Bank Charges Court Guide discussion

natweststaffmember

davidgmmafan wrote: »

Ok so we all know the banks should at least consider refunding charges where the account holder is in hardship but there are two other points made in the section explaining what the FOS can look at. I've included them below so there is no misunderstanding:-

• Your charges are disproportionate
  Say you dipped into your unauthorised overdraft by £2.50 and incurred a £35 charge, it’s utterly disproportionate. The Ombudsman may look at this, though if you regularly do so, you’re unlikely to succeed.
• Snowballed charges
  This is the nasty situation of ‘charges on charges’ which traps people so they can’t clear their overdraft before new charges are added on. It’s one of the reasons many people can reclaim £1,000s. Though, of course, if this happened you’re likely to be in hardship too

The first one I really don't understand because this was the whole reason for the campaign. Whether its one charge or a thousand the charge is disproportionate. Is there a source on this? I don't see why the FOS wouldn't reject such a claim flat, if someone goes over by 1p and gets charged a fortune a common sense solution would be for the bank to waive the first charge. However the current situation is that, however unfair we feel the above is, the bank can do whatever it likes.
Supreme Court judgement is one source, furthermore, if you are charged and it takes you over your overdraft then it is 2 charges for one item. With regards to disproportionate, you cannot argue level of charge under UTCCR 1999
In a similar vein I don't understand this point about charges which have snowballed. It is very important to know if the FOS can consider such cases as my brother has a stayed case at the moment. IF this avenue is open, via the FOS then its worth me trying it for him.
If charges snowballed it could be about financial hardship coming as a result of the charges ie less income to pay bills as a result.
But I just don't see the FOS being willing to look at this. Granted I think its a scandle than he went from owing £k (authorized) to 3k (3k unauthorized and made up of charges), but if the FOS takes the law into consideration, which they sometimes do, I don't see how the snowball effect matters.
see above
Anyone had any success with this approach?

The only option I though was availble was to try to argue hardship, one charge was equal to a whole weeks JSA. With the £20 unauth OD fee it wasn't a kick in the bottom off two weeks JSA. However my understanding is that it would nigh on impossible to argue this retrospectively since the bank would shrug its shoulders and say you should've done this at the time. He did tell the bank he'd lost his job but the mortgage centre said there's nothing we can do until your are three months in arrears.
If you can show arrears and if you can show what you have tried to do with regards to contacting your lenders and the effect of the charges on income available over outgoings and whether the bank have properly assessed you then there is a chance to look at financial hardship.
The snowball effect in this particular case is not the worst I've seen but its pretty bad, is there any scope to take this to the FOS?

I'm not knocking the advice I just want to be as exact as I can if there is an avenue there. If the bank would waive even half the charges that would be a desirable outcome for him since he can't take his mortgage anywhere remotely competitive until this is sorted out.

See above.....

davidgmmafan

So is it worth a punt or not? He was one payment away from losing the house, one would hope that would qualify. The mortgage is with the same bank, not sure if this makes any difference.

Regarding the snowball thing when reading it it just struck me as going over the same ground twice with regards to hardship.

natweststaffmember

davidgmmafan wrote: »

So is it worth a punt or not? He was one payment away from losing the house, one would hope that would qualify. The mortgage is with the same bank, not sure if this makes any difference.

Regarding the snowball thing when reading it it just struck me as going over the same ground twice with regards to hardship.

Has your brother contacted the mortgage part of the bank to see what help they can give?
Yes I think you need to approach it from the argument of what was the cause of the charges, what you did, how and what you did with regards to speaking/writing to the bank about the circumstances, how you approached your creditors and what was done and then once that was done how the charges snowballed etc,etc,

davidgmmafan

We're talking past tense, yes he did and they said the caouldn't do anything until a person was three months in arrears. Then later they offered to switch the mortgage to interest only (for a fee of £120) which save a whopping £20 per month. Then there would be a fee of £120 to switch it back later on, so it'd take a year to break even.

natweststaffmember

Which bank is it, out of interest?

scraggly

Hi everyone, seeking some advice. I used money claim online to reclaim bank charges and received judgement in my favour last August. Paid for a warrant issued in September but the bailiff wasn't able to collect the money from the Halifax because they didn't respond to his requests. Since the court ruling in November they have applied to have the judgement set aside. What should I do - they applied to Halifax County Court and I live in Cardiff... the claim is for around £600, give it up?
Any advice greatfully received!

Premier_2

scraggly wrote: »

Hi everyone, seeking some advice. I used money claim online to reclaim bank charges and received judgement in my favour last August. Paid for a warrant issued in September but the bailiff wasn't able to collect the money from the Halifax because they didn't respond to his requests. Since the court ruling in November they have applied to have the judgement set aside. What should I do - they applied to Halifax County Court and I live in Cardiff... the claim is for around £600, give it up?
Any advice greatfully received!

What type of judgement did you initially receive? Default?

If not, what is the basis of their application to set aside the judgement?

I thought an application to set aside a judgement was made to the court that originally made the judgement (I may be wrong on that, but would seem logical)

Anyway, can you not request the matter be transferred to your local court if that is more convenient to you?

Even if you do succeed in preventing the judgement being set aside, how do you plan to recover the money owed? You already seem to have failed with the bailiff.

natweststaffmember

scraggly wrote: »

Hi everyone, seeking some advice. I used money claim online to reclaim bank charges and received judgement in my favour last August. Paid for a warrant issued in September but the bailiff wasn't able to collect the money from the Halifax because they didn't respond to his requests. Since the court ruling in November they have applied to have the judgement set aside. What should I do - they applied to Halifax County Court and I live in Cardiff... the claim is for around £600, give it up?
Any advice greatfully received!

As Premier has said you can get the case transferred to your local court but I would not fight the set aside as it is rarely not given.

debbiequail

I've just had my case adjourned for a future date, my arguement today was that whilst I have a letter from my bank (Bank of Ireland) stating that Transaction Fees and overdraft interest are pre-notified to me before they are charged to my account, in fact the charge was deducted on the day that the item was unpaid or a referral fee charged, and then a letter was issued notifying me of the change.

Has anyone else tried to argue this point, or any other comments??

leclerc

debbiequail wrote: »

I've just had my case adjourned for a future date, my arguement today was that whilst I have a letter from my bank (Bank of Ireland) stating that Transaction Fees and overdraft interest are pre-notified to me before they are charged to my account, in fact the charge was deducted on the day that the item was unpaid or a referral fee charged, and then a letter was issued notifying me of the change.

Has anyone else tried to argue this point, or any other comments??

I doubt that argument will be tried since the letter is irrelevant to why the charge was levied. Can I ask you how long it has been adjourned until?