Bank Charges Reclaiming Guide discussion

Tino_2

Pete - see my response from natweststaffmember to a similar question:

natweststaffmember wrote: »

The early indications from the FOS is that they will not look at a closed account on current financial hardship grounds because the account is not causing hardship today. However on my signature is the lending code(please read chapter 9). I would contact your creditors(those who you owe money to) and see what help they can give.
If you can show the bank you have taken all steps to try to reduce outgoings and to make arrangements with creditors and it is still not working then I cannot see any reason why the bank would not make an offer on that basis but this would be with your current account provider rather than one that is closed.

sallylavell

Similar question to above query. I put a claim in for my son in 2008 and then changed it to a hardship claim last year that was totally ignored. HSBC passed his debts to a debt collecting agency - he still owes them £1500 which is about what he has overpaid in charges. I have received a letter from hsbc saying they are not refunding. My son is in the army now and isn't in hardship any more but it grieves me that he still has to pay this money when he should never have been charged it - do you think I can pursue a claim now he is working?

Wispa1

Hi all,

I am a bit confused as to where I stand so any help would be appreciated. I had a previous hardship claim with lloyds who disagreed on my grounds of hardship (as they always do), I went to the Ombudsman who sided with Lloyds as they had closed the account & therefore believed that Lloyds had done the right thing. Anyway, I obviously want to reclaim these charges so do I go first go to the bank again via the "human" route, the legal route or do I go straight to the Ombudsman? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. With many thanks in advance. :question::huh:

natweststaffmember

Pete3024 wrote: »

With regard to going to the ombudsman with the "hardship" approach. Where do we stand if we have now overcome the hardship, but were in hardship at the time of receiving extra charges etc? Is this still the route to take, or does the hardship have to be "current"?

The fact remains that financial hardship claim with the ombudsman have not changed pre or post Supreme Court decision. I have an email from someone who I have spoken to at the FOS confirming this. The approach is still the same as during the OFT test case. It should be about current hardship rather than past hardship with regards to financial hardship claims.

natweststaffmember

Wispa1 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am a bit confused as to where I stand so any help would be appreciated. I had a previous hardship claim with lloyds who disagreed on my grounds of hardship (as they always do), I went to the Ombudsman who sided with Lloyds as they had closed the account & therefore believed that Lloyds had done the right thing. Anyway, I obviously want to reclaim these charges so do I go first go to the bank again via the "human" route, the legal route or do I go straight to the Ombudsman? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. With many thanks in advance. :question::huh:

If it is the same arguments as before with regards to financial hardship then nothing has changed. martin is posting up a bank charges reclaiming guide to go to the court route. That is where your interest will be in then.
If you have current financial hardship then your current account provider today is who you should be asking about this route.

natweststaffmember

Griffsky wrote: »

I put my claim in back in 2007 - bank made me a silly offer of £200 when I was reclaiming well over £1500. After refusing this I suppose I had the same standard letter as everyone else and sat back and waited for a result. Last week i received a letter from Barclays saying after the recent judgement my case was now closed - is this right? is this the end of my fight because I am not really suffering hardship?:(

Do you have priority debt arrears(mortgage/rent, council tax, utilities)?

natweststaffmember

danmc77 wrote: »

Natweststaffmember, would you be able to answer the above question? You do seem to know the ins and outs of it all!!! :-)

You have probably caught me on my worst topic to be honest. My understanding is yes you can reclaim them on the same basis as bank charges.

Premier_2

the_black_cat wrote: »

My thought is everyone should take this route anyway and forget the 'cap in hand routine'!

Every avenue of the law should be exhausted before we give up!

In contrast I would suggest people don't even think about a court case until every other avenue has been exhausted.

This is because (a) it usually doesn't cost anything unlike a court claim and (b) a court would have expected a plaintiff to have done so. If it can be proven the plaintiff didn't reasonably attempt to negotiate an acceptable settlement before bringing a case to court, the court may, even if the plaintiff were to win such a case, decide to award costs against them rather than in favour as is usual.

the_black_cat

Premier wrote: »

In contrast I would suggest people don't even think about a court case until every other avenue has been exhausted.

This is because (a) it usually doesn't cost anything unlike a court claim and (b) a court would have expected a plaintiff to have done so. If it can be proven the plaintiff didn't reasonably attempt to negotiate an acceptable settlement before bringing a case to court, the court may, even if the plaintiff were to win such a case, decide to award costs against them rather than in favour as is usual.

Wouldn't a reasonable attempt be taken into count that I put a claim in before the test case then waited two years for a non satisfactory result? I also claimed the hardship route during that waiting time but as some of my debts weren't actually in my name I didnt qualify and decided not to send the IE back. I have managed my debts well over the last couple of years and have turned my financial hardship around, I am therefore not claiming on that basis. It's solely based on a point of law - are charges fair or not - if not give me my money back!

Do you think the court would believe I haven't already done enough especially now I dont qualify for the 'human' (cap-in-hand) debate?

Aberdovey

Hi I have got a very simple little account with the Halifax, debit card and cheque book only, no overdraft facility, kids stuff really but I thought I would keep it simple. Silly me. I had direct debits on the account that went wrong so incurred bank charges, then because they were taking the money out of the account they made me overdrawn and also it meant that direct debits weren't paid because they had taken my money so on and on it went a viscious circle. What I want to know is as this account was basically a building society type account rather than a bank account proper where do I stand? Do I have any change of getting these charges back? The bounced a Halifax credit card direct debit and then charged me for that on the account so I got charged for the credit card bounce and for the bank account bounce!! Great banking. Bearing in mind the recent judgment would my little account be included in that? Look forward to hearing from you.