Bank Charges Reclaiming Guide discussion

divermoose

Premier wrote: »

I think it's unlikely that you will get any refund of bank charges in this case.

Even if you were in genuine financial hardship, there is no obligation on the bank to refund any bank charges. Their only obligation is to handle your complaint with a sympathetic and positive approach.

You say you found yourself stuck into a cycle of charges whilst in unauthorised overdraft; a cycle you couldn't break out of without help.
The bank arranged a loan for you. As this presumably allowed you to break the cycle of charges, then do you not agree this is a positive step they took to help you?

Thanks Premier for your thoughts. I see you side with the banking methods of the day! I incurred over £4000 of charges and interest over a 6 year period. I was in a well paid job and lost it and struggled to find another for 12 months, they allowed me no flexibility, they just kept charging and charging. They made an offer of around 85% of the outstanding which in hindsight I should have taken. But the case then was stick out and I had started the court case.

The managed loan they arranged, I do not even know now what interest rate I had to pay, they wont tell me and I dont know. Yes they provided support but it was the only way they were going to get their money back. Boy did they charge me, I am not a man who overspends on luxuries, this was living expenses bills and bank charges when you suddenly lose a good job and go on the dole!

Anyway, this is not a place to dump my woes on the nation! Premier says the banks were fair and sympathetic...umm okay...it is funny though because Martin Lewis was not saying that at the time!

alpajamas

Hello I just need some advice although I reckon my goose is cooked. I had put in a reclaim request to Barclays a few years back, having rejected their offer of half the £3k claimed, I got a court date through and awaited it. Then the court date was stayed due to the Bank's taking on the claims movement and when it was announced they had won, I received a letter from Barclays saying that I would get nothing and needed to respond within a few weeks if I wanted to counter this in any way. My 2nd child had recently been born and I was not in any state to take it on board and left it - stupidly I now realise.

Anyway, I am wondering whether there is any way I can either start the process again, or go to the Ombudsman with a hardship case on this matter? I realise it's a long shot but I am stewing [probably too late, I know] to let it go entirely. Has anyone got any advice?

Thanks in advance

bashy1

I have had an account with Lloyd's for the past year, and my account recently went into overdraft, which was unauthorized, the amount it was overdrawn was £156.01 however i was unaware of this and only today was notified by letter.
The letter said that I had been overdrawn for 5 days and was going to be charged at a rate of £20 per day. I called into the bank to be told that I was 9 days overdrawn and owe £195 in bank charges. I said this was ridiculous and it was a lot more than the overdraft had originally been, I paid off in full the amount of my overdraft £156.01 and said it was extortionate rates to be charged and asked to close my account.
I was told I cannot close my account as there was outstanding fees and was offered to set up a payment plan. I do not want a payment plan as i think theses fees are ridiculous.
So i don't know where i stand, I don't think it can be right that after 9 days i was alerted to my overdraft and I was threatened that my credit rating would be affected if I didn't pay these fees. Do I have a case or am I liable to pay back these extortionate fees?
Thank you for your time,

rdpage

Hey everyone, I have received tonnes of bank charges for direct debits/ standing orders not going out over the last year to eighteen months. I was stuck in an overdraft I couldn't get out of and it was crushing me. It got to a point where I was struggling to pay phone bills and car insurance and i was taking on payday loans (I know) to keep me going. Is this self inflicted hardship that I can't claim on?

Thankfully I am now out of this overdraft and rebuilding my accounts.

Now I am out of the hardship can I still claim? or is this not deemed as hardship in the first place? Any responses would be much appreciated

nat21luv

rdpage wrote: »

Hey everyone, I have received tonnes of bank charges for direct debits/ standing orders not going out over the last year to eighteen months. I was stuck in an overdraft I couldn't get out of and it was crushing me. It got to a point where I was struggling to pay phone bills and car insurance and i was taking on payday loans (I know) to keep me going. Is this self inflicted hardship that I can't claim on?

Thankfully I am now out of this overdraft and rebuilding my accounts.

Now I am out of the hardship can I still claim? or is this not deemed as hardship in the first place? Any responses would be much appreciated

I say try it-if you dont, you'll never know! I am, im at the third stage of reclaiming, the bit where they refuse to pay it back before i go to the FO. They(Natwest) say that because i havent any accounts currently open with them i cant claim under financial hardship, even thought THEY told me I am no longer allowed to bank with them because of all the charges i received from having no money to pay for charges!!

you've got nothing to lose, give it a go and good luck!

Premier_2

rdpage wrote: »

Hey everyone, I have received tonnes of bank charges for direct debits/ standing orders not going out over the last year to eighteen months. I was stuck in an overdraft I couldn't get out of and it was crushing me. It got to a point where I was struggling to pay phone bills and car insurance and i was taking on payday loans (I know) to keep me going. Is this self inflicted hardship that I can't claim on?

Thankfully I am now out of this overdraft and rebuilding my accounts.

Now I am out of the hardship can I still claim? or is this not deemed as hardship in the first place? Any responses would be much appreciated

If you are not currently in financial hardship, as you admit, then there's little chance of getting any refund. How would repaying charges now improve an alleged hardship you claim you were once in?

It's also questionable whether or not you were ever in financial hardship. Read the sticky on Financial Hardship online resources if you're interested as to why.

rdpage

Premier wrote: »

If you are not currently in financial hardship, as you admit, then there's little chance of getting any refund. How would repaying charges now improve an alleged hardship you claim you were once in?

It's also questionable whether or not you were ever in financial hardship. Read the sticky on Financial Hardship online resources if you're interested as to why.

---

This is true, but surely former statements and proof of previous charges etc prove I was in the situation?

Premier_2

rdpage wrote: »

---

This is true, but surely former statements and proof of previous charges etc prove I was in the situation?

(a) it's irrelevent. How will repaying charges now affect your financial hardship you are no longer in?

and

(b) no - refer to the sticky thread. Financial hardship is not proven only by reference to previous charges and statements. How, for example, does that prove you had arrears of priority debts?

NorthernLights_2

I have a (probably stupid) question I hope someone can help me with - I got hit with around £700 of charges for seperate items during the 96 - 97 period when I was in work, and not in severe hardship (though hardly rich either, and I was ill but not under the care of a doctor). I'm now sick and unable to work, getting ESA, and I have one month's rent owing for which I can't claim any benefits (including crisis or budgeting loans) because like an idiot I kept hoping I'd get better and didn't run to put a claim in anywhere.
Do I have any chance of making a claim based on hardship, given the timing? Other notes, I live in my overdraft and have done for years now, it's currently at £280 reducing £20/month to the £200 thats normal with that account (Co-op bank privilege account).
I know I didn't get trapped into the spiral some people did with this, but thought I'd ask for opinions/advice anyway because I've got no other way to meet that month's rent, and it hurts that a lot of those charges were @ £30 or so for items under a fiver.:eek:

On the one hand it might be a case of "nothing ventured nothing gained" but on the other I don't want to mess up my relationship with the bank if it's highly unlikely to work.

fudgecreep

Hello everybody, my son has a bit of a problem, he had a natwest account and used it to pay his mobile phone bill, one month a payment went into an unauthorised overdraft for one day because of a problem with his wages, he phoned up but had no luck getting the fee waived so he decided to not use the account any more and changed his mobile phone bill to come out of another account, somehow he became £4.55 overdrawn again but because he had decided not to use the account anymore he knew nothing about it till the other day when someone came round to 'ask' for the money, not a bailiff but someone from the bank, we then discovered he has been charged £270 in fees so we phoned up the bank to see what could be done, again no help but we said we would write to them asking for the fees to be waived and had no intention of paying and would go to the ombudsman etc excessive fees and all that, a letter then arrived dated after the phone call stating everything we had already discussed on the phone and asking for a response within 28 days and charging another £30 for the letter. Is he likely to get anywhere with this with the ombudsman or the bank???