Report Bank Charges successes and failures

Minniemop

Hi all,
Just been offered £8,100 by Lloyds for 2 packaged bank accounts.

dunstonh

Minniemop said:

Hi all,
Just been offered £8,100 by Lloyds for 2 packaged bank accounts.

Well done.  However, this thread is not about PBAs but the old "unfair" bank charge refunds.

elyssie

Bank name: Barclays
Amount reclaimed: £70
Amount they paid: £70
The story: I found myself in a cycle of irrational spending after a period of mental health problems. I am entirely at fault for the situation I found myself in, however I am seeking help and getting my finances back on track. I found myself with an overdraft of £1,600 and I was constantly in the overdraft, even after getting paid each month it would not get me out of the overdraft, so charges became a big problem for me. Earlier this month I was hit with a large £70 charge (the charges were usually in the regions of £20-£30 a month. I called Barclays to ask if they could refund this and help me with charges going forward. I discussed being put on a payment plan (resolve loan plan) to reduce my overdraft over the next few months to the point of not having one anymore. They said they would refund the £70 as a goodwill gesture and freeze charges due to the plan. 

Not a huge amount, but a success nevertheless!

moneymoner

Bank Name: Santander

Amount reclaimed: None

Amount received: £450

Account held for 4 years with £1200 overdraft with a £10 monthly account fee for overdraft and other account services. Santander changed their T&C's to increase charges on overdraft's mid way through opening the account. At that time I was over my overdraft limit and being charged an extra £16 per month for exceeding the limit, not really a biggie at the time. Increased fees and change of exceeding the overdraft fee from £16 per month to £2.50 per day with monthly interest caused huge financial issues for me. Was offered to pay off overdraft and close account if did not agree with new T&C's. Was not in position to do that with low income so paid fee's mounting to £70 per month for an overdraft I was unable to clear. Bank refused to close account until balance was £0 and overdraft repaid. Made many telephone calls and complaints until account was eventually frozen and repayment plan arranged. I disagreed with the fee's and made that clear to bank who just wrote back with the usual default letters and credit score being affected. Decided to stop paying payment plan and wrote a letter to ombudsman about their T&C's and fee's increase. 3 month's later received telephone call with offer of £450 for refund of fee's. This of course just reduced the balance I owed but was a small relief on my financial issues at that time.

dunstonh

Bank refused to close account until balance was £0 and overdraft repaid. 

That is correct and not the reason for the redress.  It is physically impossible to close an account with a balance other than zero.

 Decided to stop paying payment plan and wrote a letter to ombudsman about their T&C's and fee's increase. 3 month's later received telephone call with offer of £450 for refund of fee's. This of course just reduced the balance I owed but was a small relief on my financial issues at that time.

Given the very small amount involved, its like the FOS came to an arrangement with the bank to waive the FOS fee (which is more than the amount owed) if it was resolved quickly without investigation.  i.e. cheaper for bank to refund than to let it go through the process and allows the FOS to clear a case quickly as they are very behind on workload.  Win win for all involved.

moneymoner

dunstonh said:

Bank refused to close account until balance was £0 and overdraft repaid. 

That is correct and not the reason for the redress.  It is physically impossible to close an account with a balance other than zero.

Yes, I agree but it is possible to freeze the account and the bank refused to do so. Instead the bank allowed the account to continue accumulating charges upto £400 until the account was eventually frozen. At the time I had to stop using the account and open another account with another bank just to have access to my monthly salary.

The overdraft service was part of the monthly account fee when I initailly opened the account, but the new charges and fees changed that so the overdraft effectively became an unarranged overdraft. Not something I was expecting at the time of opening the account.

moneymoner

dunstonh said:

Given the very small amount involved, its like the FOS came to an arrangement with the bank to waive the FOS fee (which is more than the amount owed) if it was resolved quickly without investigation.  i.e. cheaper for bank to refund than to let it go through the process and allows the FOS to clear a case quickly as they are very behind on workload.  Win win for all involved.

Not really a win win for me, the default's against me and the negative impact on my credit score would not be covered by £450 of fee's being refunded. I was managing the account quite well before the bank changed their T&C's and forced me into a difficult situtation financially. I was unable to obtain any kind of credit after this fiasco.

[Deleted User]

moneymoner said:

dunstonh said:

Given the very small amount involved, its like the FOS came to an arrangement with the bank to waive the FOS fee (which is more than the amount owed) if it was resolved quickly without investigation.  i.e. cheaper for bank to refund than to let it go through the process and allows the FOS to clear a case quickly as they are very behind on workload.  Win win for all involved.

Not really a win win for me, the default's against me and the negative impact on my credit score would not be covered by £450 of fee's being refunded. I was managing the account quite well before the bank changed their T&C's and forced me into a difficult situtation financially. I was unable to obtain any kind of credit after this fiasco.

Your post made it clear you were already in significant financial trouble (not only living in the overdraft but exceeding it and constantly paying the fees) which damaged your credit long before the changes. You were unable to clear the account before they changed the system, so nothing was affected by the extra charges - for future reference ask the bank for a financial hardship case rather than just ploughing on struggling, they have to help you deal with your situation.

There was no negative impact on your credit score, as you do not have a credit score, the gimmick number shown by CRAs is nothing more than a bit of fun for anyone who knows about the credit system, your score is not even seen by lenders let alone used to make a decision on credit, they only look at your credit history which showed you were in deep trouble so lending to you would not be responsible.

moneymoner

Deleted_User said:

moneymoner said:

dunstonh said:

Given the very small amount involved, its like the FOS came to an arrangement with the bank to waive the FOS fee (which is more than the amount owed) if it was resolved quickly without investigation.  i.e. cheaper for bank to refund than to let it go through the process and allows the FOS to clear a case quickly as they are very behind on workload.  Win win for all involved.

Not really a win win for me, the default's against me and the negative impact on my credit score would not be covered by £450 of fee's being refunded. I was managing the account quite well before the bank changed their T&C's and forced me into a difficult situtation financially. I was unable to obtain any kind of credit after this fiasco.

Your post made it clear you were already in significant financial trouble (not only living in the overdraft but exceeding it and constantly paying the fees) which damaged your credit long before the changes. You were unable to clear the account before they changed the system, so nothing was affected by the extra charges - for future reference ask the bank for a financial hardship case rather than just ploughing on struggling, they have to help you deal with your situation.

There was no negative impact on your credit score, as you do not have a credit score, the gimmick number shown by CRAs is nothing more than a bit of fun for anyone who knows about the credit system, your score is not even seen by lenders let alone used to make a decision on credit, they only look at your credit history which showed you were in deep trouble so lending to you would not be responsible.

Totally incorrect, I was managing my finances very well, the very small overdraft was not financial hardship.

The excessive increase of the overdraft fee and charges was the issue. These fee's have been reviewed now by regulator's and were seen to be excessive at the time. I also did not have any loan's or cc's so I was nto in deep trouble as you mentioned. My credit score or history or whatever, was impacted.

dunstonh

The excessive increase of the overdraft fee and charges was the issue. These fee's have been reviewed now by regulator's and were seen to be excessive at the time. 

That is not correct.  The banks won the court case in 2009 and the regulator has taken no action on charges.