Business Account - reclaiming bank charges

deedee2665

Valencia wrote: »

It's highly unlikely as HSBC are not refunding charges to business customers.

Arrangement fee - fee for setting up any borrowing (overdraft or loan)
Renewal fee - fee for renewing overdraft as overdraft is only in place for 12 months at a time
DR interest - debit interest - the interest you are charged when you are over your limit (i.e. in your overdraft)

Hiya sorry i have to disagree with you there hsbc are refunding business charges , we are claiming our business charges back from hsbc and have had an offer for this but turned it down because it was way to low .

deedee2665

This is what cag users are using as templates for business account reclaimers.

Business accounts should have refs to consumer law omitted from the POC
Here is a suggested temp.

The claimant has held a current account with the defendant, conducted on their
Standard terms and conditions since (DATE) , The defendant from
(DATE) to present day has applied charges to the claimant account,
totaling £XXXXX. The bank's charges are a disproportionate penalty and therefore unenforceable. Penalty charges are irrecoverable at common law. The precedent for this was Dunlop Pneumatic v New Garage [1915] AC 79.along with Murray v. Leisure play [2005] EWCA Civ 963. The claimant has repeatedly asked the bank to refund their charges or offer proof that they are true pre-estimate. They have declined to do so.

The claimant claims £XXXXX, being the sum unlawfully debited

The claimant claims interest pursuant to S69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the
rate of 8% per annum, being the sum of £XXXX

elorac07

thanks for your reply but I am still confused, is this the first letter you send when claiming the charges back?

donnat_3

I had a business account with hsbc untill recently when they closed it due to lack of funds. I had an overdraft and most of the time went over that. I have recieved my statements and after going through them most of the charges every month say Total Charges. How much of this do i claim back there is no breakdown of the charges. The statements just say Interest then underneath Total Charges, these vary from month to month. I also have card misuse and returned DD charges so i wasnt too sure what the total charges are and how much to claim back if i can.

Hope someone can enlighten me on this!!!!!!

StephenC_3

Donnat,

I have 2 HSBC Business accounts. I am claiming from one of them. Each month when you received your statement, there should have been another page or two which showed the breakdown of the charges for that month i.e. how many DD, SO, cheques written, monies paid in etc. for which you would be charged which is normal and can not reclaim. On top of that there is the "overdraft fee" (which you can reclaim). Unfortunately, if you haven't kept or got these extra pages, then you are going to have to go back to HSBC and SPECIFICALLY ask for the charges (you only asked for the statements).

Pain in the backside, I know!

On the normal statements, if you have had DD / SO / cheques recalled the charge for these is usually listed immediately afterwards.

Hope this helps. Keep chin up, the answers are all here!

StephenC

trinity4299

Has anyone applied to reclaim business account charges?

I was wondering if the same applied to a business account as it does a personal account? any help would be appreciated.

Many Thanks

calandergirl1111

:eek: I have an RBS Bus Acc. been with them for 7 yrs and happy. We are charged £10 per month whether in the red or black, 12 months a year. Obviously when the D/D and Chq charges etc, go above the £10 mark this charge increases upto around £20. Even Oct - Jan when there are only automated transaction (about 12 D/D @ 35p each etc) we pay the flat £10. My question is, Is this lawful regarding the recent coverage of account charges. Would it be possible to claim any of it back. (minimum of around £500 to claim).:mad:

LozBingley

The £10 sounds like a service charge and is lawful, sorry, but I've not quite got my head round what else you are saying here. Are you being charged default ('penalty') charges for not having funds for direct debits and standing orders or for using an unauthorised overdraft? Or is it just a 'low use' supplement to your monthly charge? (Think I'd move banks in that case!)

The 'penalty' (default) charges become unlawful when they exceed the cost to the bank, so if you are being charged more than say £2.50 per automated transaction and £4.50 per manual (cheque) transaction un a 'penalty' basis then they become unlawful. Although, knowing full well that none of these charges have little or no manual intervention in their application to an account, the banks can't really justify the £2.50 or £4.50 estimate!

Hope thats a little clearer for you. :rotfl:

JumpJet

Lloyds TSB has now entered a defence and I'd like someone who knows what they're doing to cast an eye over it please...

1. The defendant, Lloyds TSB Bank plc (the Bank) is a bank. It is admitted that the claimant has been a customer of the bank at all material times. The claim is not sufficiently pleaded and the bank reserves the right in due course to apply for the claim to be struck out or to amend this defense, or to require further particulars to be provided.

2. By opening a business account with the Bank, the customer enters into a commercial arrangement with the Bank for the provision of banking services. The Bank is entitled, as part of that arrangement, to charge for those services. At account opening a customer is provided with a Welcome Pack, which includes the Bank's charges leaflet. By using the account, the customer acknowledges that the charges are incorporated into the contract.

3. In the leaflet, in the section headed Unauthorised borrowing the bank explains that "If you overdraw your account or exceed an overdraft limit without prior agreement, a higher rate of interest is charged on this unauthorised borrowing. The rate is displayed in all branches. We may cover the additional work involved in monitoring your account by charging the fees detailed below.

Unauthorised borrowing fee: We charge this when you first overdraw your account, or go above the agreed overdraft limit by £50 or more. There will be a further charge each time you increase the amount borrowed by £50 or more, unless a higher limit is agreed with us or untill the account is within its existing limit or in credit. This fee will apply, for example, if you draw against cheques which have not fully cleared and this takes you overdrawn or over an agreed limit.

£12.50 Unpaid Item: We charge each time we have to return a cheque unpaid, or cannot pay a standing order or a direct debit, because there isn't enough money in your account."

By a letter of June 2005, the Bank gave notice of an increase in these charges to £15 and £35 respectively.

4. If the customer fails to ensure that there are sufficient cleared funds in the account to cover payments, whether by cheque, debit card, standing order or direct debit, the customer makes a request for payment to be made from the Bank's own funds. If the Bank makes payment, or returns the payment, it provides a service as specified in the leaflet and makes a charge in accordance with the terms of the contract.

5. There is no breach of contract; the charge cannot therefore be a penalty, consequently there is no requirement that the charge be a pre-estimate of the Bank's loss. It is denied that the charges are punative or that they unduly enrich the Bank.

6. The customer is given advance warning of charges being imposed; customers are warned by letter when they go overdrawn or over their agreed limit without arrangement with the Bank, that items will not be paid and that charges will be incurred. Notice is given of arrangement fees. Statements show the charges, if any, the customer has incurred during the course of a month, and which will appear as debits on the following month's statement.

7. It is denied that the Unfair Contract Terms Act or the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations apply to business customers, who are not contracting as customers, as required by the Act and the Regulations.

8. Without predujice to the matters pleased in paragraph 7 it is averred that the charges are fair and reasonable, and it is denied that they are unlawful.

9. Without prejudice to any other pleading in this Defence, it is not admitted that the sum claimed for charges and interest is correct.

10. In the premises:

10.1 the charges are for banking services, and are n ot damages nor a penalty;

10.2 the Bank is entitled by contract to impose the charges, which are fair and reasonable;

10.3 it is denied thjat the charges are unlwful or contravene any statute or regulation.

11. The Claimant's claim is denied.

So, that's it then. I haven't heard from the court yet. At what point and how do I go about asking the bank just what their actual costs for bouncing cheques and direct debits are? Their defence rets on their statement that their charges are "fair and reasonable", thay they are not penalties and they "do not unduly enrich the bank"! :rotfl: Also, what's this business about the regulations not applying to business customers?

Your help is needed please...

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Backs_One

Hi,
I have already successfully reclaimed some bank charges and would now like to start reclaiming them from my business account. At one point the bank were not charging a referral fee, but were charging £3.50 for every day I was over my overdraft limit. Am I able to claim for this. (The interst rate for the overdraft over my limit was considerably higher than that of of the pre arranged overdraft.)

Thanks