Reclaimed Bank Charges SUCCESS stories

165721

quinlad wrote:

Hello,

I plan to reclaim charges from two HSBC current accounts. These were closed around 18 months ago at which point I set up a current account (and joint account with my girlfriend) with First Direct. I still have a joint account with my brother at HSBC.

If I make a claim (likely to be around £1000):

- are they likely to close my HSBC joint account?
- being the parent company, are they likely to close my First Direct accounts?
- will claiming affect my chances of applying for a mortgage at other providers in the future?

Thank you!

Have a scout around this thread as well, might be useful??

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=294880

165721

bagyra wrote:

Hi all,

I am new here.Have been reading all threads for about two weeks since I come accross this site. Today I have posted a letter to Barclays requesting all charges back, used letter2 from this website, as I had all statements at home. Total charges 1235. A bit worry now.:undecided Let you know about the progress.

Good luck, keep us posted!!! And don't worry keep an eye on here for advice and support!

iandod

Bank: Halifax
Amount Reclaimed: £1354 + £438 interest + £120 court fee
Amount they paid: £1912

Story: Sent initial letter asking for statements, they cashed the cheque for £10 but never received the statements, when i rang they sent out a copy 'free of charge', thanks very much, so got a copy of the cheque from my other account and had it refunded!!

Sent first letter giving them 14 days and got a reply within 7 days offering £554, sent second letter refusing this amount and got a reply within 7 days offering £554 again so started small claims court proceedings. The acknowledged buying themselves more time 28 days total, but on the 26th day paid in full every penny. The money has cleared and i'm a very happy man!!

Also a friend of mine had £3k worth of charges with the Halifax, within 4 days of sending the first letter they had a phone call offering £1k which they haggled up to £1.5k and accepted. I insisted if they hold out they could have got the whole lot, inluding interest, and would have been about £4k but i think they were promised it in time for xmas or something. On the phone, apparently, the halifax advisor was telling my friend that some of the charges WERE justified and that they would only refund the others, i think they were just trying to add pressure on my friend to take the money and run.

Lastly another of my friends reclaimed £880 (100%), don't know what bank from but they used a solicitor who charged 25% commission. I tried to tell him it was simple enough to do if he followed the website but there is no telling some people.

Good luck, but you won't need it

davewilkinson

Hi
I have started to claim back some of my bank charges from several banks, Lloyds TSB, Halifax and MBNA. So far I have had statements from the TSB and the Halifax. I have returned letters to both claiming back charges including late fees, this is the reply I have just got back from Llodys TSB credit Card this morning.





Dear Mr Wilkinson

Account Number ******** **** *****

Thank you for your recent letter about charges on your account.

Following the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) statements of 5th April 2006, you believe certain charges we have made to your account (for example late payments/returned payments/exceeding your authorised credit limit) are unlawful and have asked for them to be refunded.

You’ll know that most of our credit card services are completely free, and your card provides a convenient method of payment that can be used worldwide. We do however make a charge if you pay us late, or if we let you go over your agreed credit limited, or it we have to tell you that a payment into your account isn’t met. All these matters cause us extra cost.

These charges are not hidden. You can find them on your monthly statements, on our website or by contacting our branch staff or telephone helpline. The minimum monthly payment and the payment date, and your credit limited, are also clearly shown on every statement. So you should find it easy to stick to the legal terms and conditions you have agreed to.

We believe our charging policy is fair. The OFT’s statement is their view of the principles they think credit card issuers should follow. Ultimately, it is only a court that can decide whether a term is unfair in legal terms.

As you will know, the OFT recommended that these charges be cut to £12 and we have made a commercial decision to do this with effect from 29th June 2006, even though we do not agree with the OFT’s interpretation of the law.

The OFT made no recommendation about previous charges and we do not plan to make any alteration to charges we made in the past. As a result we are not in a position to offer a refund.

I do hope you now understand why our charging policy is fair, and how you will be able to avoid these charges in future. You don’t need to reply to this letter unless there is anything else you’d like me to help you with. If you do want to contact us again please do so by 09/02/07. If we cannot agree on a solution at that point, I can help you refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service for independent arbitration.

Yours sincerely

Should i just start with court procedings

Rex_Mundi

davewilkinson wrote:

Should i just start with court procedings

If the last letter you sent was the 'letter before action' (LBA), then go ahead with a court claim. If this was the first letter you sent, send the LBA, and issue a court claim once the deadline is reached and they don't offer to settle in full.

This is a fairly standard response you've received here.

jinkssick

There trying to squirm their way out of it with meaningful jibberish. it has gone down to £12, well this is still unfair as Martin proclaims its lower than £2.50.

If youve gone through the 2 letter process then yeah, a court proceeding is now exactly what they'll need. Hopefully with this in mind they'll start a settlement.

jamesblanchard1

Bank: Halifax
Amount Reclaimed: £1,683
Amount they paid: £1,683

I followed all of Martin Lewis advice, took the bank to a small claims court because what they offered was not satisfactory, received the full amount of charges back, interest and the court costs. A big thankyou, this has made a huge difference to xmas this year!

king84

Bank:Natwest
Amount Reclaimed:£962
Amount they paid:£643

It only took sven days thanks alot for the help
Good luck to everyone:T

Ernest

Hi,

After reading info on this and a few other websites I sent the letter to my partners bank, Natwest as she had been robbed on a number of occasions over the years. The statements came through and the total was approx £2500! (£2800 including interest

We sent the first letter recorded and got a reply straight away saying the default its not our fault etc etc, but we will give you £550 as a token of our goodwill. Sent a 2nd letter refusing, and giving them 7 days. 5 days later they replied saying that it was being dealt with by another dep. and they will comeback within 10 days!!

The way I see it, they are the defendants, we are setting the timescales! I have really bought into everything that has been said on this site and I really do believe that the banks have abused our willingness to simply accept extortion.

I've lost track of the amount of "heated" conversations I have had with my partner over her bad money management over the years, but as I trawled through her last 6 years of statements I realised that it was not all her fault. Like lots of people, she had gone through some tough times and her bank, rather than support her through these times chose to penalise her with an endless list of fictitious charges.

It is my belief that the banks are wrong in this matter, and because of this belief we have just submitted a claim online with a view to see this through to the end. Now Natwest will either have to go to court and actually defend or they will have to pay the full amount. Anyway, I will keep you updated.

Steve

shreky2511

JoJo_Sparkly wrote:

thanks shreky - will be watching for their strategies - I'm really determined to stick it out on ths one - this is clearly an unfair charge.

Let me know how you get on .
JOjo

papers back from court can claim for judgement on 29th Dec a bit late for christmas but hopefully a great new year as nothing heard about a defence so far.
i keep checking the bank to see if anything creditted but nothing so far.