Bank Charges Reclaiming Guide discussion

Nasqueron

charliepigeon wrote: »

Thanks for swiftly replying, I have no written documentation from the bank about not being covered.
So I guess there is not much point applying for a claim.
Thank you for your time.

I mean if you applied for a PPI payout and they rejected it, that should be recorded somewhere. I'd put in a complaint and see, you may yet get some money

smdabs

Okay so I would just like to clear some things up re bank charges reclaiming and financial hardship.


The banks have different approaches to 'financial hardship' and 'exceptional circumstances'.


For the poster above, a change in circumstances such as ill health would be unlikely to be considered to financial hardship, depending on the length of time you may have been struggling and when it is likely to be resolved.


A bank will usually consider refunding charges for a change in circumstances such as 'social upheaval' (a spouse leaving) - if they can see that the charges were incurred around the time you say the happened and that it did subsequently improve. They may well refund all of the charges within that time period (there isn't usually a set time limit - it is all based on the individual circumstances). They would usually consider the following to fall under exceptional circumstances:


Bereavement
Hospitalisation or ill health (if the situation is relatively new)
Accidents (leading to inability to work)
Redundancy
Death
Critical/mental illness or disability (if the situation is new)
Learning difficulties
Relationship breakdown
Imprisonment


Considerations such as the above all fall under what a lot of banks term 'exceptional circumstances' and they are, believe it or not, a lot of the time more than willing to help. Remember, the employee assessing your complaint is just another person, with their own lives and probably problems of their own so do extend empathy (most of the time). I cant say that this goes for all banks but I do know its policy in more than a couple.


When true financial hardship is alleged, much deeper investigation happens. They would usually complete an income and expenditure calculation, look at your circumstances and look at what is deemed as a 'necessity' in your circumstances (such as how many children, location and lifestyle).

A lot of the time it reduces the complaint to a numbers game instead of really looking at the person on the other end of it. If they can see that your outgoings are more than your income, but yet you're still spending x amount of non-essential items (clothes shops, games shops etc etc etc) than they are usually much less willing to help or uphold your complaint. This is also where they start advising you to change your bank account, contact debt charities etc so it also becomes much less about just the bank charges.

As a side note:
If you find yourself in a 'snowball' of charges - e.g. one charge being debited has caused a missed direct debit and thus incurred further charges the next month and then even more charges the next, the bank are obliged to refund any charges directly caused by the first one. Regardless of the reason for that initial charge - hardship, exceptional circumstances or just plain old forgetting something was due, they do have to refund any charges caused as a consequence of their charge. If this happens, or begins to happen at any time - contact your bank immediately to see what can be done. They would also be able to freeze future charges due so it does not happen the next month.



When it comes to bank charges - a lot of people throw the term hardship around without knowing the bank's definition/interpretation of the word. Really look at your circumstances, write it down, why you feel the charges incurred and send it to them. They will then assess where exactly it lies (either hardship or otherwise) and investigate it for you.


If anyone needs a hand - just pm me. More than willing to help. (Was my career for a rather long time!)

Nasqueron

I'm sure you mean well but the board takes a dim view of people offering to help via private message rather than simply posting questions and answers - the general view is that you may be a company touting for business (not saying you are, mind, just that is the assumption).

kristina7

Over a period of two and a half months, I accumlated unarranged overdraft fees and paid/unpaid transaction fees totalling £210 on my Nationwide FlexDirect account which was overdrawn by an average of £75.

On their website they say:
"First time fee refund
We can all slip up sometimes and lose track of our outgoings. So the first time you let us know you’ve made a mistake, we’ll refund any overdraft fees you’ve incurred."
However, when I telephoned them, they did offer me a refund of £120, but I had assumed that the above promise would refund the entire amount.
I've also read on the Interest rates and charges leaflet that "28 days' notice is given for overdraft fees". I did not get any notice from Nationwide that my account had gone overdrawn.

Do I have any case for pursuing further refunds?

One ironic thing it that had this happened to my FlexAccount, the fees would only have been about £15 per month instead of £60 per month.

societys_child

I think they expect you to contact them when it happens, not two and a half months later, however, if you don't ask, you don't get . .

[Deleted User]

A "first time" charge is just that,I'm afraid, so you can't "demand" anything more.

The bank have offered to refund £110 of £190; which is generous given that they are not legally obliged to refund anything at all and that the full amount was run up over a period of months.

You also claim that you didn't receive any notice from the Bank that you were overdrawn. The Bank will have told you this in the form of statements.
However, I think you are confusing 28 days prior notification of these fees. The Bank will certainly have done this too.

Nasqueron

kristina7 wrote: »

Over a period of two and a half months, I accumlated unarranged overdraft fees and paid/unpaid transaction fees totalling £210 on my Nationwide FlexDirect account which was overdrawn by an average of £75.

On their website they say:
"First time fee refund
We can all slip up sometimes and lose track of our outgoings. So the first time you let us know you’ve made a mistake, we’ll refund any overdraft fees you’ve incurred."
However, when I telephoned them, they did offer me a refund of £120, but I had assumed that the above promise would refund the entire amount.
I've also read on the Interest rates and charges leaflet that "28 days' notice is given for overdraft fees". I did not get any notice from Nationwide that my account had gone overdrawn.

Do I have any case for pursuing further refunds?

One ironic thing it that had this happened to my FlexAccount, the fees would only have been about £15 per month instead of £60 per month.

Their guidance means the first "offence" as it were, i.e. the first time you were charged, not that they would refund everything the first time you called or you could accumulate 6 months of charges and then call. They are offering to refund the first charge, not the second/third etc.

You won't get anywhere with the 28 days argument, they're just talking about not billing you until 28 days after the event

Tony_Doolin

Hi, where could I find out more about the "Supreme Court Case" in 2009 which affected the reclaiming of historical bank charges, I believe.
Thank you.

-taff

google....

Tony_Doolin

Cheers....