Reclaimed Bank Charges SUCCESS stories

simon_redwood

BANK: NATIONWIDE
AMOUNT RECLAIMED: £2222.20
AMOUNT REPAID: £2222.20

As with all the other reporting about Nationwide, they tried to play hardball with me. The first two letters i sent were rejected out of hand so i went to MCOL and was worried when they said they would contest the whole claim. Heard nothing and was due to start proceedings for a judgement today and guess what. No letter from them but looked at my bank account last night to find they had made three payments totally the amount claimed. Thank you Martin and for those considering ...DO IT.

beckit

Bank: Smile Co Operative (internet bank)

Amount Reclaimed: £1600 offered as a settlement in step 3
Amount they paid: £1449.74

The story: I wrote three letters the last one being the without prejudice I will settle for £1600 in the next two weeks one and it only took four days for them to get back to me.

They didnt charge me £10 for the statements they returned my cheque too so this has cost me nothing but a bit of time.

Amount including interest was about £2000 but as someone else has said I do have to take some responsibility for sticking my head in the sand and ignoring a problem rather than actually managing my account properly.

So thrilled with getting this money back so easily. I am telling everyone!!! Thanks Martin you are a star!

andrewmd

Lloyds TSB
Claim £4498.08
Paid £4498.08

Initially they declined my claim. Issued proceedings via Money claim on line. Bank instructed solicitors who issued defence denying liability. Money claim on line centre at Northampton County court transferred the case to my local court. Before I could complete the allocation questionnaire, the solicitors advised that the bank were paying my claim in full - without any admission of liability of course!

PrinceGaz

Amount Claimed: £340
Amount Paid: £340

I didn't know these penalty charges were illegal until a few weeks ago; after seeing Martin on The Wright Stuff, and a Watchdog report on them, I decided to get my money back.

After visiting this site a couple of times, I dug out my old bank statements and tallied up the 'Paid Referral Fee' charges I'd run up during 2006, money I had once thought I couldn't get back (especially as I'd phoned up at the time about one I thought was especially unfair, and was told sorry but it was my fault and the charge would stay). There were 12 of them, totalling £340 (they actually increased the charge from £25 to £30 last year, which explains the total).

On 12 Mar 2007, I sent the first (14-day) letter by first class recorded delivery to my local branch address as shown on the statement, requesting £340 plus £19.73 interest for a total of £359.73.

They replied with a standard letter dated the 19 Mar that basically said they "... were sorry you had to contact us about the level of service you have received ... We are looking into your concerns and will let you have an answer or update as quickly as possible, but no later than 13 April 2007."

I was due to send my next letter to them on 26 Mar (14 calendar days after my first letter), or yesterday 2 Apr (to give them 14 working days), but decided I'd give them the extra two weeks to see what they say.

They haven't said anything yet as I haven't received a letter from them, but what they did do today was credit my account with the full £340 requested as I found to my surprise when I checked using online banking.

03/04/2007 Credit £340.00 -£xxx.xx
GOODWILL GESTURE
RTB CUST REL

Thankyou Martin for telling us about reclaiming our money, and the additional advice and templates on this site. It may not seem like much to some people, but that £340 means a lot to me as it has paid off most of my overdraft, and will make the remainder that much easier to clear.

sanchosser

First Direct paid up -- no interest
We asked for the interest in £500 but they refused!

Halifax credit card paid up -- no interest

courierman_2

First Direct

Amount reclaimed : £328

Amount they Paid : £328 :j

Thought I would give it a go after reading the success stories on here

Thought I would struggle but followed Martins advice. Totalled up the charges & sent my letter. I then received their usual template saying that they were investigating my concerns. Today I received a letter stating that the full amount would be credited to my account within the next few days.

Although a small amount getting my money back was real bonus. I've recently become self employed & money is very tight but at the moment I feel on top of the world. The whole process took just under two weeks.

Chasing Alliance & Leicester next when they finally send my statements

Many thanks for information Martin, :money: a real consumers champion.

MONEYWISE_4

THANK YOU SO MUCH MARTIN JUST RECEIVED OFFER FROM RBS FOR £1244.00 SENT THE LETTERS AS SHOWN ON YOUR WEBSITE GOT TO LETTER THREE THREATENING COURT ACTION AND THEY HAVE MADE ME AN OFFER FOR THE FULL AMOUNT!

SO HAPPY!:j

Moltash

Bank: CAPITAL ONE (credit card)
Amount reclaimed: £428.27 (£360 + interest)
Amount received: £112

After receiving statements, first letter requesting refund sent Nov 06. Reply received a week later offering £112 as 'gesture of goodwill', this amount being a refund of £8 per charge, the difference between what I had paid per charge, £20 and the fixed £12 charge which came in last year. Second letter sent in Jan 07 declining their offer and threatening court action. Reply received Feb 07 refusing to budge, just offering the same 'gesture of goodwill'. My first reaction was 'no way', I want the whole lot, but I pondered over this for a while, whether to accept or take it further. But after reading Martin's comments about credit card companies charges being reduced and fixed at £12 likely to have more clout in a court case, I decided to accept their offer. Maybe I should have taken it further, but to be perfectly honest, I didn't want the hassle!!


Bank: Nat West
Amount reclaimed: £2315.24 (£1712 + interest)
Amount received: £1712

After receiving statements from them, first letter requesting refund sent Jan 07. Reply received Feb 07 offering a refund of all charges, £1712, but not interest. I couldn't believe that they hadn't made it more difficult for me! My reaction was - yes thanks I'll take it!!

Still have claims ongoing against Abbey, Barclaycard, Nationwide and Royal Bank of Scotland.

:T
Many thanks to Martin for bringing this bank charges issue to my attention!!
Its going to reduce my debt substantially. If these other claims come to fruition then I won't be far off debt free, and thats something I haven't been for a long, long time.
:j

livingrooms

Have just offered my Dad £1100 in settlement to a £1599 claim we are going to have a little thing being as HSBC have been such a terrible bank to such loyal customers, I'm away right now, but can't wait to get home to a letter re. my £4000 claim. Have just had another row with them only yesterday re. charges so read it and weep boys, I don't need your bad advice anymore, so happy I wanna cry. Took just over 3 weeks from recieving Dads statements as I used BBC form and took them to court in the 14 days I specified.

THANKYOU ALL SO MUCH :money:

PG166

Bank: Nationwide Building Society
Amount reclaimed: £137.52 (£107 + interest)
Amount received: £167.87

Sent the initial letter 13 December 2006, usual letter apparently being investigated, enslosed charges leaflet, signed on account opening to pay charges, states they are open and transparent about charges - threat "that if i feel i can't abide by these terms and conditions, then regrettably it may be appropriate for me to consider alternative banking arrangements". decided to go for bust, went to moneyclaim online and fired off the claim for sum above on 1st March. They filed acknowledgement of service giving them 28 days to file a defence - deadline due today. Came home from a week away to find this in my account:

02 April 2007 Refund of Interest Charge .
Credited on 31 March 2007 £107.11

02 April 2007 Cash Credit .
Credited on 31 March 2007 £60.76

No correspondance from Nationwide - thanks to Martin and this site - anyone else having difficulty with Nationwide, be persistant.

Thanks from a newbie with two more claims now in the pipeline against credit card companies - RBS and Shell visa "BRING IT ON!!!!!"