Bank Charges Reclaiming Guide discussion

Atidi

tomjerry1 wrote: »

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.

How much is "slightly" overdrawn?

You see, under the HSBC fair fees policy, they shouldn't be charging "you more in overdraft setup fees than the informal overdraft requested (e.g. a £15 overdraft will not cost you say, £50)" nor should they be charging "you additional fees if it's the overdraft fees (or interest) that have taken you overdrawn, or further overdrawn"
http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/overdrafts/details#offp

So if you think you have been charged under these circumstances, definitely worth having a word with them

pepper33

How can I post a new post from myself about the FOS, letting Nationwide get away with saying they are allowed to charge me, even though I am in financial hardship.

Aquamania

pepper33 wrote: »

How can I post a new post from myself about the FOS, letting Nationwide get away with saying they are allowed to charge me, even though I am in financial hardship.

To quote the late, great Tommy Cooper:

"Just like that!"

But if you are paying for cable TV, any claim for genuine financial hardship was bound to almost certain failure.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4818760

pepper33

I did not realise that you are following me. FYI I have done away with Virgin, as I said I am in financial hardship.
Also people on benefits are allowed cable tv

Enterprise_1701C

Am just wondering how far back you can go in reclaiming bank charges?

We had problems with a bank about 20 years ago - might be a bit too far?

We started off with a charge, then charges on the charges, ended up with about £2-£3000 worth of charges. They even switched money from our food account without permission (emptied it!) to the account that was overdrawn leaving us with no money and charged us for the letter they wrote explaining that they had felt like doing that! This was really the start of our problems, would have been OK if not for them!

Would really like to recover that money, we are more savvy now and it would not happen now, but wondering if 20 years is too long?

meer53

pepper33 wrote: »

I did not realise that you are following me. FYI I have done away with Virgin, as I said I am in financial hardship.
Also people on benefits are allowed cable tv

I think you'll find that cable TV is classed as "non essential" spending.

pepper33

meer53 wrote: »

I think you'll find that cable TV is classed as "non essential" spending.

I am talking about bank charges, not tv. If you don't have anything to say on the subject, don't bother contributing.

Lob_Marley

Can you claim overdraft fees back?

Apologies for the newbie question.

DevCoder

pepper33 wrote: »

I am talking about bank charges, not tv. If you don't have anything to say on the subject, don't bother contributing.

The bank will look at your spending before considering any hardship refund of charges.

Non essentials such as mobile phone contracts, excessive shopping and cable/sky tv will indicate to them that someone is not in financial hardship (otherwise they would cancel/stop these).

Heitman

How does one go about claiming the tax back in PPI repayments? I am 75 and have been charged tax on my settlement.