Can my wife reclaim bank charges??

gedimindtrick

My wife has got herself into a bit of a mess with her bank account. Since June 2010 she has been hit with bank charges every month due to her going over her Overdraft.

This initially was due to her not having enough money in to pay for a Direct Debit for her loan with the bank, but the bank still took the direct debit and charged her £15 + £10 per day she was over her limit!

They have since done the same thing every month but with either the bank charges or bank loan direct debit, so she has been paying charges of £200+ every month as a result of this, thus resulting in a vicious circle of debt each month. If she had told me earlier i could of sorted this out!

What I want to know is surely the bank should not be allowing DD or Charges to be taken from her account if there is insufficient funds in her account? But obviously they are allowing it as they know they will be getting charges everytime it happens.

Can someone please advise if it is worth trying to claim back the charges and what the process is??

Thanks,

Ged

Premier_2

gedimindtrick wrote: »

...What I want to know is surely the bank should not be allowing DD or Charges to be taken from her account if there is insufficient funds in her account? ...

What really shouldn't be happening is your wife authorising transactions she doesn't have the existing means to fund.

By doing so, she is effectively asking the bank to consider paying them even though she doesn't have the money herself, so asking for a loan. They will either agree to such a request (for which a fee applies) or deny such a request which, you've guessed it, a fee also applies.

Unless your household is in genuine financial hardship, I wouldn't bother wasting time trying to reclaim the charges she has incurred; better to spend the time and effort limiting it happening again

dunstonh

What I want to know is surely the bank should not be allowing DD or Charges to be taken from her account if there is insufficient funds in her account?

it is not the banks place to control your wife's spending. That is personal responsibility.

But obviously they are allowing it as they know they will be getting charges everytime it happens.

That isnt what goes through the mind of the account manager when he/she decides to pay the item or not.

In this case, its sound like a first time error. So paying the entry and notifying your wife seems the logical action for the bank to take. Also, the direct debit was to the bank so not paying it wasnt an option. it just puts her in debt in another department.

Can someone please advise if it is worth trying to claim back the charges and what the process is??

There is no process for claiming charges back. The banks won the court case and it put an end to claiming back effectively. She can ask them to refund money on the basis that it was a first time error. However, its possible what sympathy they might have had may not be as great now seeing as the problem started in June. She would be relying on their goodwill

I suggest you discuss with your wife how to run a bank account in future and that ignoring the issues is rarely a good idea.

gedimindtrick

i thought as much!