Report Bank Charges successes and failures

ackerbob

Hi,


After reading through the guide on how to reclaim bank charges, I thought I would have a go on behalf of my wife, who has racked up big charges with the Halifax over the years. I worked out over the last 10 years through trawling through her statements (not as hard as it seems - Halifax online banking has a search function and I just typed Unarranged Overdraft Charge, put in a date range, and made a note of all charges she had been hit with) and put in a claim for £1265 using the template letters on this site. Of this, only £255 had actually been charged since the court ruling in 2009, so Halifax had no obligation to repay anything apart from the £255. We knew this, but thought we would try anyway, by saying (truthfully) that her only current income is from statutory maternity pay, that stops in April, and she does not have a job as yet.


We posted the letter on Friday 20th March and she received a call from them on Monday 23rd. They explained that they had no obligation to pay anything from before 2009, but did sympathise with her current situation. After going through her statements with her on the phone, and determining that she had not brought any 'luxury' items, and was struggling on a monthly basis, they offered to repay her overdraft of £550 over a period of 18 months, whilst waiving any arranged overdraft fees for the same period - effectively reducing her overdraft limit by £30 per month without charging her for the use of the overdraft. A pretty good result I think, considering they didn't have to do this. The lady from the Halifax was extremely helpful on the phone - I know it's not their money, and it is their job to provide good customer service, but she couldn't have been more understanding or helpful.


Thanks to all those who have posted on this forum = and to Martin of course - it has been a great help.

Alfie0611

Bank Natwest
Amount claimed £3300
Amount Refunded £2500

Totally awesome I got my refund. Had to wait just over the 8 weeks and I did submit complaint to the FOC last Thursday so thought it would be a lot longer but recieved a call today.
They said the charges were applied in line with their terms & conditions but due to my financial hardship (and it was severe and I sent lots of evidence to show that) they agreed to refund charges but no interest. I was happy with that.
Thanks guys without finding this by accident I would never of known.

trytosavemoney

I have been a loyal Natwest customer for over 25 years and had the gold account which attracted a monthly fee for around eight years, 6 years or so ago I realised we were being charged for this account and not using any of the services, in fact can't remember why we were signed up for it in the first place, so i cancelled it.

About 8 weeks ago I sent off your letter stating missold and requested a refund.
their letter came back last week and said my claim was rejected as so much time had elapsed since I had changed account and removed the fees and that they are sure i must have known what I was signing up for and why had i not decided to make a claim before now ??
so are they fobbing me off or should i go to the ombudsman to see if claim can be upheld??

dunstonh

trytosavemoney wrote: »

I have been a loyal Natwest customer for over 25 years and had the gold account which attracted a monthly fee for around eight years, 6 years or so ago I realised we were being charged for this account and not using any of the services, in fact can't remember why we were signed up for it in the first place, so i cancelled it.

About 8 weeks ago I sent off your letter stating missold and requested a refund.
their letter came back last week and said my claim was rejected as so much time had elapsed since I had changed account and removed the fees and that they are sure i must have known what I was signing up for and why had i not decided to make a claim before now ??
so are they fobbing me off or should i go to the ombudsman to see if claim can be upheld??

The rules are that you should raise a complaint within 6 years of the start or 3 years from being reasonably aware of an issue (whichever gives you longer).

It was more than 6 years from the start and you requested it stop 6 years ago which is more than 3 years. So, it is not unreasonable for them to apply a timebar to your complaint.

if you were still paying them and hadnt stopped 6 years ago, then they would have to consider your complaint. However, by stopping them 6 years ago it shows you were aware of them and if you had reason to complain then you would have done so then. you are given 3 years and you are at 6 now.

trytosavemoney

thanks for your reply, I was hoping that as we have only recently been made aware that these sorts of charges could even be reclaimed, then I would at least have been considered. But I see what you are saying, never mind :-(

obstinatrix

I wrote to Halifax on my partners' behalf, listing all the unauthorised overdraft fee charges they'd charged her since 2011 (when the account opened) and asking for them back. I sent the letter on Monday, using the template found on this website, and used online banking to get an accurate list of charges.

Charges amounted to £370; the fees calculator on here suggested it came to £438 with interest, so that's what I asked for. They refunded my partner £400 on Friday, no questions asked. We are extremely happy with that. Thanks so much for this guide.

reynardine

Hello all

I'm very pleased

Thanks to the helpful advice on the MSE website and success stories in the forum, I wrote to Lloyds Bank to ask for a refund of £380 worth of charges over a 6 year period.

They called me about 10 days later to say that they would return the full amount as a good will gesture and the money appeared about 5 minutes later. It was a fairly pain free exercise, aside from spending an hour going through my statements to highlight the bank charges, but it was worth the effort! The money has now helped me to clear my overdraft so there's been a great weight lifted off my shoulders there.

Thank you MSE for your sage advice!

Galby

Was on MSE to look at the templates for PPI when I see that people had also been claiming back bank charges.

I had opened a student account with overdraft facility in 2003. Over the 12 years I have been charged more than £4000 in planned and unplanned charges and interest.

I sent one template letter and was immediately credited £889 into my account along with a letter stating the bank had followed correct procedures and would not refund any planned charges. Delighted with this although I have still forwarded to Ombudsman as due to continued charges I cannot get out of my overdraft.

xrachiestarx

Bank - Bank of Scotland
Amount claimed - £775
Amount Refunded £396 (+ £20 fee waived due to come out this month)

Sent letter on 29/09/15. Received a text this morning (06/10/15) saying they were going to phone me today. Spoke to a lovely woman in customer relations who went over my current financial situation and agreed the charge cycle was causing hardship and refunded £396 over the two accounts in question. This was the amount of charges for the last 2 years, so not quite the 6 years I had calculated and asked for, but still pleased!
So happy to be given a buffer to get out of the cycle! She also advised I speak to their money management team to get on top of my finances better. Very helpful and pleasant to deal with.

Jon1975

Bank - Santander
Amount Claimed - £3929
Amount Refunded - £0 as yet

These charges have been accrued over the last six years, as a result of always being in my overdraft and not having the means to get out of it. I suffer from bipolar affective disorder and BPD and have been unable to work for the last seven years. In this time I have frequently lacked capacity to adequately mange my financial affairs and have also suffered from frequent periods of "impulsiveness" i:e spending without caring. As you can imagine this has left me in considerable financial hardship as well as impacting on my health condition. I stumbled across the article on MSE regarding claiming charges back, so used the template explaining my issues and provided Santander with all the statements with charges highlighted and also evidence from my doctor of my mental health condition. Santander called today to say that they consider themselves to have kept within banking code guidelines because they were never informed I had any difficulties, despite the fact I have largely lacked the ability to contact them and that they never bothered to contact me as a result of the erratic behavior on my account, and such they refuse to refund any charges.
Do you guys think I should pass this on the ombudsman to take a look at.

Cheers