Report Bank Charges successes and failures

Atidi

Gypsey wrote: »

Sorry everyone, I am new here, so I don't know if I'm posting in the correct place....

Perhaps you could explain the logic behind your thinking that this might possibly be the correct place please? :huh:

MSE_Alana wrote: »

Please report your Bank Charges Reclaiming Successes/failures
since the Supreme Court decision in Nov 2009 here

REMEMEBER BY DOING THIS YOU ENCOURAGE OTHERS WHO MAY BE TOO SCARED TO RECLAIM

How to report your success/failure:

1. Click reply to enter you story.




2. Report your story in the following format:

• Bank name:
• Amount Reclaimed:
• Amount they paid:
• The story: (Just a few sentences, please include how far you went did you a. just write a letter, b. threaten to go to court or c. actually go to court)

***** Want to tell your story in a newspaper/on TV? *****

Hi all. If you've had a refund we need your help

Bank Charges is often in the news and we are frequently asked if we have any MoneySavers that are willing to tell their stories to the press.

If you'd like to help spread the news and encourage others, please e-mail [EMAIL="casestudy@moneysavingexpert.com"]casestudy@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL] (sorry but we can't answer questions at this email address) with as much of the following info as you can:

* how much was your claim for
* how much did you get back
* who is your bank
* a daytime phone number - we often need to reach people at very short notice
* whether you are happy to appear in the papers,tv or both
* where you live

NOTE IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS
ABOUT RECLAIMING BANK CHARGES
PLEASE FIRST READ THE GUIDE:

Bank Charges Reclaiming

sr2288

Hi all,
I sent a letter to my branch of natwest requesting a full repayment of my bank charges (Using the template from MSE) around a month ago.
I have not heard anything so today I called the call centre asking if they had received my letter. I was advised that there was nothing on my file about receiving the letter but was instantly offered a refund of £200 to be in my account by Tuesday and also the £54 charge that was due to be taken on the 21st was removed. So now I have fees and interest of £46 coming out of that £200 and actually have some money to last me the two weeks until payday! I am chuffed at this result even though it was probably a gesture to stop me claiming my bank charges.

I was wondering if anyone knows if I should have sent the letter asking for repayment of my bank charges to a special address? (I sent it to my branch.)

Thanks in advance.
Stacey

sr2288

Sarr1985x wrote: »

Hi there have just sent a letter to natwest trying to claim refunds on my bank charges which add up to nearly 4,000 pounds, they sent me back a letter within 2 weeks with a definite no, so do I send them another letter or go to the ombudsman???

Hi,
Did you send your letter to your branch or a separate address specifically for claims?
I send mine around 17/10/13 to my branch but have called the call centre today and been told there is nothing on my file about a letter.
Thanks,
Stacey

pollyanna11

Hi there
Read. Martins article last week about CPP and phoned them up. They said I had been sold it so is was my banks problem(nat west).
So I phoned them and after an hour and a half of being passed around to wrong departments, I was Mad.!
So by the time I got the right department, I decided to "go for broke" ( as they had wound me up so much) and said I wanted to claim not just for misspelling the CPP, but all of our managed account.
I detailed all the ways they had not offered me a non-fee account and he dutifully took notes. Said they would contact me and guess what? Just received a letter saying although they wrote and informed me of their change in 2011, they would refund all charges from opening account to then. 10 years of charges, paid me £3525! Result, just paid off a credit card with the money. Thank you!!!::rotfl::rotfl:

bobsa1

Two weeks ago we contacted Barclays about a charged account we were forced into having. Today they have paid the fees back to us incurred over the last 13 years plus interest plus £50 compensation so I am now nearly £2300 better off. Thanks to everyone, without this forum I would not even have thought to do this.

Defender110

:beer: hi - first post on this forum. The story is that my son opened a fee free Barclays account while still at school. In 2008 it suddenly became a premium account by what seemed to be an opaque process, for which he was paying £25 per month. While we didn't use the template letter the idea came from Martin's website. We claimed all the monthly fees since 2008 (£1450), plus interest. Barclays response was to try and get in touch, unsuccessfully, by telephone, but we wrote and said that our preference was to carry on with the written exchange (as we wanted an audit trail in case it was necessary to take things further). They gave a deadline and said that they would consider the matter closed unless we rang within a certain period. In fairness the letters may have crossed in the post. We then received a more comprehensive letter from Barclays, denying mis selling, and rejecting the claim. We closed my son's Barclays account and opened one with First Direct (cheers again Martin - £125 to the good!). The rejection letter was actually sent within their own deadline period for a telephone response from us. They admitted that there were no records of how my son came to have the account originally. Those two points we made in the claim which followed to the Financial Ombudsman Service. That claim was acknowledged a couple of weeks ago. We received a phone call from the FOS Adjudicator yesterday, who had made contact with Barclays. Barclays have now offered a refund of the £1450 fees, plus interest, plus £50 for the inconvenience, a total of £1775. Excellent result, but I'd recommend doing things in writing as much as possible, and carefully watching points - in this case that Barclays were unclear as to how my son came to have the account originally, and that they closed the claim off before their own deadline had expired.

Sarr1985x

Have just spoke to natwest and told them I am getting in touch with the financial ombudsman, they gave me a number to ring the financial hardship division??

[Deleted User]

Sarr1985x wrote: »

Have just spoke to natwest and told them I am getting in touch with the financial ombudsman, they gave me a number to ring the financial hardship division??

The Ombudsman won't overturn a refusal to refund Bank charges unless the Bank have considered unfairly your circumstances and unfairly found you do not meet their "hardship" criteria.

You'll have to submit first to the Bank probing your account for "luxury" spending like Gyms and pay television and you'll also need to be genuinely finding it impossible to pay bills for essentials. Only then can you complain to FOS and hope for any success.

Basically, the Bank Charges Refund ship has rather sailed since the Banks won their court case.

funkyphantom

Bank name:Nat West
Amount Reclaimed:£2900
Amount they paid:£1151
The story: Having been on a debt management plan with CCCS for a couple of years I decided to give Natwest a call after reading this site about reclaiming bank charges if your under financial hardship. Phoned Natwest on Wednesday, they called me today and told me to call their credit management team. I told them my story, they could see that I payed nearly £3000 on bank charges between 2003 and 2009. They have written off all my outstanding debt I have with there debt collection agency Moorcroft! Great result thanks to this site!
Now onto reclaiming Credit Card charges!!

N9eav

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

The Ombudsman won't overturn a refusal to refund Bank charges unless the Bank have considered unfairly your circumstances and unfairly found you do not meet their "hardship" criteria.

You'll have to submit first to the Bank probing your account for "luxury" spending like Gyms and pay television and you'll also need to be genuinely finding it impossible to pay bills for essentials. Only then can you complain to FOS and hope for any success.

Basically, the Bank Charges Refund ship has rather sailed since the Banks won their court case.

I wrote the typical hardship letter on behalf of my daughter who had become unemployed. Once she slipped a few pence in to the red, the charges started and further compounded the problems. The charges themselves cause a further increase in debt at £5 per day. Thankfully the Halifax cancelled all the charges, but made it quite clear that the 'legal FSA' challenge was an unnecessary since they had won a recent court case.


The manager did say if she had come to talk to her then she could have resolved it anyway. The truth was she did speak to someone lower down who basically said tough. So I guess a letter to the manager pleading hardship and needing help is worth the pen and ink.