Bank Charges Reclaiming Guide discussion

Lillyme

I personally think that having a debit card is not a major issue for you but when you are back in work and in credit and up and about again(so to speak) then they may allow you a debit card again, if that makes sense.


Its not a major issue no, but I still have to pay off overdraft plus charges every month whichever account I have,I asked if they would reduce the charges whilst am unemployed and only on £60pw but was told they couldn't.Such is life at mo

ashopper327

Hi guys,

We received letters from our bank in response to our claims after the last court ruling in favour of the banks. The letters are probably the standard blurb about they are satisfied that the charges are fair etc.

We thought OK that's it, and have done nothing since. Having read some of these links we note that we could have responded within 8 weeks if we were not happy, however this 8 week deadline has now come and gone.

Does anyone know if we can still make a claim for charges by starting afresh,?

And has any new case been brought against the banks under a different clause (as was suggested in response to the last decision)?

natweststaffmember

markdsmith wrote: »

natweststaffmember wrote: »

markdsmith wrote: »

See above. Even if you are in financial hardship the bank does not have to refund even 1p in charges but should help you. The FOS have said the reduction of the overdraft was one thing and the payment plan(on the face of it) was the other. The issue you might want to raise is that it failed to include pending charges in that plan or overdraft decrease..

Thaks for Replying Natty, I knew you would

I am just replying to the FOS now stating just that and sending documents in my defence. I also pointed out that twice prior to my suggesting I reduce my OD by £100/mth that they reduced it to zero without any notification at all. It was following my 2nd call following the second istance that Idiscussed reducing it gradually. I also asked if they could suspend all future charges on the account to help out. All they said at the time was they would consider it.
Was there a reason why they withdrew the whole amount twice?
Did they ever refund any charges for withdrawing the overdraft? Did they give you notice of its withdrawal?

I realise I am clutching at straws and they don't have to pay a penny, but I feel so hard done by when I was the one who suggested the monthly reduction yet they still continued to charge me. I must add my statements prove it was their charges that took me over my limit each month!
Many collections departments would increase the overdraft to cover any charges going out and would reduce the overdraft month by month for a period of 6 months. It is a pity that they did not do this but the withdrawal of the overdraft still have me intrigued to be honest.
Keep up your good work I think you do a great job on here (even if some people do not like your answers LOL) :T

Not everyone will like my answers but I'll squeeze as much out of the banks as I think is reasonable to do. I'm not always right either on my guesswork since without seeing an income and expenditure form it is difficult to tell what they will do.
Let's explore the overdraft withdrawal and notification before we let this one go. Do you have 14 days to appeal against their decision?

natweststaffmember

Happiness6500 wrote: »

At the time nothing. I hid from letters , I ignored the situation, probably because I was frightened to resolve the situation. I just accepted that was the way the way things were i guess ! I didn't think there was a point to getting in touch with the bank directly , as they would just see it as fair and common practice . if that makes sense

I do understand why you did what you did. I don't think that the FOS will alter the decision made but there is no reason why you cannot ask them.

natweststaffmember

Lillyme wrote: »

I personally think that having a debit card is not a major issue for you but when you are back in work and in credit and up and about again(so to speak) then they may allow you a debit card again, if that makes sense.


Its not a major issue no, but I still have to pay off overdraft plus charges every month whichever account I have,I asked if they would reduce the charges whilst am unemployed and only on £60pw but was told they couldn't.Such is life at mo

Are there any other benefits that you are eligible for to increase your income, for example, housing benefit/local housing allowance(if you are in private rented accommodation)?

Lillyme

I do get housing benefit I downsized to a 1 bed flat so my rent was fully covered - its private landlord

However - just been online bank - they have stopped £40 fees for unarranged Overdraft - which I cannot find (8 days @£5) anywhere on my statements -plus £28 arranged overdraft - this has taken me £52 over the arranged overdraft and the next payment due in is my housing benefit on Tuesday so my rent will be short by £52 plus I will be charged £5 per day from now till Tues.

I am utterly fed up as it means when I top up rent to make up difference I have just £50 to live on for 2 weeks.

markdsmith_2

natweststaffmember wrote: »

markdsmith wrote: »

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Not everyone will like my answers but I'll squeeze as much out of the banks as I think is reasonable to do. I'm not always right either on my guesswork since without seeing an income and expenditure form it is difficult to tell what they will do.
Let's explore the overdraft withdrawal and notification before we let this one go. Do you have 14 days to appeal against their decision?

Yes, the FOS have stated I have until 13th of May to reply. they said rightly that I had a letter in 3 consecutive months from the bank asking me to bring my overdraft into limit. Twice the letter was sent on the day my wages went in wich cleared the overdraft! I ahve also shown that the statements prove that it was the charges which took me over the limit.

My letter is going in todays post so I will keep you informed.

Thanks for your advice.

natweststaffmember

Lillyme wrote: »

I do get housing benefit I downsized to a 1 bed flat so my rent was fully covered - its private landlord

However - just been online bank - they have stopped £40 fees for unarranged Overdraft - which I cannot find (8 days @£5) anywhere on my statements -plus £28 arranged overdraft - this has taken me £52 over the arranged overdraft and the next payment due in is my housing benefit on Tuesday so my rent will be short by £52 plus I will be charged £5 per day from now till Tues.

I am utterly fed up as it means when I top up rent to make up difference I have just £50 to live on for 2 weeks.

Sit down and work out how much you spend in 2 weeks. Does the £50 include rent payments utility payments? I would speak to the bank and state that you are struggling on JSA and need help and see what they suggest and repost on here.
Have you looked into opening another account with another bank and simply pay off the account bit by bit?

JaspaC

Quote:
Originally Posted by JaspaC
Hi All,

Would really appreciate a little advice,

After filling in the financial staetment that natwest sent me and and sending a letter with both the legal and human arguements I received this response from them:

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...C/Natwest1.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...C/Natwest2.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...C/Natwest3.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...C/Natwest4.jpg

(sorry, I can't post links because I'm a new user)
I sorted out the links

All hardship realtes to my natwest accounts and hence I did not send off any additional evidence (just account numbers). My income varies greatly from month to month so I just stated an average on the form which they have now said (in their most recent letter) is an understatement of my income. I will write back and explain this to them.

Besides I did also clearly state in my letter that I was in much worse financial hardship at the time of the majority of these charges than I currently am.

What I would like some advice on is how to challange their legals arguements (which can be seen above). I could just go through each point and write a kind of made up answer to each, but is there any specific things I can say to contradict their arguements? I don't really know that much about each law.

Any help much appreciated,

J

If you are challenging the charges then you need a much more detailed letter stating every charge you have had and why you are challenging it.
Furthermore, if you are suffering financial hardship, you HAVE to send in evidence of it. Below this post is a link to the lending code which you may want to read.

I have already sent those kind of letters, detailing every charge and reasons for it not being fair. They then sent me a financial statement form to fill in and return, which I did. It said that I did not need to submit any evidence if activity relating to the financial statement went through my natwest accounts, which it does. This includes credit card payments, all my bills, rent etc.. it all goes through my natwest accounts. I even detailed the acount numbers and sort codes of all the accounts I have with natwest.

After returning the financial statement and another copy of my original letter I received the letter above (the links). Which as you can see says I have understated my income (which changes significantly from month to month so I just put an average) which I don't think I have, but they also present lots of legal arguements to the points suggested in the MSe guide. Are there good arguements agaisnt their responses that I can write? If not then i'm not sure what to write, other than a bit of alomost made up jargon
Thanks,

J

natweststaffmember

JaspaC wrote: »

I have already sent those kind of letters, detailing every charge and reasons for it not being fair. They then sent me a financial statement form to fill in and return, which I did. It said that I did not need to submit any evidence if activity relating to the financial statement went through my natwest accounts, which it does. This includes credit card payments, all my bills, rent etc.. it all goes through my natwest accounts. I even detailed the acount numbers and sort codes of all the accounts I have with natwest.

After returning the financial statement and another copy of my original letter I received the letter above (the links). Which as you can see says I have understated my income (which changes significantly from month to month so I just put an average) which I don't think I have, but they also present lots of legal arguements to the points suggested in the MSe guide. Are there good arguements agaisnt their responses that I can write? If not then i'm not sure what to write, other than a bit of alomost made up jargon
Thanks,

J

Ok. so you listed the charges and why each single charge was unfair, ie you listed the charge and then said why it was unfair, then listed the next charge and why that was unfair etc,etc, so probably had a letter of 40/50 pages?
Did you include ALL household income and expenditure?