Bank Charges Reclaiming Guide discussion

roddyguk

hi,

about 3 years ago i was unemployed, i missed a couple of DD and racked up a bit of debt.
i cleared all but about a fiver and went to the bank to cancel the DD and see if they would let me off the last fiver, they said no to the fiver and the next DD still went through!
i had no money to cover it and ended up accumulating around £300 of debt (charges on charges on charges)
eventually the bank closed my account and gave the debt to a collection agency, who added there own fees of about £50.
i kept ignoring the letters they were sending me.
every few months a different agency would take over the debt and add there own fees, its now £450 and im still being chased for it.

what would be the best route to getting this sorted?
contact the collection agency?
contact the ombusman?
or wait until im taken to court and explain my case then?
cheers rod...

Premier_2

roddyguk wrote: »

hi,

about 3 years ago i was unemployed, i missed a couple of DD and racked up a bit of debt.
i cleared all but about a fiver and went to the bank to cancel the DD and see if they would let me off the last fiver, they said no to the fiver and the next DD still went through!
i had no money to cover it and ended up accumulating around £300 of debt (charges on charges on charges)
eventually the bank closed my account and gave the debt to a collection agency, who added there own fees of about £50.
i kept ignoring the letters they were sending me.
every few months a different agency would take over the debt and add there own fees, its now £450 and im still being chased for it.

what would be the best route to getting this sorted?
contact the collection agency?
contact the ombusman?
or wait until im taken to court and explain my case then?
cheers rod...

Refer to what happened when you ignored the debt in the past.
The charges are racking up, and will continue to do so unless you come to some agreement to repay your debt.

roddyguk

Premier wrote: »

Refer to what happened when you ignored the debt in the past.
The charges are racking up, and will continue to do so unless you come to some agreement to repay your debt.

I didnt realise it was possible to claim back charges until recently, otherwise i would have tried a long time ago, before a collection agency got involved.

would it not be possible to claim the charges back and use that to pay off the debt?

tiesteelm

Hi.
I have applied to tsb for bank chargers going back to 2002, I know it only applys to the last six years but I had all the statements to hand. I received a letter today saying that I have no claim and that they will refund £37 and that will be the end of it. The chargers I was trying to get back totalled £6k.
I was using the argument that the charges are unfair(like it says in the download). Am I doing something wrong or should I keep going?

Any help or advise will be great.
Many thanks Martin.

Premier_2

tiesteelm wrote: »

Hi.
I have applied to tsb for bank chargers going back to 2002, I know it only applys to the last six years but I had all the statements to hand. I received a letter today saying that I have no claim and that they will refund £37 and that will be the end of it. The chargers I was trying to get back totalled £6k.
I was using the argument that the charges are unfair(like it says in the download). Am I doing something wrong or should I keep going?

Any help or advise will be great.
Many thanks Martin.

You are doing nothing wrong, and if you've managed to secure £37 on the basis the charges were unfair, that's pretty good :T
Usually the banks dispute the allegation.

As the article (which was last updated almost a year ago) says:

...This is completely untried at the moment, so we have no clue about the bank's attitude to this attempt, though, as always, most people should expect rejection...

Since then, based on posts by other MSE'ers who have tried, rejection is definitely the norm ... and certainly no one has ever won in court using the arguments yet.

ellobo

New thread- any advice?
Currently reclaiming bank charges from Yorkshire Bank (owned by Clydesdale) on behalf of my mother. In claiming we included details of her financial difficulties when the charges were being made (this goes back 6 years).

They've sent a letter saying it would help to further the claim if she filled in a form detailing her current financial situation. I've recently helped her to organise her finances so she isn't currently incurring charges nor experiencing financial difficulties.

My question is would it harm her claim to state that her current financial situation has no bearing on the claim going back 6 years? Has anybody else experienced a similar situation?

Premier_2

ellobo wrote: »

New thread- any advice?
Currently reclaiming bank charges from Yorkshire Bank (owned by Clydesdale) on behalf of my mother. In claiming we included details of her financial difficulties when the charges were being made (this goes back 6 years).

They've sent a letter saying it would help to further the claim if she filled in a form detailing her current financial situation. I've recently helped her to organise her finances so she isn't currently incurring charges nor experiencing financial difficulties.

My question is would it harm her claim to state that her current financial situation has no bearing on the claim going back 6 years? Has anybody else experienced a similar situation?

The reason the bank is asking for her current financial position, is that generally the banks are only willing to consider a refund of charges to those who are currently in financial hardship and where the ongoing charges are having an adverse affect on that financial hardship. In such cases, where a refund of charges is seemed appropriate, others experience suggests such refund rarely goes back more than 6 months worth of charges.

This is in line with the lending code as there is no obligation whatsoever on the bank to refund any charges, only to treat complaints by those in financial hardship positively & sympathetically. If the complainant is no longer in financial hardship, it is unlikely a refund of some charges now would be the appropriate response to meet this requirement.

ellobo

PREMIER, Today 10.30 am

Very useful advice and very prompt- thanks for your help!

tiesteelm

tiesteelm wrote: »

Hi.
I have applied to tsb for bank chargers going back to 2002, I know it only applys to the last six years but I had all the statements to hand. I received a letter today saying that I have no claim and that they will refund £37 and that will be the end of it. The chargers I was trying to get back totalled £6k.
I was using the argument that the charges are unfair(like it says in the download). Am I doing something wrong or should I keep going?

Any help or advise will be great.
Many thanks Martin.

I have just sent my paperwork off to the Ombudsman, Hopefully I will get a better result from them.

Has anyone had any dealings with them, and does the bank back down once they find out that you have contacted them?

Cheers
Martin

Premier_2

tiesteelm wrote: »

I have just sent my paperwork off to the Ombudsman, Hopefully I will get a better result from them.

Has anyone had any dealings with them, and does the bank back down once they find out that you have contacted them?

Cheers
Martin

Unlikely.

You said you are hoping to recliam on the basis the charges are unfair. The ombudsman will not deal with such complaints over bank charges.

...The ombudsman has to take the law into account when we decide cases. This is why the Supreme Court's ruling is very important in our work on bank charges.

So we have considered the Supreme Court's decision – and its implications – very carefully. Our view is that the legal ruling means we will not generally be able to help with cases that involve "template" or "standard letter" complaints about unauthorised overdraft charges.

But in keeping with our usual approach to complaints that are referred to us, we will review each case individually – to see whether there are any one-off circumstances that may apply. For example, we would expect current-account providers to deal positively and sympathetically with a consumer in financial hardship – including where bank charges had added to their difficulties.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faq/bank-charges.html

Your only option to pursue your claim for unfair charges is via the courts, ... and no the banks don't back down against those who have attempted to follow that route; indeed quite the opposite usually.