop, chose the item, decided it was too pricey and decided to leave. However, on the way out, you knock a shelf, items fall off and one of them is damaged. So, effectively, as a result of your actions that shop has now lost the revenue generated from that item.

The reasonable response would be to pay for the item. And this is what would happen in most cases. However, if they insisted you pay double, triple, quadruple the retail price....then this would be unfair. Agree? And who would pay that? Who would even expect you to??? No one.

ouija

tiger_greeneyes wrote: »

you do make me laugh, you have no idea what my financial circumstances are, yet you have assumed i'm in all kinds of debt and not bothering to make sacrifices. Oh, to live in a black and white world such as yours! I don't have any debt, i got myself into that trap at 19 and i managed to get myself back on track by the age of 21. I do, however, have a very low income and have to budget very carefully because as has been very well documented in this thread, it is very easy to go overdrawn if you have to live month by month on what you have coming in. You may prefer to sneer at people who are financially not as fortunate as yourself but we'll still be here to give you support when it's your turn to be in our shoes. Just remember to change your user name and attitude there aren't many people who are fortunate enough to be infallible and many of us have had some sort of money problems at some point. Who knows when it'll be your turn?

Here here! :T:T