Report Bank Charges successes and failures

GingerFurball_2

Bank: Halifax/Bank of Scotland
Money Claimed: £324.00 + interest
Amount offered: £136.00

Just wanted to share this, seeing as on the last few pages there seems to be a lot of people getting nowhere with their banks.

I wrote to my local BoS branch last week using the template offered, paying particular attention to the human aspect of my claim: I'm a student, and I lost my job in November, which meant that for 4 months my only income was the £180 or so a month I was getting as a student loan. I've had to borrow significant sums of money from my parents to get by, and move back to my mum's to save money that I was frivolously spending on stuff like rent and food. The vast majority of the charges I've claimed back were accrued between February and May, and a lot of them were activated by charges I'd previously accrued tipping me over my overdraft limit, thus leaving me in a vicious cycle where previous charges would trigger new ones. Thankfully, I got myself a new part time job in March, and have been able to work largely full time hours over the summer, which means my finances are in a healthier state.

I got a letter through today explaining that while the bank disagrees with my complaint, having taken into account the circumstances I'd outlined they're offering me a refund of the last 6 charges against my account, totalling £136. Not as much as I was initially claiming, but I'm very happy with how quickly they've got back to me, and £136 is better than nothing, so I'm inclined to accept it.

Hopefully this might act as inspiration for anyone who's unsure of whether or not to approach their bank.

HOBBSNATASHA

Hi can anyone advice me on my situation
i wrote to the abbey last year asking for £2289 which was unfair bank charges i was in finacnal hardship at the time and was in houseing arrears the abbey wrote back to me and offered me a good will jesture £1539 to use to pay my housing arrears off which i attepted a year has passed and today i have a dept letter from dept managers asking me for the sum of £2289 to pay my abbey account .i phoned the abbey and they said to me even thou they gave me a good will jesture of £1539 to pay my housing arrears off i still owe the sum of £2289 and they have sold the dept on i cant understand why they offered me a good will then say i still owe the same balance has anyone had this done to them or is there someone who can give me some advice
thanks
:mad:

Premier_2

HOBBSNATASHA wrote: »

Hi can anyone advice me on my situation
i wrote to the abbey last year asking for £2289 which was unfair bank charges i was in finacnal hardship at the time and was in houseing arrears the abbey wrote back to me and offered me a good will jesture £1539 to use to pay my housing arrears off which i attepted a year has passed and today i have a dept letter from dept managers asking me for the sum of £2289 to pay my abbey account .i phoned the abbey and they said to me even thou they gave me a good will jesture of £1539 to pay my housing arrears off i still owe the sum of £2289 and they have sold the dept on i cant understand why they offered me a good will then say i still owe the same balance has anyone had this done to them or is there someone who can give me some advice
thanks
:mad:

You owed the bank £2289

You complained to the bank you were in housing arrears.

The bank decided to give you £1539. This they unusually gave you in the form of cash despite actually still owing the them £2289. Usually they just deduct the amount from what you owe them. This different decision appears to have been done so that you could pay off your housing arrears. This was important as failure to have done so could have resulted in you becoming homeless! :eek:

You still owe the bank £2289. Debts don't just disappear.

leclerc

beckiescottx wrote: »

my advice for anyone is dont bother with claiming it causes nothing but stress and its the biggest con after paying 10 pounds to get my bank statements and then sending endless letters and phone calls to the ombudsman costing more money at the end of it all i can say is it doesnt matter if banks do something illegal we as customers have no say at all :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:. after two years of trying to claim i wish i never heard of claiming bank charges!!!!!

Have you read the links on financial hardship? Both myself and Premier have been very clear in what we have both said. DO NOT EXPECT TO GET 100% CHARGES BACK, it is a myth since the OFT test case decision in November 2009(in fact only one case comes to mind using a completely non standard manner of doing it).
The bank is under NO OBLIGATION to refund even 1p of charges. You need to read more about ILLEGAL and UNLAWFUL, one is a sick bird and the other is civil law.

alexperez

So...here my journey ends, unsuccessfully!! I have been with Nationwide all of my life, I am now 25, I had a period a few years back where I lost my job, I ran out of money but all of my DD rejected and I was way over my overdraft limit so the charges started adding, up, some months I was charged 4-500 in rejected direct debits, I had to borrow money from girlfriend to try and sort this so she managed to help me a little, I was getting cash on my credit cards and using Credit cards to try and pay some bills but couldnt make the repayments. I finally got a job and started to slowly balance out the debt I had, I also managed to obtain a loan from Tesco to wipe out all of my debt, this was around 9,000 in the end, I tried to claim from Natiowide under hardship as my financial situation was made worse by the charges at the time that they applied to my account, I think around 2,5000 altogether. They refused so a couple of letters later I went to the Ombudsman, finially receive a reply and they say I am not due anything?? I am so disappointed, They say the charges are not unlawful, is it right to charge someone who has no money going into an account 4-500 per month as a paymnet has been rejected? surely they cannot get away with this? I feel that the forms I filled out and oput my case forward were not sufficient for them and for this they have not paid out the money. what can i do from here? I still think I have a really good case but am not sure whether I can do anything more? Its been a few years for this claim and I now just feel like it hasnt been worth it!! I wish I had the opportunity o claim before the test case, id be 2 grand richer now!! any advice would be appreicated, im not sure if I can go anywhere else now?

Premier_2

alexperez wrote: »

...I went to the Ombudsman, finially receive a reply and they say I am not due anything?? ...

What exactly does the letter from the ombudsman say as to reasons they consider you were not entitled to anything? Do they accept your claim for financial hardship? If so, how do they consider the lender demonstrated they treated you in a positive and sympathetic approach to the situation?

landmark

2007 Opened Complaint to Alliance & Leicester complaining about a Bank Charge for unauthorised overdraft for a day and being charged £25. Was put on hold pending OFT court case.

November 2009 Court Case with OFT decided OFT had no juristiction in the matter.

January 2010 I was sent a letter stating that there were no grounds for a refund and I had 8 weeks to respond or the case will be closed.

---

15 February 2010 I sent a template letter from MSE website, modified to suit my individual circumstances giving 21 days to respond or I will take the matter to the Small Claims Procedure.

After 21 days there was NO RESPONSE. When I called to ask why, they stated that I had to wait 8 weeks for a full response because I was not deemed to be in financial hardship; thus giving others priority over me who were in financial hardship; fair enough I replyed.

---

March 2010 THE RESULT WAS A REFUND:Tso no need to go to court!

Be patient and follow the guidelines and have all the evidence to hand as well as the legal arguments given in template letters and there is no reason why one shouldn't win:)

wrightk

I had an account with alliance and leicester, it was left overdrawn by £50, they applied £400 of charges and defaulted me.
There were genuine reasons why the account was left i wasnt even at home i was at hospital with partner for weeks and weeks as she was ill they sent me no written confirmation of charges.

I wrote a letter a few weeks ago asking them to have sympathy to my situation.They have paid off the account and closed it

Just got to try and see if they can remove the default as the only reason it was defaulted is because of charges, they have now paid these off i see that as accepting liability towards their failure

Anyway..... success!

hakko

Bank: Natwest
Claimed for: ~£1000
Offered: ~£500 (good will)

x -- Unfair Charges (rejected).
YES -- Financial Hardship claim to bank.

Ombudsman says Bank has gone out of their way by making this offer. She was surprised that this is rare after the OFT case in Nov 2009, and that the bank is under no obligation to offer any money in this situation (my dad's circumstances, unemployed, service charge arrears etc.).

I was going to speak to Natwest and ask for more? £750? As dad's still unemployed and got debts, £30 interest a month on CCs!

jackie18_2

I followed Martin's guide to claiming back bank charges, I wrote to the Cooperative Bank twice with no luck then wrote to the FSA. The FSA contacted The Cooperative Bank and came to the conclusion that it was my own fault the charges had been made on my account as I did not make sure the money was there for direct debits. Even though the £35 a time bank charges helped me to get into financial difficulty the FSA said the bank had been fair.