Reclaimed Bank Charges SUCCESS stories

johnnystutz

Hi there,
I have sent a letter to claim back charges from First Direct. They have sent one back saying that they are prepared to pay the overdraft charges but not those for unpaid direct debit charges. Is this correct? Have I asked for too much or are they liable for these charges as well? I can't find any info on this anywhere?
Thanks in advance.
John

ChrissyKinsella

Bank: HSBC
Amount Reclaimed: £722.50
Amount they paid: £626.00 (not received yet)
The story: Sent first letter on 19th Jan, received holding letting from them by 5th Feb saying they were investigating. Received letter today saying usual "we believe we are right" business but offering £626 "as a gesture". Am very happy to accept that - don't want to antagonise them further!

However, am slightly concerned as also received a seperate letter from my branch saying they were trying to contact me about a "financial review" and now I'm terrified they're going to close my account....will keep you posted.

sally1980

if u look on the reclaim bank charges help thread it gives you a list of all charges that u can and cant claim back

domino1953

On a more sombre note, according to the banking act "it is an offence under the act to knowingly write and offer acheque for payment where you know, or could reasonably have known, that there were insufficient cleared funds to cover that cheque"

Whilst I fully support and agree with the principle of reclaiming unfair charges, I wonder when one of the banks will get around to using that act as a defence?

Failing that, why is the OFT recommending that bank charges for withdrawals; direct debits and standing orders be considered as a fairer way forward? I can remember Lloyds (before TSB) in the 70's charging for every action on my account and the monthly statement listed the costs. Surely we don't want to go back to that again, do we?

SonnyCash

BANK: HSBC
Amount Claimed: £1598 + £422.43 Interest
Amount offered: £1694.50 Not received

The Story

Started 14th Dec 06. Everything according to plan received an offer for £1409. Very good offer but decided not to accept and sent "partial payment" letter. Phoned up on 16th Feb and told verbally an offer of £1694.50 was in post. Following day an offer dated 15th Feb i.e a day before I phoned them came through for £1501. I phoned them on Monday and didn't tell them abou this offer but asked where the £1694.50 offer was and they said it was on its way.Today I received an offer for £1694.50 which has been accepted and faxed and posted back!

A special thanks to Rex Mundi, EdinburughGlass and everybody else for their support and contributions.

So I think this is about right ... er ... hmm ... oh yes...

ROLLING TOTAL: £517,850.33 .... Keep it GOING!!! :T :T :T :T

snoopy1971

Bank: Natwest (my current acct)
Amount Reclaimed:£867 incl interest + court costs
Amount they paid: everything as above
The story: I joined the consumer/bank action group website via link from MSE (thanks Martin) I followed their step by step process read a lot of the posts on the Natwest portion of the website and it never even went to court said they would not recover their court costs (shame)!!

Bank: Halifax (my current acct)
Amount Reclaimed: £992 incl + interest + court costs
Amount they paid: everything
The story: I again followed the process on what is now calle dthe consumer action group website and by the time I listed my claim with the small claims court I had been paid.

Bank: Natwest (my partners account)
Amount Reclaimed:£1397 incl court costs and interest
Amount they paid:again they paid the full whack
The story: My partner did not keep to the deadlines set out by CAG website as she wasn't convinced despite my previous wins that this system works. So I continued on her behalf. Natwest delayed giving statement info and it took over 4 months but still for all they huffed and puffed they paid.

Bank: Halifax (My Boss's)
Amount Reclaimed:£900
Amount they paid:£900
The story: They must like him as they paid up after some discussion on the telephone and a final letter before taking court action and he only ever took advice from me he never even looked at the website as he totally got "the principle" of the "penalty charges"

Bank: Alliance & Leicester (my work colleague)
Amount Reclaimed:£3458
Amount they paid:£3478???
The story: Followed the process on CAG website no hitches but just had to take them to a small claims court never got to court but A & L waited till almost the last moment (a court date for the hearing had been set) and a week or so later they sent a cheque!!

Bank: Halifax (my partner and I's)
Amount Reclaimed:£422
Amount they paid: ongoing (early stages on this one)
The story: Have just really started proceedings.

Without doubt I would say this has been a most invigorating experience.

What i would urge any new starter is that you read the principles of claiming from Martin or the CAG website until you really understand and believe that you are right.

Then as long as you expect to be prepared to pay something for the costs that the bank incurred like £1 or £2 and argue that with the banks or the court (it will never come to that) the banks have nowhere else to go but cough up your cash.....you will see your money as I hope the above has shown.
:beer:

ElyzaB

Bank: Abbey
Amount Reclaimed: £1500 (inc interest)
Amount they paid: £150 initially and now £1350!!!

Abbey are very hard to get money back from! I got fees back from Barclays without much hassle. I followed the same procedure with Abbey, using the templates etc. Last summer they just said no. I tried again in November as the climate seemed to have changed a little. They offered me £150.

Following advice here I looked into taking them to the small claims court but this would have cost me £120 so I thought I'd take them to the Financial Ombudsman instead because I believe this costs the bank £300 straight away. Even if I didn't get any money back, I still liked to think of them paying out!

I was kept posted every step of the way and today got a letter from the FO saying Abbey were willing to settle for £1350, considering they already refunded £150 (without my agreeing to any kind of settlement, they just put it in my account) they have refunded in full.

My advice when dealing with Abbey has to be to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman. There is no way the banks can justify their outlandish fees so the FO has to find in customer's favour!

Thanks to this site, Martin and all posters for all the help.

dwilsontrc

say i am charged £30 a time, can i reclaim £30 per time or do i ask for £26 as it actually cost them £3 - £4 for me going overdrawm and recieving their letter?? please help

shady108

HALIFAX PLC

Amount Claimed: £1277 (including interest) (account held 4 years)

Won: £1054

Bank phoned today 7 days before the deadline for filing a defence against my claim. Woman on phone offered me £600 which i rejected saying i could get all of it in court, and she then asked what i would settle for. Put on the spot a bit i said id settle for what was owed minus the interest, which they agreed to without an argument! They also said any further charges applied to my account would stand! yes right of course they will until i take them to court again :P


Also need to claim back 2 years of charges from Lloyds TSB but no longer know my account details, does anyone know how to find these?

Edinburghlass_2

sally1980 wrote:

Can anyone help pls. I am trying to reclaim charges on a business account from hsbc. I sent the 1st letter but they have said that I need to split the charges and remove any charges that relate to Money Transmission and other charges incurred.
What do they mean by this?
I have listed all the charges in the chart provided

You need to ask the bank which are business accounts only charges and remove them, such as annual service fees, pay-in fees.

The list given is for personal accounts only.