Bank Charges Reclaiming Guide discussion

sheilsy01

Hi all,

I'm new to this site so forgive me is this question has been raised and answered before but I just couldn't see it.
Myself and my wife currently have claims stayed with our local small claims court but we've received letters from our respective banks (A&L & HSBC) basically telling us that as far as they are concerned following on from the high court decision they are satisfied that their charges are fair and there fore will not be offering any refund and consider the matter closed. I'm aware that the site is in the process of issuing some new templates with regards to continuing our fight but what I was wondering was do we have to contact our banks and tell them we intend to continue our pursuit in reclaiming our charges and do we have to contact the court to that effect.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sheilsy01

Premier_2

sheilsy01 wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm new to this site so forgive me is this question has been raised and answered before but I just couldn't see it.
Myself and my wife currently have claims stayed with our local small claims court but we've received letters from our respective banks (A&L & HSBC) basically telling us that as far as they are concerned following on from the high court decision they are satisfied that their charges are fair and there fore will not be offering any refund and consider the matter closed. I'm aware that the site is in the process of issuing some new templates with regards to continuing our fight but what I was wondering was do we have to contact our banks and tell them we intend to continue our pursuit in reclaiming our charges and do we have to contact the court to that effect.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sheilsy01

That's quite a difficult question to give a simple answer to as it will ultimately depend on your individual claim and what the letter you received says.

But generally there is no need to respond to the bank's letter if you only wish to continue the claim through the court. Generally the bank's letter will not affect the court claim.
To explain, the banks have huge numbers of claims and seem to have issued the same rejection letter irrespective of any claim you have elsewhere (e.g. court or even the FOS). This letter simply closes the claim with the bank (not the court or the FOS).

Now you are expected to act reasonably towards the defendant of a court claim with the aim of settling any dispute. Therefore should the letter be more individualised and include something like "if you don't respond, we will apply to the court to have your claim struck out",(giving the SC ruling for example as the basis) then expect that application to be made. As prevention is often better than cure, if you don't want the claim struck out, then in that case it would probably be better to respond to the bank because the court may not contact you until they have strick out the claim (although if that happens you would have a short period thereafter in which to appeal that).

Holly2

I have had a hardship claim in with the Halifax since 2008, they kept delaying my claim and wrote to me last month offering a goodwill payment of £68. My charges came to £1200 not including interest. I sent of another letter last week using one of the new template letters on this site with the new argument. I had a letter today saying the following and wondered what to do now:

"As previously stated I understand you feel that the unarranged overdraft fees you complained about are penalties and/or are unfair because they're too high. However, the outcome of the legal proceedings means that these bank fees are not penalties and that under the Regulations the level of the fee is not a reason for finding them unfair.
As a result of these rulings, we won't be upholding this aspect of your complaint.
Following the Supreme Court decision, the OFT considered whether there were any other ways in which it could challenge the fairness of unarranged overdraft fees under Regulation 5 of the Regulations. The arguments the OFT looked at included that customers cannot opt out of the fees, banks can choose whether or not to make payments, customers may incur the fees in error, customers don't necessarily understand the banking system and customers who pay the fees may be subsidising services provided to other customers. The OFT's view was that these arguments are unlikly to succeed and it has ended its investigation into unarranged overdraft fees. You can read its reasons at the oft's website
I've reviewed the points you raised in your letter as well as the information we have about your personal circumstances. We still think that the unarranged overdraft fees you complained about are fair, and so we won't be increasing the offer we made to you in our letter dated 29th January 2010.

If you don't agree with our decision you can refer the matter the the FOS.


After reading the letter, I'm not sure whether they are referring to the new details Martin has recently discussed on here, I am also on a dmp with the CCCS of which some of the debt is to the Halifax, which on my current repayment will take me 12 and a half years to repay, they have stopped charges on my account for the moment, but obviously if I were able to claim the previous charges, I would be able to pay of my debt to them!........any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
Holly2

pool-hustler

i'm being sent a new expenditure form.
Exactly how much is too much to spend on shopping?

Wispa1

Hi, I wonder if anybody could give me a bit of advice please and sorry if I have posted in the wrong place. I was awarded bank refund charges of £4500 back in July of last year by Natwest as they agreed I was suffering financial hardship. They repaid me the funds direct to my bank account and allowed me to access the funds as I was in arrears on my mortgage. I am now paying back token payments to the account to repay the overdraft. However I have just been told by the bank that although I am making the token payments of £24.12 a month to repay the £5000 overdraft, they are charging me £84+ in interest on a monthly basis. :mad: Are they allowed to do this as at this rate it would never get repaid? They are aware that I am suffering financial hardship. Also what are the consequences if I were to stop repaying and can I reclaim this interest back even though they have refunded me the bank charges that I incurred due to bounced dd etc etc? My case was with the bank & never reached the FOS or court.
With many thanks in advance for your help and advice?

Bigfoot73

try changing the dates on your dd, so your benifits go in before the dd goes out, then write to them again, explaining why there was not money in your account to cover the dd because of the charges, some charges are sometimes more than the dd themselves if they have refunded some, try to get the rest, but change the dd some way or another open a new account with another bank, the natwest has a step account, you can open it on line, you can have your benifets put in and use it for dd, no cost at all, you get a debit card, start a fresh, good luck, don't stay with the same bank for 20 years like me, you won't get thanked for it. i have opened this kind of bank account, it is the best thing i have done, put the money in and the dd get paid from the money in there no money in there no dd paid, but no charges, hope this help you, ask them for their final response before you take it to the fos.good luck to you
sharon666

SHARON666,
Thank you for that advice, and I'm sorry I've only just got round to replying. TheNatWest account sounds very interesting and I might just go and sign up with them instead, it sounds like exactly the type of account I need.
I have complained to the FOS - Halifax just repeated their offer - but they say they are busy ( can believe that!) and will get back to me ASAP. hope they don't take too long.:)

pool-hustler

is the reduction in DD charges from £38 to £5 and arguement against them that they were charging an unfair amount?

sharon666

Bigfoot73 wrote: »

try changing the dates on your dd, so your benifits go in before the dd goes out, then write to them again, explaining why there was not money in your account to cover the dd because of the charges, some charges are sometimes more than the dd themselves if they have refunded some, try to get the rest, but change the dd some way or another open a new account with another bank, the natwest has a step account, you can open it on line, you can have your benifets put in and use it for dd, no cost at all, you get a debit card, start a fresh, good luck, don't stay with the same bank for 20 years like me, you won't get thanked for it. i have opened this kind of bank account, it is the best thing i have done, put the money in and the dd get paid from the money in there no money in there no dd paid, but no charges, hope this help you, ask them for their final response before you take it to the fos.good luck to you
sharon666

SHARON666,
Thank you for that advice, and I'm sorry I've only just got round to replying. TheNatWest account sounds very interesting and I might just go and sign up with them instead, it sounds like exactly the type of account I need.
I have complained to the FOS - Halifax just repeated their offer - but they say they are busy ( can believe that!) and will get back to me ASAP. hope they don't take too long.:)[

no worries, we are all in the same boat, but got to be in it to win it, good luck , keep posting update i will too.:cool:

chillxxx

Wispa1 wrote: »

Hi, I wonder if anybody could give me a bit of advice please and sorry if I have posted in the wrong place. I was awarded bank refund charges of £4500 back in July of last year by Natwest as they agreed I was suffering financial hardship. They repaid me the funds direct to my bank account and allowed me to access the funds as I was in arrears on my mortgage. I am now paying back token payments to the account to repay the overdraft. However I have just been told by the bank that although I am making the token payments of £24.12 a month to repay the £5000 overdraft, they are charging me £84+ in interest on a monthly basis. :mad: Are they allowed to do this as at this rate it would never get repaid? They are aware that I am suffering financial hardship. Also what are the consequences if I were to stop repaying and can I reclaim this interest back even though they have refunded me the bank charges that I incurred due to bounced dd etc etc? My case was with the bank & never reached the FOS or court.
With many thanks in advance for your help and advice?

I would firslty speak to your bank, it sounds to me that £5,000 is above your agreed ovderdrafht limit and you paying a penuative interest rate. It also sounds like your not regualry using your account ie salary being paid in. Normally interest on an overdrafht is caluclated daily but charge monthly. By not making regular payments to the account your are normally in breach of T&C's of your account They are allowed to to charge interest in at what ever rate whicih in the T&C's.

By re explaining your situation they may agree to reduce or even freeze the interest. There are various voluntary codes of conducts banks follow when people are in hard ship. But the best thing is to keep talking to them. I would aslo read up on debt section on this website it sounds to as you been in arrears with your mortagage that acess to cheaper rate credit i.e 0% balance transfer and loans is not an option. It might be owrth speaking to a debt managment charity such as the cccs. Details are on this website

That over draft is a ticking time bomb and the sooner you serioulsy address the issue the the shorter the lasting effect it will make on your credit file.

DanDaniel

Just some advice needed please. I went through a lengthy process of letters and telephone calls with Halifax trying to reclaim 3 years of charges totalling £6000. I accepted an offer for £400 as a goodwill gesture and continued my fight to the FOS. I had mortgage arrears council tax arrears and numerous other unpaid bills. We have to pay £100 a month extra to cover our arrears on the mortgage with halifax which totaled £3000. We subsequently had to borrow the money from Wonga.com (at around 2500%pa) to pay the council tax as it was going to court. The FOS have done little really other than to point out that the recent court case left them with little to argue against Halifax. So we are still struggling and halifax refuse to budge on the recent overdraft charges as we are £2000 & £1400 in to our overdrafts. So is this the end of the road for us ? i presume because the FOS have settled in Halifax's favor there is nothing left to do ? i see there are some new template letters but i'm not sure if there is any point after losing with the FOS. Any help gratefully received ( ready to kiss goodbye to the prospect of getting our £5500 back )