Reclaimed Bank Charges SUCCESS stories

maniac886

cosmo0411 wrote:

Erm, just read the above and thats a bit worrying I have an Abbey account, sent letter to them 2weeks ago this Friday to start the process of claiming back bank charges.

got 1700 overdraft. Will they close the account and expect the overdraft back there and then?

Bit worried now!!

I am in the same situation. I have a £1500 overdraft with them but I have not opened a parachute account as yet. I doubt I will get another student account with a £1500 overdraft facility anyway.

nickmack

oopsie wrote:

I didn't know how much I could claim from first direct so I just made up a number --- £870 --- They wrote back within three days saying I was way off course and offered £390 to settle it. I ACCEPTED. So.... no paperwork and no request of charges just faced up to them and they caved...

Well Done, although not a recommended tactic, butas you found, it does work.

If you make a rough estimate, they will work out the correct amount for you.

For others I would be careful trying this, as now you should really notify the bank of the list of charges in case it does go to court. It would look a bit awkward for you if you were just plucking figures out of the air.

uk52rob

Bank: First Direct
Amount Reclaimed:£338 + £46.05 Interest
Amount they paid: £338

I sent out the template letter, and after a week I got a letter back to say they would refund the £338 in charges, but not the interest. I signed the reply and sent it back (as £338 is better than nothing!) and, sure enough, they credited the amount back. :beer:

Three months later, I get charged £135 in one month. I sent a secure electronic message to them online this time stating that I was not impressed with their £135 charge for the month, and that it was my final notice for them to refund it (+ a pending charge of £30 at the end of the month). :rolleyes:

I did not hear anything back, until I noticed that they had credited the £135 back into my account. The next day I get a letter which is in no way pleasant.

They basically said that our banking relationship has become "untenable" and, after consideration of the breakdown of trust between us, they have served notice that my account will be closed as of 16th November (the letter was sent on the 18th October). The letter went on to say the following:

"On this date any standing orders and direct debits paid from your account will be cancelled, as will your Cheque Guarantee Card. Please ensure that any overdraft is repaid in full by this date. If you are unable to do this, please forward your repayment proposals. For clarity, it is not our intention to offer banking facilities to you in the future and, with that in mind, I would ask that you refrain from making any applications to open accounts with us or HSBC.

Finally, it is always regrettable when a banking relationship ends in this way, and I wish you well with your future banking arrangements."

My God, some people love their job there, don't they??! :mad:

kapitola

Bank: Barclays
Amount Reclaimed: never got that far
Amount paid: £ 3.600

Although I am organised at work & university I have really mis-managed my finances; fell for the bank's overdraft 'traps', negotiated badly on DDs & over-spent on a whim - come to think of it, not even sure I deserve to be on this board :-)

I have banked with Barclays for 15 years and during this time always had a salary coming in. Even so, I developed bad credit and when times were hard, Barclays frequently put the boot in with their charges. I have a mortgage (not Barclays) and am single so there is nobody there to help me out if things go wrong.

After reading Martin's tips and downloading the initial forms, still finding the whole thing overwhelming, on a whim I went into a branch of Barclays to ask for an overview of the charges. N.B. that's all I asked for. The lady I spoke to obviously knew where this was heading. She was very friendly and asked if I was meaning to claim back charges. I said I might. She asked if I would stop banking with them if this were not resolved, I said maybe, and she put that as a comment on my account. I was shaking in my boots as I could never open accounts elsewhere through bad credit.

Six days later I received a letter from them, explaining how sad they were to hear that I was not happy with my account and as a gesture of goodwill, without admitting any responsibilty for the situation, they offered me £3.600 to forget the whole thing. From a rough estimate I reckon that is quite a bit more than they charged. But, willing to offer that, they must have reasoned I could get more by dragging them through the courts, claiming sleepless nights and irreparable psychological damage. Well, if I were like that, I would not have been so lax with my finances in the first place.

I thought it over for a few days and then signed on the dotted line. Several times through the years, I complained about charges, sometimes calm and collected, other times crying or on verge of hysterics, all for nothing. Once Martin and others have highlighted this situation and explained it in a no-nonsense way, people like me can complain with conviction and without being knocked down at the first hurdle.

The chat with the lady in the bank took all of 5 minutes. For £3.600. AND, with a feeling of having stood up for myself. Not bad, eh? Thanks Martin, you may well make a born-again moneysaver out of me. xxx

stevea1_2

Bank: Natwest
Amount Reclaimed: £30.00 (yep thats it - we are ALL owed amounts as small as that somewhere within the last 6 years surely!)
Amount they paid: £30.00
The story: As brief as possible - follow my lead and you will get money... especially in the run up to Christmas its easy money and RIGHTFULLY yours!

Me: A good customer... ALWAYS operated within t+c's of account. Went abroad for 5 months, bank informed, was in my authorised overdraft zone, saving up to repay overdraft upon my return to UK, 4 months into trip abroad got penalty from bank for 'not paying anything in to clear my overdraft for months.' No attempt to contact me via internet banking (as no-one in UK to check my mail!)... even though I said to contact me that way if there was any sort of a problem. Fee charged £30.00.

Called from abroad.... I paid off my overdraft with the money I had saved - overdraft cleared. Call centre girl said would refund £30.

4 weeks later £30.00 not refunded.

Called up and complained - call centre had no record of the £30.00 refund being authorised.... offered my £15.00. Said no.

Wrote and followed procedures as per consumeractiongroup website.

• Request for payment of charge of £30.00 to Borehamwood Customer Relations Manager
• Wrote back disputing they are in the wrong, dismiss OFT ruling and 'go away' standard type letter.
• Wrote back again with the LBA (letter before action (court action)) letter restating my demands
• Reply received this morning - disagreeing with everything I said but making a 'gesture of goodwill' to me for full £30 settlement

You can read the whole thread on the discussion Forum in the Consumer Action Group website under Natwest Bank..... 'Angus v Natwest (£30 small amount claiming).'

GOOD LUCK.:j

Rebel_UK

RebelUK on CAG

From Barclays £2545.00
From Bank of Scotland £2568.00
Expecting from Capital One Court Claim filed this week £830.00

Without a problem, simply follow the guides and stick to YOUR timetable, NOT the banks.

Rebel

jasun

kapitola wrote:

Bank: Barclays
Amount Reclaimed: never got that far
Amount paid: £ 3.600

Although I am organised at work & university I have really mis-managed my finances; fell for the bank's overdraft 'traps', negotiated badly on DDs & over-spent on a whim - come to think of it, not even sure I deserve to be on this board :-)

I have banked with Barclays for 15 years and during this time always had a salary coming in. Even so, I developed bad credit and when times were hard, Barclays frequently put the boot in with their charges. I have a mortgage (not Barclays) and am single so there is nobody there to help me out if things go wrong.

After reading Martin's tips and downloading the initial forms, still finding the whole thing overwhelming, on a whim I went into a branch of Barclays to ask for an overview of the charges. N.B. that's all I asked for. The lady I spoke to obviously knew where this was heading. She was very friendly and asked if I was meaning to claim back charges. I said I might. She asked if I would stop banking with them if this were not resolved, I said maybe, and she put that as a comment on my account. I was shaking in my boots as I could never open accounts elsewhere through bad credit.

Six days later I received a letter from them, explaining how sad they were to hear that I was not happy with my account and as a gesture of goodwill, without admitting any responsibilty for the situation, they offered me £3.600 to forget the whole thing. From a rough estimate I reckon that is quite a bit more than they charged. But, willing to offer that, they must have reasoned I could get more by dragging them through the courts, claiming sleepless nights and irreparable psychological damage. Well, if I were like that, I would not have been so lax with my finances in the first place.

I thought it over for a few days and then signed on the dotted line. Several times through the years, I complained about charges, sometimes calm and collected, other times crying or on verge of hysterics, all for nothing. Once Martin and others have highlighted this situation and explained it in a no-nonsense way, people like me can complain with conviction and without being knocked down at the first hurdle.

The chat with the lady in the bank took all of 5 minutes. For £3.600. AND, with a feeling of having stood up for myself. Not bad, eh? Thanks Martin, you may well make a born-again moneysaver out of me. xxx

I think your case is an exception, well done. Barclays and probably most others usually at least try to defend it and normally you've got no chance unless you open a claim, especially since yours is at the higher end of all claims I've seen over the past 1.5 years since I got on the case of doing it.

The silly thing is, they waste more time and effort submitting a defence, instead of paying up straight away. The reason for this make sense though - if they don't defend, they admit liability.

If they defend and let it goto court, they might loose and it costs more and it means they are proven to be in the wrong (so they don't need to admit liability, as it has been proven) and also, by doing it out of court, they settle to not admit liability, but to save more time and money on both sides as well as the key point of (in the case of Barclays at least) make you sign and agree to keep it quiet, in business sense, it makes sense but just takes a little longer to resolve.

JohnnyHP

Bank: Barclays
Amount Reclaimed:£50 and then "everything you owe me"
Amount they paid: £362

Story: First off I wrote and asked for charges incurred by going over my limit to be refunded, which they did. Then, empowered by this lovely site, I wrote and pointed out that I had been sold an Additions account years ago with it's monthly charges by some overzealous suit with the implication that this was the only way I could get an overdraft facility and if this wasn't true could they please refund me. And they did! Hurrah!

[Deleted User]

I hope I'm posting this in the correct thread ... ?

After writing to the following money-lenders: Capital One, NatWest, GECapital (re: BHS store card), and STYLE financial services (affiliated to RBS); about the unfair bank charges that they've lumped onto my various accounts over the past six years since losing my job ... I've had A RESULT! :T

Yayyyyy ... Capital One replied reasonably swiftly with a no-quibble offer of £172. That'll do nicely ...

On the other hand ... NatWest pulled the "send us £5 for a copy of every statement that shows where a charge has been applied" stunt. Delaying tactics ... And they must have known that I'd hit them with the 'standard' pro forma reply about the Data Protection Act! :cool: So I think I'm getting there, albeit slowly.

But as for the other two ... GECapital and STYLE ... well they just haven't bothered to reply at all. :mad:

So many great big huge thankyous to Martin and all the other helpful bods on this site :money:

Cheers,
ZED [COLOR]

Fr_Gerry

Bank: Firstdirect
Amount Reclaimed:£1850
Amount they paid: £1850
The story: the usual, wrote the letters, they offered half, I issued a claim via the net, they siad they go to court, then their solicitors settled out of court. whole proccess took about 2 months and actually quite painless as long as you keep your nerve.