Report Bank Charges successes and failures

Owen_J.

Bank - RBS.

1) I ran my own business for 5 years and in that time my bank charges were astronomical but I didnt have much choice in the matter at the time. After I sold I decided after reading this site to challenge the bank and request the return of most of my charges. Of course they refused but I carried on and on and in the end got a cheque for £4339, I asked intially for £5000. They decided that they didnt want to open all my records again . :j
2) After selling the business I had a bit of capital in the bank and the manager suggested that I transferred it into a high interest account but I said I needed it to pay direct debits and cheques, she said she would keep an eye on my account and move money over as required. I noticed that my cards werent being paid and I was being penalised with extra charges as cheques & card payments were bouncing. This had amounted to £2600. She went on holiday and forgot When I challenged her about it she said she could only refund my half that amount but this never happened. Unhappy at this I reported it to head office who also refused a full refund. I wrote to the Banking Ombudsman and stated my case, I got a full refund and appology from the bank.
So you see it worth challenging your bank.
:j:j

cord123

Hi guys!
First time on here but need to know what you think.... basically between 2009 to date we haev incurred £1700 in charges form Halifax. I have written a letter to them to claim it back but dont know if I stand a chance. Basically during this time my husband was being treated for cancer and having checkups and I was on maternity leave. Then my baby was a great ormond st hosp at 7 weeks old with a suspected tumour behind his eye, luckily this turned out to be a blood clot and he had a succesful op. During this time obviously my wages were less ( due to being on maternity leave) but our outgoings a lot more due to frequent trips to hospital which would cost us around £50 each time pllus the parking and travel costs that my husband incurred for his treatment. We did ring our bank to explain our sistuation at the time but this had no affect on how they treated us and the charges kept on coming.
Basically, I am back at work now and we are slowly getting ourselves straight but we have ended up on a payment plan to pay our overdraft back and we still incurr some charges, although not as much. Will they say that as we are no longer in as much hardship as before we cant claim? We have borrowed money off family members which has allowed us to get a bit more straight but we are still very much struggling..... I just wondered what you thought as I dont have the energy to enter into a battle that I have no chance of winning!!
And well done to you that have won.... it really gives us hope!

Premier_2

cord123 wrote: »

Hi guys!
First time on here but need to know what you think.... basically between 2009 to date we haev incurred £1700 in charges form Halifax. I have written a letter to them to claim it back but dont know if I stand a chance. Basically during this time my husband was being treated for cancer and having checkups and I was on maternity leave. Then my baby was a great ormond st hosp at 7 weeks old with a suspected tumour behind his eye, luckily this turned out to be a blood clot and he had a succesful op. During this time obviously my wages were less ( due to being on maternity leave) but our outgoings a lot more due to frequent trips to hospital which would cost us around £50 each time pllus the parking and travel costs that my husband incurred for his treatment. We did ring our bank to explain our sistuation at the time but this had no affect on how they treated us and the charges kept on coming.
Basically, I am back at work now and we are slowly getting ourselves straight but we have ended up on a payment plan to pay our overdraft back and we still incurr some charges, although not as much. Will they say that as we are no longer in as much hardship as before we cant claim? We have borrowed money off family members which has allowed us to get a bit more straight but we are still very much struggling..... I just wondered what you thought as I dont have the energy to enter into a battle that I have no chance of winning!!
And well done to you that have won.... it really gives us hope!

I would suggest you try reclaiming, especially if you are also in arrears with any priority debts (rent, mortgage, utility bills, etc). The bank will assess your current financial situation and if they agree you are in financial hardship should treat your claim positively & sympathetically.

Note that, even then, this may not result in any refund of charges as there is no obligation on the bank to do so. But if you don't ask, you certainly won't get.

Marquischacha

I don't remember if I've posted here before but this is an old account so apologies.

First of all, congratulations to everyone who successfully reclaimed their charges, and my sympathy to those who are still having trouble.

In the past two years (at least), I received regular monthly overdraft charges due to the fact I was suffering with depression and unable to find a higher paid job. The charges were due to my own personal mismanagement and whilst I understand the bank's need to charge me for going over my overdraft limit, I believe they must have taken around £500 at least from me, probably a lot more.

My question is this - I am not currently in terrible financial hardship (I am stuggling at times but since I cut out smoking and started checking my bank more frequently I am doing OK). Is there any way to reclaim charges if I am not able to prove financial hardship? I would like the money back but I am scared to take this risk if it's more trouble than it's worth.

Thanks

Premier_2

Marquischacha wrote: »

I don't remember if I've posted here before but this is an old account so apologies.

First of all, congratulations to everyone who successfully reclaimed their charges, and my sympathy to those who are still having trouble.

In the past two years (at least), I received regular monthly overdraft charges due to the fact I was suffering with depression and unable to find a higher paid job. The charges were due to my own personal mismanagement and whilst I understand the bank's need to charge me for going over my overdraft limit, I believe they must have taken around £500 at least from me, probably a lot more.

My question is this - I am not currently in terrible financial hardship (I am stuggling at times but since I cut out smoking and started checking my bank more frequently I am doing OK). Is there any way to reclaim charges if I am not able to prove financial hardship? I would like the money back but I am scared to take this risk if it's more trouble than it's worth.

Thanks

Yes, there is a way of claiming -see the MSE guide to reclaiming bank charges via court. (Link towards end of first MSE article on reclaiming bank charges)

Will you succeed? Probably not. No one has reported any success in court by following that article. You should also read the risk warnings contained within that article before deciding to go ahead trying.

baggypants

Success
Amazing how if one persists , one can get positive results. I was penalised with 2 bank charges £30 ea and an unauthorised overdraft charge of £5 after having gone into the red for approx 8 hours.Total charges £65
The situation was remedied that evening but off course my account did not show back in the black till the next day of financial business.
I argued with Santanders C/Services that the charges were totally dispoportinate and the fact that i had never been in the red with them, after being such a loyal customer for a number of years. They decided to waiver only the 1 charge and not the other. I was told that they had logged a dis satisfied charge against the 1 bank charge outstanding and that I would receive a letter in the next 10 days with a further decision. This did not happen so I rang c/services again and was put through to the complaints dept , and asked the reason for why my charge should be refunded and again I repeated the same facts above, and behold a few days later without any notification, my other bank charge had been cancelled.
This is a result - but at the end of the day - Santander did not have a leg to stand on as the charges levied were not notified ( i only discovered these charges because I internet bank ) they never notified the charges in writing or through a text alert, But also had they used their discretion in the 1st place and Investigated the histoty of my account - they would have clearly seen that this was an
unfortunte and only Instance. Needless to say I am in the process of changing my bank account to a more competive and Fairer high street bank that do Notify you when you are about to go in the red with a window time facility for you to put your account right !!

too08

claimed 2008
amount claimed: £8000 plus 8%:mad:
recieved: nothink
bank: tsb loyds

I tried to reclaim in june 2008, but they held me hanging untill the courts had finished. I received a letter about 2 months later saying I wud not get anythink as the courts went in the banks favor...I can't tell you how many times I had different bank charges every month..1 month they would be £80, another would be for £110 and so on the biggest was for £170 for 1 month....I was so exahusted from trying and crying:( as I was about to be made redundante from my job....where do I start now.....what do I do, shall I try again or leave it.....I have a £1000 over draft on my acc now and I have been over drawn for over 5yrs because of these charges, plus I have other debts now....while they are busy taking my benefits off me each month now I can't pay the over draft off. I've asked them to freeze the charges for me so I could pay my o/d on a number of occassions, but they said they cant...its standard fee......dont no what to do. Any advice would be apreciated. I have rent arrears but nearly paid it off, I had water, gas and electric debts plus others debts because of it. Now I'm on Income Support but training in cake design. I still have no money each week as they are still taking money off me every month for being over drawn.....really any advice on what to do now would be brilliant...I still have the old templates from when i tried to claim in 2007-08 cant I use them again........thank you xx

TashSmith1988

I have been fighting against Alliance and Leicester since August 2010 ... after 3 responses of 'Charges are Legal ...' 'Valid as per the T's and C's of your account ...' etc I have taken this up with FOS.

I have been in financial hardship for the past year and a half, even after explaining my situation, they deem me to be not in 'enough' financial difficulties ... I have no idea what qualifies to be 'real' hardship as it seems to be a case of, who ever you get on the day and how the complaint depatment associate feels ... some are repaid/others arn't even if the same circumstances apply

Fingers crossed they will refund the ever growing £505 over draft - purley made up of charges and refund the £400 they already took from me

rogerblack

I'm in the unfortunate position of wondering if it's possible to reclaim excessive bank charges on behalf of my mother, who has now passed.

I am currently on benefit, and during the time it was occurring there was severe hardship.

Can anyone advise if they've had any success doing this?

Premier_2

rogerblack wrote: »

I'm in the unfortunate position of wondering if it's possible to reclaim excessive bank charges on behalf of my mother, who has now passed.

I am currently on benefit, and during the time it was occurring there was severe hardship.

Can anyone advise if they've had any success doing this?

I am sorry to hear of the passing away of your mother.

Grieve her loss and remember the good times that existed.
I wouldn't suggest you prolong the sad loss further by thinking about the less favourable events. If your mother was in the financial hardship your suggest, then the good news is that any debts that cannot be settled from her estate have also passed away with her.
Whilst attempting to reclaim bank charges ( the chance of success being extremely small) may seem the correct an moral thing to do to help those creditors who may still have been owed money by your mother on her death, the benefit to you will be nothing and so the best advice I can give is to forget it and move on with your life

Take care