Reclaimed Bank Charges SUCCESS stories

nickmack

annwwilkinson wrote:

1 do we have to open another bank account as having a low income, we certainly don't meet the £1000 minimum deposit a month required to open bank accounts, infact being self employed at times its sometimes hard to even find the £500 to open an account, also which is the best bank to switch to if needed,

There are bank accounts that don't require a minimum payment each month. See Martin's article.

2 do we need to inform any companies that we have direct debits with, first before we take action as we have quite a few and I'm worried that they will just close our account and leave us high and dry

They won't close any account immediately, you will be given a period of time. New banks are usually good at transferring regular payments across.

3 does it always go to court, bearing in mind we have to scratch about finding the money to go to court presumably before there is any pay out thats if there is one,

Not always, but you must make plans in case it does. You need to be able to carry out what you've said if they don't pay up.

4. we don't have any overdraft facility so can they refuse saying that it was part of the terms if we do get overdrawn,

No, the amounts are unlawful penalties and whatever it may say in the T&C's is irrelevant.

mrmole0809

Hi just thought i would let you know that we are in the process of getting bank charges back from Halifax incurred £6183.00 of charges including interest for 2 accounts. Got a reply offering £2100.00.......... have replied NO WAY and saying that we would accept £6000.00 or we will see them in court. Given them 7 days to reply....... Will keep you all posted. We have used all the templates from Martins site. Thanks Martin

lindao_3

I have started my court case with Abbey to (hopefully) get my unfair bank charges back, they have deceided to defend the case and have written to me to ask for my evidence on how I worked the charges out and also an email addy and phone number for myself.

When I sent my second and third letter to the bank I sent along the dates they had taken the money out of my account and the interest for it also. Should I resend it or just ignore this letter?

help!!!!

earthmother_with_ATTITUDE

We moved back to Scotland last year, most of bank charges were from when we lived in England - which court of law applies to our claaim? English or Scottish??

Edinburghlass_2

earthmother_with_ATTITUDE wrote:

We moved back to Scotland last year, most of bank charges were from when we lived in England - which court of law applies to our claaim? English or Scottish??

As you are claiming at your local court it will be Scottish law.

http://www.govanlc.com/jurisdiction.htm

leeroch

HAPPY DAYS

HSBC
£885
£769

My first letter was sent on 1.12.06 had a letter back from HSBC 1.01.07 stating my case was being investigated and they will contact me by 31.01.07 I sent an additional letter (from the forum) threatening leagal action 2.01.07, HSBC replied with their offer on 24.01.07.

the problem I have now is that my schedule of charges only went up to Oct 06, I now need to inlcude NOV/DEC and i'm quite confident i will have another one this month and FEB - so not 100% complete but going in the right direction!

cheers to the forum - i am now spreading the word!

Lee

Ernest

Any advice re. above post greatly apreciated.

Steve

Edinburghlass_2

Ernest wrote:

Any advice re. above post greatly apreciated.

Steve

Have a read of this thread and the links that are in it, most of the answers are there.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=314558

shaz2

I received £556 in refunded bank charges yesterday! I am amazed as I only had my last 12 months' worth of statements and therefore only asked for a year's worth of bank charges in my letter, and a list of my charges for the past 6 years. However, I must have received a refund for theh whole 6 years - I guess it saves time. By the way, that's the Co-operative Bank.

Thanks a lot Martin for your really clear explanation of how it works and the template letters. I will pass the word on!

agmoore

Hello all,

Really want to start pressing on with reclaiming charges from Natwest. The only thing i'm concerned is that i'm about £1000 OD. I recently had a cash injection of £2000 from my partner and i'd like to give that back to her ASAP.

While I want to proceed, i'm cautious that if Natwest do give me back the money for unlawful charges they could also ask for the remaining overdraft to paid off immediately? Am I just speculating, and/or should I ensure I have another current account set up (in case). I have read the information, but my partner and I are both under the impression that we should clear any overdraft first, then start the claim.

Hope to hear from someone soon,

Adam x