Bank Charges Reclaiming Guide discussion

alex_c_dan

Hello there , my first time here and after reading a lot of information i am still no surer of were to take this problem with my bank.

i am currently with the Halifax bank and have a overdraft of £500 that i rely on every month , I have recently just got my bank statment for end of aug/ sept to find out that i have been paying charges for being in my overdraft at £1 a day for 28 days but also i was 1p over the £500 limit and the have take £120 of me in charges that i cant afford , and have now this month struggled to pay my rent and feed my children


if there is any advice it would be most helpfull..:money:

t-league

Hi Guys

I was wondering if I could get some help here--

A few years ago I made the unwise decision to go with one of those debt clearing agents and, to cut a long story short, my current account was closed as according to the bank (Abbey at the time, 2008) this violated the terms of my agreement. I was unaware of this and happened to have an overdraft of over £2000 with said bank.

At some point a debt collecting agency was attempting to regain this amount but I was unable to pay back at the time. When a few years ago I decided to look to repay the amount I contacted the agency who promptly informed me that account had been returned to the bank.

I wrote to the bank several times and rang a few times but they never responded. The problem though is that I wish to clear this debt (although in instalments) as it appears on my credit rating. I also happen to have been charged several times during the years I was with them for unauthorised overdraft and over limit charges.

I would like to know if I could reclaim these given that I owe them so much money. Part of my original plan was to pay whatever I claimed back towards the debt I owed them.

Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

[Deleted User]

You can't reclaim historical bank charges, only current ones (usually the last six months) and then only if you still have an account with them and only if you meet their hardship criteria.

You can certainly propose an arrangement to pay the outstanding debt, but by doing so you'd then be officially acknowledging it.

Swifty83

Hello, sorry if this question has been asked already but I want to claim bank charges from the last 4 years. During this time my partner and I have experienced periods of redundancy but tried to keep mortgage and other payments up. I have a good job now and while I should be ok financially because of my OD and credit cards I can't seem to make any progress. I try so hard but my salary isn't even covering my OD now. I'm concerned though that I can't argue that this is due to bank charges. I've written my letter but worry that my argument isn't strong enough. I can't seem to make a direct cause and effect case for bank charges and financial hardship although if I were to be repaid all charges I would no longer be in my OD. Any help or advice on structuring the argument?

meer53

Financial hardship is when you are unable to meet essential bills. Mortgage, rent, electricity, gas, water, food etc and cannot keep up with payments. If you are in this situation then the bank may consider recent charges, they won't look at historical charges. They will scrutinise your statements for any non essential spending, things like Sky, mobile phone contracts, eating out etc.

Banks aren't obliged to refund any charges as they won the court case against unfair charges in 2009. Any refund from them would be a gesture of goodwill. If you're struggling, post an SOA on the DFW board for some help.

orfoster

Has anyone looked at claiming under BCOBS as here https://fshandbook.info/FS/html/FCA/BCOBS/5/1
There is a right to take action under Schedule 5. These rules apply to banks.

Alpine_Star

orfoster wrote: »

Has anyone looked at claiming under BCOBS as here https://fshandbook.info/FS/html/FCA/BCOBS/5/1
There is a right to take action under Schedule 5. These rules apply to banks.

BCOBs only applies to certain banking activities and does not apply to overdraft charges or in fact any charges whatsoever.

MysticV

Hi, I'm new to the MSE forums.

I am a Lloyds customer. I had a basic current account with a £10 buffer overdraft facility until this account was recently closed. Unfortunately I lost my job back in June and was unable to pay for my car insurance, therefore I incurred a £20 bank charge twice. I am now a student and was expecting to receive student funding this week and pay this debt off. My account was closed on Friday last week just as my funding had been sent out to me, but hadn't received any notice of the account being closed.

My credit history is not great and have had to take days off college to find a new account which has been a nightmare. My student funding will now be delayed until a new account can be set up which will cause me to miss more time from college and possibly a couple of days work too.

I was prepared to pay the charges but now feel that the inconvenience caused by Lloyds overrides this.

Is there anything I can do? Please feel free to ask if you need more information.

Dan

tomjerry1

Hi there,

I was considering attempting to reclaim bank charges but after reading the threads I am deterred.

My situation is that due to a lot of instability and personal problems I have not been good with my finances.

Nothing major, but dipping into unauthorised overdraft generally by mismanagement and poverty. However I have become into a terrible pattern where each charge inflicts the need to dip into a further unauthorised overdraft to meet basic expenses.

This has been going on for years! In fact the bank has had over £7000 in charges in the last 6 years.

I feel that they are preying on the poorest. It is noticeable to me that if I use my debit card and it might take me £20 over that on the rum up week to 10 days before the charges are due my card is declined!

Then the week after they have charged £150 for being slightly overdrawn and I have no food, the card is not declined and so the cycle continues.

It seems like blatantly ensuring they get the charges and put me into the impossible situation where I have no choice to get in more debt with them and pay more charges!

The good news is i have taken positive steps and got advice on how to get my finances back on track... Being charged each month is the major stumbling block in moving forwards as whilst I can afford my way I cannot loosing £150 each month.

Is it worth approaching the bank? I am scared it will reflect badly or get up their nose but at the same time I feel they have helped keep me in a cycle of these charges and done nothing over the last 10 years to offer assistance or prevent me building up these charges.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Atidi

MysticV wrote: »

Hi, I'm new to the MSE forums.

I am a Lloyds customer. I had a basic current account with a £10 buffer overdraft facility until this account was recently closed. Unfortunately I lost my job back in June and was unable to pay for my car insurance, therefore I incurred a £20 bank charge twice. I am now a student and was expecting to receive student funding this week and pay this debt off. My account was closed on Friday last week just as my funding had been sent out to me, but hadn't received any notice of the account being closed.

My credit history is not great and have had to take days off college to find a new account which has been a nightmare. My student funding will now be delayed until a new account can be set up which will cause me to miss more time from college and possibly a couple of days work too.

I was prepared to pay the charges but now feel that the inconvenience caused by Lloyds overrides this.

Is there anything I can do? Please feel free to ask if you need more information.

Dan

Are you sure about that?
Perhaps worth having a word with your bank and, if necessary, then making a formal complaint.
If you are lucky, (and the bank didn't give any such notice) the bank may credit the couple of bank charges applied and/or offer a goodwill gesture.

Whatever you do, don't ignore a debt as they rarely just disappear by doing so.

You might also think about contacting your car insurance company, because if you've failed to make the payments, you may now find yourself without any valid insurance (and if it has been cancelled, you may well struggle to find replacement cover)