Did you know? Credit card companies give you one free hit.

zcaprd7

Just say it is illegal to apply fines and penalties and you'll be seeking legal advice...If only I had the bottle!

Best way is to vote as only consumers can and close the account and walk away - telling as money potential customers of your experience.

securityman

Just got a charge from Lloyds for the money not being there for a DD to abbey for my mortgage. I paid it in the same day it comes out.

Just phone Lloyds and got the fee remove, got to phone abbey back to see if they will.

You have done it again MSE, saved me about £50.

davidcampbell

peterbaker wrote:

If you have missed a payment or meant to pay in full before the pay by date and missed it by a few days incurring a wodge of interest, whatever the reason just be honest and use your charm!
)

well said peter

from the other side (dealing with charges on customers account) you are far more likely to receive some leeway from the person you deal with if you give a honest reason as to what happened and a bit of courtesy.

rammell

A legal precedent was set last week which now enables customers to claim they've been unfairly treated if you can show that the penalty you've faced is disproportionate to the "obligation" that you failed to make.

For example, if you're obliged to pay your monthly bill by a certain date and you miss the payment, then by law, the financial penalty must be in proportion to the misdemeanour committed and to any costs incurred by the bank. The relevany regulations are the Unfair Terms of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 and this was clarified in the case of Hone versus Abbey Bank (Abbey charged a customer £40 for missing a payment and they lost the case).

I quoted this ruling in a letter to American Express last week (they cancelled my Membership Rewards when they closed my account due to 2 missed payments) and they've just re-imbursed me my 30,000 points.