Report Bank Charges successes and failures

Monkey2801

Wish I had found this post before I sent off my letter. Looks a lot as if the advice on the main page doesn't cover all exceptions :money:

Wonder if anyone can advise me how to move forward now?

Sent a letter to Santander on the 28th of October regarding the £2500 of fees I was charged from October 2011 to October 2015. Many of the fees were things such as paid £1.99 for a McDonalds, charged £25.00 as not enough money in the account.

(Bit of background info, worked in a bar from Oct 2011 and as such the pay was erratic depending on the time of year, causing me to not manage my money effectively. The majority of the charges were in the first two years, but spiralled into a situation of me using wonga loans until payday, having credit accounts etc. I have JUST this month settled my final credit account, which I don't want to tell them because they will take from that I am no longer in financial hardship? HOWEVER, I did not put all this information in the letter because I didn't think they wanted my life story..)

Santander has organised a phonecall with me on Saturday, presumably to discuss how to help me manage my money more effectively. What is the best way to move forward with this so I don't get fobbed off?

* actually received an email from them saying the following:*

Dear Miss xxx

Thank you for your recent letter about the unauthorised overdraft fees previously applied to your account.

Whilst the fees have been applied to your account correctly, I have forwarded your case for a further review by our financial support team.

In your letter you refer to the Lending Code (Section 9) and the Banking Conduct of Business Sourcebook (Section 5.1.4). We take our responsibilities under these provisions very seriously and at all times adopt a responsible approach to lending. We are always willing to talk to customers about any financial difficulty that they may be experiencing and there is also guidance for customers available on our website.

I am unable to offer to refund charges previously applied to the account as in accordance to the Supreme Court decision, on 25th November 2009, it was confirmed banks' unarranged overdraft fees could not be assessed for fairness. Therefore, no legal basis on which the amount of the fees can be challenged. Fees that have been applied are correct and are in accordance with the terms and conditions of the account.

Santander help with fees... etc

dunstonh

Wish I had found this post before I sent off my letter. Looks a lot as if the advice on the main page doesn't cover all exceptions

Wonder if anyone can advise me how to move forward now?

It would probably been better for you to create your own thread as this one can get messy and posts missed as its not really a discussion thread.

Santander has organised a phonecall with me on Saturday, presumably to discuss how to help me manage my money more effectively. What is the best way to move forward with this so I don't get fobbed off?

Be honest and mature. You want this person on your side. So, don't wind them up with sarcasm or rudeness. Not saying you will but some people take that tone.

In your letter you refer to the Lending Code (Section 9) and the Banking Conduct of Business Sourcebook (Section 5.1.4). We take our responsibilities under these provisions very seriously and at all times adopt a responsible approach to lending. We are always willing to talk to customers about any financial difficulty that they may be experiencing and there is also guidance for customers available on our website.

I am unable to offer to refund charges previously applied to the account as in accordance to the Supreme Court decision, on 25th November 2009, it was confirmed banks' unarranged overdraft fees could not be assessed for fairness. Therefore, no legal basis on which the amount of the fees can be challenged. Fees that have been applied are correct and are in accordance with the terms and conditions of the account.

Quoting rules in your letter was a mistake. You are unlikely to know what the rules are and often people quote the wrong rules, use rules that are out of date or misinterpret the rules. This can lead to the complaints handler rejecting your complaint in a legal way to match the tone you set.

Also, under no circumstances must you make reference to the charges being unfair (or words similar). I am assuming you did as the response you have got is used when you do that.

Luckily for you, Santander are looking at whether current financial hardship applies. So, be prepared to make your case for being in hardship when you get that phonecall. have details of any arrears you have. What bills you are finding it hard to pay etc.

However, also be aware that they will check your spending habits prior to making a decision and having transactions for takeaways or other luxury or unnecessary spending (Sky TV, high mobile phone bills, Shopping at Next etc) will work against you as people in hardship do not do those things. They may decide you are where you are because you spend beyond your means.

Also, if they decide you are in hardship, the do not have to refund anything. They may refund some but they have other options open to them. Such as suspending future charges for x months and/or putting you on a management process which adds more controls and restrictions to your account but with the aim of getting you out of debt.

Meatloaf1981

Great news! Today, having agreed to re-open my complaintsome months ago, Barclays sent me a letter upholding my complaint and enclosinga fat cheque for £2090.57p! What a lovely pre-Christmas surprise and this willconsiderably ease the burden I’m under. Very pleased. My only advice would beto stand your ground. If you have been wronged and you know you’ve been wrongedthen do not give up, even if you have to go to the ombudsman.

Good luck all!

Meat

officer

Well done you.I have had two rejections now from Barclays,they have said there is no new information so therefore no claim.I have written yet again with more info and they have reopened the case but I have a feeling it will be the same outcome.There have been a few people on this forum that emailed John Mcfarlane the Chief Executive and I have tried this but the email is getting rejected also and coming back to my email box.Does anyone know why?Thanks for all info.

dunstonh

Meatloaf1981 wrote: »

Great news! Today, having agreed to re-open my complaintsome months ago, Barclays sent me a letter upholding my complaint and enclosinga fat cheque for £2090.57p! What a lovely pre-Christmas surprise and this willconsiderably ease the burden I’m under. Very pleased. My only advice would beto stand your ground. If you have been wronged and you know you’ve been wrongedthen do not give up, even if you have to go to the ombudsman.

Good luck all!

Meat

This thread is about overdraft charges and unpaid item charges.

Any refund by a bank on that basis is a goodwill gesture by the bank. So, you have not been wronged and you should appreciate what the bank have done for you in refunding those charges.

Jackie99

Hi,

After reading up on bank charges,I wrote to Halifax over a week ago and they emailed and asked me to call back.I got several calls till I returned a call. It seems the guy was attempting to dismiss my claims but saying without proof in front of him that since I closed the account I wouldn't be supported as he put it.I said that I had all the evidence and required it to be looked into. He said the overdraft charges were stated and that because I never went to them when I fell into financial difficulty,they would only refund me £165 13/11/15 which were the excess fees he could see on the account!. I had several £35 charges .The account was closed in 2014 by myself as I had difficulties and it getting constantly charged.

Basically he used a second current account I have and said I was not in difficulty? Surely they should use the account in question more? and the letter I wrote.

Note,be firm on the phone I have asked for a letter from him stating all the reasons they would not offer further refunds given the difficulties I faced. Iam not sure I should be happy with this?

Meatloaf1981

dunstonh wrote: »

This thread is about overdraft charges and unpaid item charges.

Any refund by a bank on that basis is a goodwill gesture by the bank. So, you have not been wronged and you should appreciate what the bank have done for you in refunding those charges.

Incorrect. They agreed that the "paid for" bank account was mis-sold to me and that it was not a goodwill gesture to refund anything at all.

dunstonh

Meatloaf1981 wrote: »

Incorrect. They agreed that the "paid for" bank account was mis-sold to me and that it was not a goodwill gesture to refund anything at all.

In which case, you have posted on the wrong thread. This one is not about packaged bank charges.

rockstarleopard

Walldogg wrote: »

Name - Halifax
Amount Recalimed - unspecified
Amount paid -£435

My bank charges have been spiralling out of control month on month. I called the call centre yesterday who put me on a Fee free account for 6 months meaning no more planned or unplanned overdraft charges. No offer of a refund so last night I emailed them explaining that I was in serious financial difficulties, DD's rejected, more outgoings than income and was borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. I asked for them to look back to 2011 when both me and my husband lost our jobs in same month. This morning I got a call to say they would look into it and get back to me. And as promised they have just called me know and offered £435 as goodwill for charges dating back to Jan 2014. I worked out my charges would have been £2000 to 2011. But hey, I'm not complaining and it will go towards clearing my overdraft. Well impressed it took less than 24 hours!!

I called Halifax, trying with a total of 3 separate advisers who said they only offer 1 refund in the lifetime of your account and said since I was refunded £23 back in June, they won't refund any more of my charges. (Now totalling £110+ again this month)
I was told I can now only further contact the 'money management team' who already told me after a lengthy 1hr 30min conversation last month that there's not much they can do (they only offered to further increase my overdraft to cover THEIR fees!)
I explained my financial hardship to one advisor and how Halifax charges have now left me with £1 to live on for 2 weeks, to which she very then very condescendingly offered to give a phone number for a 'charity team'.
The advisor basically told me they can refund charges at the click of a button but can only do this once ever.
.
Can anyone help me please?

How did you get at contact email address for Halifax and what was it exactly please? I have been searching for weeks for an email address with no avail.
Id now like to try and reclaim at least this £100 charge back so I can live..

Nasqueron

rockstarleopard wrote: »

I called Halifax, trying with a total of 3 separate advisers who said they only offer 1 refund in the lifetime of your account and said since I was refunded £23 back in June, they won't refund any more of my charges. (Now totalling £110+ again this month)
I was told I can now only further contact the 'money management team' who already told me after a lengthy 1hr 30min conversation last month that there's not much they can do (they only offered to further increase my overdraft to cover THEIR fees!)
I explained my financial hardship to one advisor and how Halifax charges have now left me with £1 to live on for 2 weeks, to which she very then very condescendingly offered to give a phone number for a 'charity team'.
The advisor basically told me they can refund charges at the click of a button but can only do this once ever.
.
Can anyone help me please?

How did you get at contact email address for Halifax and what was it exactly please? I have been searching for weeks for an email address with no avail.
Id now like to try and reclaim at least this £100 charge back so I can live..

You need to call them back and ask to speak to someone about financial hardship i.e. charges on top of charges that are causing a cycle of debt and more charges. Ask them to look into these issues and they can look at doing stuff like refunding fees, freezing future ones etc. Don't make reference to unfair charges, concentrate on hardship. Be prepared for them to look at your spending, if you are living with £1 for 2 weeks then they won't look favourably if you also have an expensive mobile contract, sky TV, meals out etc