Bank Charges Reclaiming Guide discussion

Little_Mo_70

carlyberyl wrote: »

at the time it was hardship im afraid and that was what we had put in the letter, the charges were escalating and couldnt pay money into the account quick enough! we just believe that they were unfair, does this change anything?

Unfortunately not. Good news and bad news really. The bad news is, as I understand it, you have to be in hardship now. The good news is, hopefully, you are no longer in hardship.

It's the complaining about unfair charges that scuppered any chance you might have had of the bank possibly being sympathetic and refunding something as a good will gesture.

Legendmum

Hi there I am looking for advice I wrote to Natwest in 2007 requesting my transactions and enclosed a £10 cheque they replied saying they had received my letter and cheque and would snd my statements out asap! I have to this day never received anything!
I am requesting my statements again but am wondering as I still have the letter from them do I reclaim charges 6 years from my first contact in 2007 or 6 years from now?

Little_Mo_70

Legendmum wrote: »

Hi there I am looking for advice I wrote to Natwest in 2007 requesting my transactions and enclosed a £10 cheque they replied saying they had received my letter and cheque and would snd my statements out asap! I have to this day never received anything!
I am requesting my statements again but am wondering as I still have the letter from them do I reclaim charges 6 years from my first contact in 2007 or 6 years from now?

It would be better to refer back to 2007 otherwise there won't be anything to write about if you're looking at from now!

As it was originally your intention to write about your charges in 2007, nothing has changed. Just wondering why, as you'd paid your tenner, you didn't follow it up then?

Little_Mo_70

Normally you could only be claiming from 2006 according to the 6 year rule but why not try going back and refer to all previous years. Nothing to lose providing you have a good basis for your claim.

sitcom321

I am looking for a bit of advice please. back in 2007 i started off my claim for unfair bank charges which amounted to around £4000 at the time, i only got as far as the bank sending me a letter to say they didnt agree the charges were fair and then i was going to send the £120 off to the local court but then it was all put on hold until the courts went in favour of the banks. I then received a letter from Lloyds saying the courts had ruled in their favour and basically tough thats it. I never pursued it. Is there anything I can do as it seems people are still claiming for goodwill refunds. I am not in what would be classed as hardship but if i could claw back a little of the 4k i would be happy

Legendmum

Little_Mo_70 wrote: »

It would be better to refer back to 2007 otherwise there won't be anything to write about if you're looking at from now!

As it was originally your intention to write about your charges in 2007, nothing has changed. Just wondering why, as you'd paid your tenner, you didn't follow it up then?

Well due to the court campaign I thought they were awaiting a ruling before issuing my statements, then I fell pregnant and moved house and gave birth and only recently found out you can still claim if in hardship which I have been and still am!

Little_Mo_70

Legendmum wrote: »

Well due to the court campaign I thought they were awaiting a ruling before issuing my statements, then I fell pregnant and moved house and gave birth and only recently found out you can still claim if in hardship which I have been and still am!

They were still legally obliged, under the data protection act, to send your informatiion. And they had a deadline to do it by too. The November 2009 court ruling had nothing to do with SAR requests. You are entitled to all your data.

Write to them again asking for your info (don't specifically ask for just statements or it could cost you loadsa money) ask for all your info inc. all charges etc., etc.,)

Then, once you've 'finally' got those you can proceed with your complaint and request your charges under the hardship route.
Good luck

fairyclicks

Can i ask for some advice please? I am currently in financial hardship - on dmp and still struggling etc.

A friend on here suggested claiming back bank fees. I have got my cc statements back for one of my cards and counted up £200 of fees for being over my limit - is this reclaimable or is it just overdraft fees?

Thanks!

Skully112

Hi to all,

I have been scanning around for advice on my bank charges over the past 5 years and haven't as yet found many answers to my situation. I have had a gambling problem during this time and have constantly gone over my overdraft limit. Even though I am over my limit the bank still allow me to make further deposits whilst charging me £25 a time. It has been a constant cycle of getting paid some money then being wreckless and clocking up £50-£75 of charges, sometimes 2-3 times a month. This as you can imagine adds up to a big figure. Although I take full responsibility for my abusive behaviour, I wonder if the bank has a responsibility to monitor my activities and offer support? I am 28 and have lived with my mother during this time as I cannot afford to rent a place myself due to my situation. I really want to know if I have a chance of reclaiming any of this money as I now owe £3000 to my mother which is putting her under financial pressure. I worked for a company for 3-4 years of this period and have been self employed for the last 2 whilst working an additional part time job but have nothing to show for it. I am not looking for sympathy as this is my issue to solve but if I could get 10% of the total charges then it would really help. I just want to know where I stand.

Many thanks for any advice

Little_Mo_70

Skully112 wrote: »

Hi to all,

I have been scanning around for advice on my bank charges over the past 5 years and haven't as yet found many answers to my situation. I have had a gambling problem during this time and have constantly gone over my overdraft limit. Even though I am over my limit the bank still allow me to make further deposits whilst charging me £25 a time. It has been a constant cycle of getting paid some money then being wreckless and clocking up £50-£75 of charges, sometimes 2-3 times a month. This as you can imagine adds up to a big figure. Although I take full responsibility for my abusive behaviour, I wonder if the bank has a responsibility to monitor my activities and offer support? I am 28 and have lived with my mother during this time as I cannot afford to rent a place myself due to my situation. I really want to know if I have a chance of reclaiming any of this money as I now owe £3000 to my mother which is putting her under financial pressure. I worked for a company for 3-4 years of this period and have been self employed for the last 2 whilst working an additional part time job but have nothing to show for it. I am not looking for sympathy as this is my issue to solve but if I could get 10% of the total charges then it would really help. I just want to know where I stand.

Many thanks for any advice

Oh Skully, I hope my reply will be of use to you.

In answer to your first question regarding bank's responsibility to monitor your financial activity and offer support I found this information:
The New Voluntary banking code states that banks must do more to help customers in financial difficulties. It states they should contact customers they believe may be heading for financial problems. Well, this would be you wouldn't it? Have they contacted you about your mounting charges and offered any help? At the risk of being presumptious I am assuming that as your Mum has lent you 3k your debt with the bank has been reduced? If not perhaps you could go in and speak to manager. Ask for a way to pay off what you owe agreeable/affordable for both of you. Be honest and say you want to get your finances (and the causation problem) sorted so you can move forward - I love that phrase, it sounds so positive.

Your second query regarding reclaiming your charges. Why not?
Think about the basis of you claim bearing in mind you need to currently fit the financial hardship criteria to be able to ask for refund of charges on bank accounts (Card accounts are not bound by the hardship criteria). If you are in financial hardship you need to put a good case forward. You need to prove you are struggling to pay for basic needs - utility bills, food, mortgage, loans etc. It basically has to be household stuff. If you are still with your Mum then obviously you pay toward the bills etc. and find difficulty doing so. YOu know the sort of stuff. Follow the FOS hardship criteria on MSE site. If you are running up the debts now because of the 'habit' which is not an illness but can contribute to ill health, depression etc, you could say that your ill health is causing debts. YOu will think of the right words. I'm not altogether sure if this could be classed as hardship in the true sense for the purposes which it is intended but it's worth a try.

So you have 3 choices:
1) Go in and discuss finances and ways of repayment affordable to you which, if they agree, could be fixed up fairly quickly.
2) Get all your data, charges etc and put in your claim for refund of charges bearing in mind that it can take ages and there is no guarantee you would get anything back. Use guide on MSE site.
3) Or, do both. If you reclaim your charges and you are successful (not guaranteed) they will probably offset that against your debt with them.

And finally, it goes without saying really, there is another issue that you are going to address, and this one will change your life and probably Mum's too. You know what it is. I wish you lots of luck:):)