Report Bank Charges successes and failures

tanya_w_2

Banked with Royal Bank of Scotland. Was (am) a single mum, and at the time was receiving income support. Bank took over 2500 pounds off me in charges and are still after another 350 pounds now.
Week after week they took the entire amount of money the government had given me for my family, sometimes for going overdrawn by as little as 5 pound. Sometimes there wasn't enough for the charges so it made me still overdrawn incurring even more charges for the next week.
Week after week I would walk the streets trying to sell my stuff or having to lend off of family just so I could feed my 3 kids.
I got a job, opened a new account but still owed loads to alot of people.
Ended up in debt, got evicted and still having to rob from peter to pay paul.
Went to financial ombudsman and got told my bank had done nothing wrong and I couldn't get any money repaid.
Any advice on where I go from here? Am really struggling.
Thanks in advance.

Premier_2

tanya_w wrote: »

...Went to financial ombudsman and got told my bank had done nothing wrong and I couldn't get any money repaid.
Any advice on where I go from here? Am really struggling.
Thanks in advance.

The only option available to you now is to challenge the fees on legal grounds.

There's a link to an MSE article on how to do this in the article linked to above.

However, think very carefully before pursuing this route. No one has yet reported any success in court following the advice given in the article and even attempting to do so would involve you in spending money you don't appear to have. Exposure to the possible total costs involved could be huge, as also warned about in the article, if you don't eventaully win such a claim.

Former_MSE_Wendy

colinbrown5013 wrote: »

The bank took over £900 in 4months, at the height of my problems.
If I do not qualify I fail to see who could.
The grounds on this site qualify me over and over again.
I do intend to go to court after this final letter.

Hi Colin

Can I check a few facts about your claim to see if i need to contact the Ombudsman in order to update the info in the 'Who can go to the Ombudsman?' section of our reclaiming guide.

When did you get the £900 of charges and did you contact your bank for help at the time?
Have you now cleared the charges or are you still in your unauthorised overdraft?
Did your bank (or FOS) suggest any other ways to help other than a refund of charges eg stopping new charges, increasing your overdraft limit?

Many thanks

Wendy

colinbrown5013

Hello Wendy,
Thank you for replying to my post.
My son cleared my overdraft for me and now I do not have one. I make sure that they never make a penny out of me.
The worst of the charges were in 2009 and they did wipe off one £35 charge. They quickly recouped this gesture by charging £35 over and over again. I have the print offs for the peak charging of over £900 in less than 4 months.
The bank offered me £5 and a short charge free period and this was again offered by the ombudsman twice. Previously I had turned down an offer from the bank of £70, but that was before the famous court case. If you discuss my case with the ombusman the ref is 9576348/MB/W408.
I was gambling heavily at one time, convinced I could get myself out of trouble, I have now stopped gambling altogether exept for occasional goes on the lottery. With a £250 overdraft they let me overdraw over £1000 so they could keep charging me. I asked them to stop letting me overdraw more than my limit, but they said they could not. When it became clear that I was in danger of not being able to pay them, they quickly stopped lending.
I would like your advise on whether I would stand a chance in court because I am very bitter about the way they not only did not help me, they actually encouraged me to feel I could overdraw as much as I wanted. They repeatedly turned down online overdraft requests for an increase in limit because they were making far in excess of a back street money lender, as it was.

Thank you,
Colin

lillou01

Last year around May time i wrote to my bank, Abbey (now Santander) in regards to reclaiming my bank charges over the last 6 years which amounted to around £2500. When it all went to the courts i was informed my case had been put on hold until they had an outcome. When the courts ruled in favour of the banks i received a letter stating my case had been withdrawn because of this. Naievly i accepted this and didnt persue it further. I have today stubbled across this site and now think i should further persue my claim. My charges were very bad a few years back as i was struggling financialy and ended up with charges upon charges, causing not a snowball but an avelanch. I paid all these charges and after a lot of hard work managed to stop these charges reoccuring. I have gone a couple of years without any charges but recently have found myself in the danger zone again.
Is it too late for me to get my claim re-opened or to make a new claim? I dont want to snowball again, but resorted to payday loans to avoid going over my overdraft, which is not helping things.
Is it worth trying to claim again?
:(:(

Premier_2

colinbrown5013 wrote: »

...I would like your advise on whether I would stand a chance in court ...

The courts do not consider claims for refunds of bank charges based on financial hardship grounds.

Whilst Martin and his team have gone to great effort to compile a guide to reclaiming bank charges in court, the guide does clearly express some level of risk in attempting to do so, and I would advise that no one to date has yet reported any success in court by following that guide.

Premier_2

lillou01 wrote: »

...Is it too late for me to get my claim re-opened or to make a new claim? ...

It's never too late to start a new claim, if you are currently in genuine financial hardship and incurring bank charges that are increasing that hardship.

Presumably you didn't claim on the gounds of financial hardship previously since (a) the courts don't deal with claims based only on financial hardship grounds and (b) there was a waiver in place for those who were in financial hardship allowing claims to be heard.

Latest responses suggest that where someone is successful in recovering some bank charges on the grounds of genuine financial hardship (and this is not guranteed, as there is no obligation on the bank to refund anything, only to treat your claim with a 'sympathetic and positive approach'), then it is only the last 6 months charges at the most that are refunded... but don't let this information prevent you from including all charges on any claim you submit.

jobaby1

MikeSharp wrote: »

I had been writing to teh Halifax for several weeks and not once would they accept that the charges were unfair and they sent my final response stating they would not re-charge or pay compensation. Having worked as a complaint handler myself for a large building society i decided to write to teh ombudsman. After a few short weeks they resoponded and Halifax have upheld my complaint and i am receiving a cheque for £1772.00
ombudsman are easy to deal with and after filling our a short form i got £1772.00...well worth the effort!!! :beer::beer::beer:

Hi Mike, Congratulations !!!!!!:beer::T:T:T:T:beer::j

Was this claim based on financial hardship which won it for you in the end with the FOS ?

Heronlen2010

The Court here in Northern Ireland have not dismissed my case against unfair Bank Charges - Nationwide - 1200.

The cases was suspended pending the Supreme Court hearing .It was heard a few weeks ago by the Small Claims Court, they, I imagine were hoping that they would have been able to dismiss the cases on mass.!!This was not the case, the Judge, was sympathetic to my arguments, which were Martin's - `The New Legal Arguments`. She had heard of Martin and seemed to have some time for his work.!!However she adjourned the case so I could seek legal advice to what is a complex legal argument.

It was heard again last week by a different Judge who adjourned again as he did not have a copy of the Supreme Court Ruling to apply my / Martin's arguments against.

It has now been listed for 1st October.

My difficulty is that I have a chance to make a difference to so many (including myself of course) but I don't have the legal know how to do anything other than read Martin's arguments.!!If a solicitor from the Nationwide turns up it will be very difficult for me.!!

I did consult a solicitor who advised me that they are complex legal arguments and that it would cost an uneconomic amount to employ him and a barrister. He suggested that the court should make the decision as that was the reason for the existence of Small Claims Court.

I would appreciate any advice / assistance to make this argument in a professional and convincing manner.

Former_MSE_Wendy

colinbrown5013 wrote: »

I would like your advise on whether I would stand a chance in court because I am very bitter about the way they not only did not help me, they actually encouraged me to feel I could overdraw as much as I wanted. They repeatedly turned down online overdraft requests for an increase in limit because they were making far in excess of a back street money lender, as it was.

Thank you,
Colin

Thanks for the extra info Colin. I suspect the FOS did not decide in your favour as you have cleared the account, although this is just a guess. As Premier says we have a specific guide to court claims but you will need to do a lot of research to check this is right for you. Have a read to see what you think http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/oft-bank-charges

Wendy