Free banking 'will be axed'

dchurch24

There is no case that laid it down in law - and there wouldn't be even if someone actually managed to get one of the cowards into a court room.

Precident is not set in the county court unless a declaration is applied for - and by doing so, you would be unprotecting yourself from costs should you lose. Unlikely that a person would lose, and there have been numourous (sp) cases where people have claimed back over 5k, rendering themselves in the same position.

polajoo

Without wishing to get involved in this slanging match (which it looks like it is becoming, remember what we're discussing!) it is my opinion that the banks are admitting that they are in the wrong by refunding the bank charges en masse.

If you were adamant that your customers were wrong, you were in the right, you were right to fine your customers, would you be handing out thousands of pounds of your money hand over fist?

Just to put a point, I'm not pro- or anti-banking here. I'm just interested to see how it goes.

dixie_dean_2

No, i read it 2 days ago. They are definitely illegal. 100%

dchurch24

For it to be illegal a criminal act must have taken place.

Now it could be argued that they are in breach of the 1965 Theft Act - Obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception.

The deception being that it's an *admin* charge, when in reality it's a penalty.

You would have to bring criminal prosecution against a person, which, let's face it is not likely to happen.

Also, I can't see the CPS bundling into banks and arresting the CEOs - can you?

Therefore, to get your charges back based on the 1915 ruling by Lord Dunedin, you must take your own action through the civil courts - thus, making it a civil matter, and therefore unlawful, not illegal.

Graham_Devon

Think I might check this out and claim back my credit card charges!

oldwiring

I wonder if the banks might also look at the quality of their accounts a little more than may have been the case in the last few years. Twenty-eight days to close letters would, of course be be sent out without charge.

CopperPlate_2

Tim_L wrote:

First point: regulated monopolies and quasi monopolies are regulated precisely so they can't take advantage of their situation to make excessive profits. It has always been thus. If the banks act as a cartel by moving together to charge customers for current accounts, then I think you can assume the OFT will take an interest. But I don't think it will happen generally: the current account market remains very competitive, and there are still plenty of players looking for market share. The HSBC announcement has a great deal to do with making scapegoats of the OFT and those reclaiming charge.

Which leads me on neatly to the second, quite ludicrous statement. If you follow this logic, anyone who has ever claimed on their insurance should be ashamed for increasing the level of premiums for the rest of us decent people that haven't. If you have a moral and or a legal right to claim the restitution of something unlawfully taken then why on earth would you not claim? Just so some vituperative misanthrope on this board can have free banking? This is not a "mass freebie", because people are only claiming back their own money.

On the other hand generalised free banking certainly could be described as a "mass freebie". So could stoozing, so could bonus surfing, and so could rate surfing. Any mass consumer activity that hits bank bottom lines will bring some sort of reaction. Yet the "virtuous" activities are somehow ignored in the rush to condemn those who are characterised as being reckless !!!!less individuals abusing the system.

Others have chosen to paint this as a political issue: I have not (in fact I am by inclination a Conservative and free marketeer - someone less "right on" you could not hope to find). But I have to point out that generalisations and slurs based on generalisations have been used throughout history by both left and right as a means of persuading the "majority" to take a particular view about that group. It's manipulative and rabble rousing. In this case, we are being manipulated by the banks to believe that current account charges are inevitable, and it is the fault of those claiming charges back and the OFT, where in fact the truth is this is something banks have wanted to do for ages and there is no causal link: if a business can see a way of making more profit, then it will do so. I'm sure if they could maintain both penalty charges and current account charges they would do so.

I'm with Dchurch on this, basically. The selfish "I'm alright Jack" attitudes demonstrated on this board to fellow people are profoundly disturbing. Are we becoming so parsimonious that the idea that we might be charged for our own banking allows us to lose all sight of the problems of fellow human beings in marginal difficulties?

Oh please. Here we go again. I am not interested. In the beginning I was quite prepared to listen and take on board what was being said. But not now. This is like a scratched record - "accept my views, you are wrong" doesn't wash and is, frankly, tiresome.

CopperPlate_2

I've not even bothered to look at the rest of this thread - I gave up on page 4. It appears to be the Tim_L and dchurch24 Roadshow, and I for one won't be paying the ticket price to watch or listen to it.

It appears that you can no longer have an opinion and I am quite sickened by the sanctimonious preaching that some have taken to just to get their own points across.

I wish someone would pull the plug on this - surely they've overloaded the other sites which deals with bank charges and now feel the need to take over this one with their grandiose inflated egos.

dchurch24

Ha! Brilliant.

Tim_L

Copperplate, you are the one who is engaging in denigration of people who don't share your view, not me. You are, for example, referring sarcastically to the "Tim_L and Dchurch roadshow". And then complaining about posts you claim not even to have read!

I don't think you've actually engaged with a single substantive point that has been made, preferring instead to threaten to leave the threads (on several occasions) and to indulge in ad hominem attacks.

What do you expect me to do? Do you expect me suddenly to roll over and say you are right? I'm not going to because you haven't really made any vaguely convincing arguments to support your position. Do you believe that you are the only person with a right to an opinion? Do you just expect this thread and others to become a procession of agreement from people holding your view?

On the subject of scratched records, it would appear that it is in your view perfectly all right for people to turn up en masse and have a serious and nasty go at others, but you not seem to allow the same latitude to people answering these posts lucidly and accurately. The "point" that "these people are screwing it up for the decent majority by their greed" has been made countless times and is being repeated with increasing nastiness. And it is simply untrue.

I'm not going anywhere, believe me.