How will reclaiming bank charges impact banking discussion

michael1983l

Rex_Mundi wrote:

I think we'll see more banks doing what First Direct have done. Charge a monthly fee to hold an account. Currently, they are making £3 to £4 BILLION profit from these unlawful charges. They will find some way to recoup this profit.

In the risk of sounding slightly selfish here Im ok with them doing that as I qualify for free banking still and if it means I get my bank charges back then im all for it. However I do feel for the less well off people as again its the less privilidged people getting punished whilst the people with money get away with free banking. Now that sentiment does make my blood boil

THE_BANKER_6

It's not that simple. A horrible, horrible snowball effect can take place. Take my example, I changed jobs and my new payroll date was the 10 days late and I ended up with bank fees of £230 last month, now I've got to somehow save £230 this month so the same thing will not happen at the end of this month. This is coming from someone with far fewer expenses than families who needto decide will it be the bills and food or the excessive bank charge.


I hope that helps you to understand my view of the situation.[/QUOTE]

So youre telling me that if someone made a mistake and you had to pay then you wouldnt seek compensation from the company/the person that made the mistake?

Its not the banks fault that your pay was late, it was your companies, seek the money from them.

Rex_Mundi

THE_BANKER wrote:

Banks are there to make money. They are a business. Think about if it was your business. Sure you would look at it in a whole different light.

Through this whole process of claiming back charges. Nobody is saying that the banks shouldn't make a profit. It would be foolish to suggest any private company shouldn't be allowed to.

The issue regarding these charges is not about profit. It is purely about the banks acting within UK law. The law is pretty clear that....................

A) If a customer costs the bank money because of running his/her account badly, the bank can charge the customer to recoup the amount it cost the bank.
The bank cannot use this charge to fine, or profit from the customer.

If the banks had only charged their customers the amount it cost them each time a customer went overdrawn etc. They would have been acting lawfully, and no customer would be getting any of these charges back now. The fact that the banks wont allow any of these cases to go to court to decide if they are lawful, is like an admittance of guilt on their part.

THE_BANKER wrote:

So youre telling me that if someone made a mistake and you had to pay then you wouldnt seek compensation from the company/the person that made the mistake?

Its not the banks fault that your pay was late, it was your companies, seek the money from them.

It was the bank that applied unlawful charges of £230 in this instance, so any claim would be against them. If the person claimed this money back from his employer. The employer would have a good claim against the bank because they acted unlawfully in applying these punitive charges (not actual bank costs) when the companys mistake caused their employee to go overdrawn.

Rex_Mundi

This is nothing to do with compensation. This is about getting back the money that you have overpaid to the bank. The reason you are allowed to do this is because the amounts the banks have been charging is not allowed under contract and common law. There is a big difference between reclaiming your overpayments (as set out in law), and claiming money that you have never paid to the bank (compensation) because of the way they've treated you. The analogy between the NHS and what the banks are doing is completely irrelevent and misleading.

The interest claimed back (8%) is nothing to do with bank charges. It is allowed for any claim through the county court in pursuit of a debt (s69 County Courts Act). If the bank settled the claim before it gets to court. The interest doesn't apply, and the bank doesn't have to pay any. The banks could reduce their costs massively with these actions by either settling the claims before a court claim is issued, or by going all the way in court and proving what they are doing is lawful. Some claims are settled early (therefore not paying interest and court fees), but many more claims (1000s) are settled only after a court claim is issued, and before the case gets in front of a judge. If the banks are acting lawfully, why are they not fighting every one of these cases in front of a judge? Maybe it's because they know they have been caught out now, and don't have a (legal) leg to stand on regarding these charges.

carrielouise80

Hi all,

My dmp should start in February, is it a good idea to start claiming bank charges or not? If not how long should I wait? If yes where should I start?
What's the process, please? Just a quick description.
Many thanks in advance,
TAJ :j

I have asked a similar question in the first discussion on this page I am also hoping for a response to my post!

NeilW wrote:

One thing I've not heard mentioned is that this campaign may help change banks directions.

At the moment it is in their interest not to help people out because they make money out of it in charges

So banks would rather bounce transactions than cash them and charge interest because there is £35 in it, rather than 35p. That causes a ripple effect across the entire economy - stuff doesn't get bought, charges and costs accrue throughout the supply chain and even tax doesn't get paid. All because a bank wants to be greedy and obstructive rather than doing their job.

Remember that a banks job is to lend money That is ostensibly the business that it is in. These illegal charges mean that the bank makes more money out of the business of imposing charges than the business of lending money. That is just wrong.

Let's have a look at a few examples.

- Debiting accounts and bouncing transactions before crediting cleared funds on the same day. Why? Because it gets them charges and no other reason (there would be no interest in this case).

- The complicated and slow transaction clearing system. Primarily this is there so that the banks can make millions while your money is in limbo, but they also make a ton of cash out of charges. The difference between the total balance and cleared balance on an account is quite simply confusing to most people. Confusion leads to mistakes and mistakes lead to charges.

In my view this push to eliminate charges is a wake up call to the banks that they need to change their systems into one that *enables* transactions and business to happen wherever possible rather than one that tries to shut things down all the time. And the way to do that is to make sure that it costs them money to be obstructive.

So by reclaiming your bank charges you are giving a shot in the arm to the economy by forcing the banks to be enablers of business rather than destroyers of it.

NeilW

I would maybe suggest looking up the 'clearing cycle' on the big world wide wonderweb, so you understand the procedure and that should answer your query above about cheques.

Banks are there to make money. They are a business. Think about if it was your business. Sure you would look at it in a whole different light.

I am a fortunate one that manages my money and have NEVER EVER had any charges.

If you dont go overdrawn, you wont get charged. Quite simple really.

I think this is a really good thread and I have put some of my views on here too as they were being missed on the thread I put them on (the joys of being new to the forum) This is some of my opinion -

"The bank I work for have really good products and most of the time seem really fair, I guess like most banks. I have done customer services and also been an adviser doing loans and mortgages. Obviously I don't want to say who I work for but it is a big name o.k, in my opinion and from what I hear, one of the better banks.

I annoyed a few managers in the past by not processing loans etc for some customers because in my opinion it wouldn't have been the best thing for them. I believe in giving good, honest customer service and am there to work for me, doing a job I enjoy, not look after shareholders and rip people off - so now that is clear here are some of my thoughts.

There are some people who get charges that in my opinion are wrong especially if it is a one off occasion and they have had an oversight or there have been unforseen circumstances. I follow our complaint procedures at branch level and 9 times out of 10 I get the charge waived or refunded. We are told to say it is a gesture of goodwill, those customers are really happy and to be honest I have had lots of service awards for my customer service. I rarely ever find those people again ever getting charges.

Then there are some people who are clearly struggling and have being over limits for a couple of months and generally spending what they don't have which worries me and I just can't see how people will do that and get themselves in a position of financial difficulty. Again if there is no history of refunds etc and they are nice and want help then I go out of my way to do what I can. I do suggest they have their circumstances reviewed but I only do this if I know we can genuinely do soemthing to help them and really save them money. Those customers again are really happy and one example is that one customer recently took my advice to have a review with one of our advisers and has saved themselve over £150 per month on their borrowing and we have reduced their mortgage and insurance payments too and that is now going through. A very happy customer. Due to them sorting out their finances with our help we have refunded a lot of their charges again we are told to say it is a gesture of goodwill.

Then I deal with those customers who refuse to take advice, have a review and end up being in a situation where we are not able to do anything to help them. The abuse I get on the phone is upsetting and the language used is appalling, if I spoke like that to a customer I would get sacked. My point is that some people incurr charges and when they relaise their situation it frightens them and they want to do something about it. Those that don't care and continue to spend, live above their means, remortgage with high interest debt lenders and still continue to spend. I am amazed at the number of people who don't keep an eye on what they spend and issue switch transactions all over the place without thinking "that money still has to debit my account" and when there is no money to cover direct debits they ring in and shout at me and expect the bank to pay it no questions!!!. Somewhere things have broken down - people are burying their heads in the sand and now jumping on the band wagon as they think they can get their money back - all I say is good luck to you, do it if you can and if that is how you feel - but step back and ask yourself are you really going to take control of your own finances and not let this happen again?

A recent example was 5 months ago I proved to a customer that we could save him over £400 per month, a customer who had just started to incurr charges. I got one lot refunded "as goodwill" (yes the banks favourite word!) and had a good lengthy chat about his situation. An appointment was booked for him but he never showed. I called to re-book and he said no he would sort it himself. He continued to request overdraft increasses and refuse to come in for a review each time. To cut a long story short I stayed in touch with this customer as he continued to go over his limits and incurr charges each month and now is in such a state that we can not do anything to help. His overdraft is maxed out his credit cards above limits and charges all over. Why did this customer not let us help him? This really does worry and frighten me and then really upsets me when I have to deal with their anger and abuse.

I think Martin is doing an excellent job to alert us ALL to shop around and stand up for what is right but as individuals we do have to take some responsibility. A lot of products have been missold over the years from various institutions and even I know of colleagues who have done things that aren't right and it is wrong and it is because of these things that we are getting a bad name. I felt I had to post as I work so hard to help people and want to educate people and teach them things and get them to take responsibility for their actions too - you wouldn't go into a supermarket, fill your trolley and walk out and say I'll pay you when I have the money" but that is what some people expect banks to do - foot their lifestyle, I am talking about those who just issue switch payments etc not those with difficult circumstances. I am not judging, just going off experience on a daily basis.

I ask a question, if banks reduce charges and people claim all this money back, will this be an end to it? I say NO. In my opinion there will always be those people who live beyond their means and still get charges.

As consumers, and even I do it, we need to shop around to get the best deal for our individual needs. When your bank offers help go and get the information, afterall it is free information and then compare it to whoever you want to. Please don't shout and scream and swear and upset an innocent member of staff who is just doing their best to help you - I understand you feel sometimes that member of staff is just hindering you and some do I know that, I am not stupid. Remember to find a solution together - the stress is not worth it and if it means you end up writing letters to get your charges back then go for it. I can't speak for every branch of the bank I work for only the ones I have worked in and those have been great at listening to our customers, we are not all bad.

Sorry it has been a long post but there is so much going on at the moment and I needed to let off steam too, I had 4 abusive calls yesterday yet I persisted and got all 4, yes all 4 resolved. Customers a lot happier, 1 I know will be o.k but in a couple of months 2 will be back at square 1 - so who is responsible for that.

Martin, keep up the good work on here as alot of people do ring me quoting things from this site and information is everything and it is key to sorting things out.

I don't always like what my bank says or does but I have a job to do, but I tweak it where I can as my main priority is to help those that really need help and for those that won't help themselves I still do the best I can, explain things clearly and tell them what they need to do next ,

Some of us are here to help and explain and I enjoy my job, you the customer make my day whether angry or happy, it makes me do my job"

Rex_Mundi wrote:

I think we'll see more banks doing what First Direct have done. Charge a monthly fee to hold an account. Currently, they are making £3 to £4 BILLION profit from these unlawful charges. They will find some way to recoup this profit.

Just wanted to say with working in a bank that we have to be very careful not to discriminate - we have a really basic account for those thathave poor credit, no income etc and there would be no way we could impose a charge on those types of account. The accounts we have fees for are excellent if you use the benefits but there is a standard one too with no fee or no monthly income limit.

I agree though that if the banks are going to lose money then they will have to recoup it somehow but personally I get a feeling things are being rumbled and the bank will still be able to impose charges, the way our referral process of refunds at branch level has changed and that indicates something is going on

The reclaiming of charges has introduced the end of free banking.

I haven't reclaimed any of my charges. I will get penalised because others have done. I'm actually quite shocked that Martin still puts his name behind this, as he knows full well he's pushing us into the waters of having to pay for banking.

How does that make any of us better off? The only people who may be better off here are those who have claimed over £1000 back. Those people should have sorted themselves out ages ago. If it was me getting charged over and over again I would get myself down the bank, ask for a 1k loan to get my head above water.

Let's remember, assuming you have an overdraft, which most people do, your already using the banks money. You then want to go over this overdraft and spend more of the banks money which you have not agreed to, but you complain when you get charged. It's insane.

How would you personally feel if someone had access to YOUR money. You saw them take their sum that you agreed to, yet they are not ever paying it back, so your down. Sure, your getting some monthly interest. But then they take even more, dipping into more of your money which you have not agreed to them doing so. So, you put a stop to it. It's cost you in time, lost money etc so you want to get that money back in terms of a charge. Would you really think 'its ok, they have used my money, but I'm only going to charge the amount used for my time and my costs, so they can do it all over again, so that each week I'm doing the same thing over and over again making no money......hang on you think, why did I help these people?

No one in their right mind would be happy with someone else dipping into their account balance when they felt like it and YOU having to pick up the pieces.

Then that person comes to you and charges YOU for you letting them use your funds and you have to pay out, making a complete loss for your time, your resources and them money you lent them.

Don't sound very good now does it.

This is what you are doing to the banks and its wrong. It's the 'I'm not responsible for myself' culture and it's getting worse.

All of us who look after ourselves, sort out loans, sor out money to stop this happening are now being punished by monthly bank charges.

I realise this whole snowballing effect. Quite simply though (and this is in no way meant to upset anyone or anything) if you are being charged month in month out, if you have reclaimed charges to the tune of £500 upwards....your very very simply living beyond your means. Only YOU can stop this, only YOU can sort this out. No one else is going to do this for you.

Yes, I have been charged in the past. Yes, I was living beyond my reasonable means. No, I haven't gone running to the bank to get my charges back.

The one and ONLY reason I got charged is because I went passed the terms of the agreement.

You can't just sit there being charged month in month out. Something has to be done. Whether that be a loan, selling stuff, getting a lodger in, selling your car and renting a car if you desperately need one.

It's getting harder and harder to live in this country, rising prices everywhere, I understand that, but were all in the same boat, not all of us live beyond our means though.

All of us will now be punished.

I'm certainly not going to speak for Martin but I do suggest you read the first part of his article regarding the reclaiming of Bank Charges

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1141050760,24632,

I'm amazed that some people seem to be suggesting that it's OK for the banks to ignore the law, and charge people what they want.

I've got no charges to claim myself, no credit card deficit (we save up first if we want to buy something), no loans, and no debt (except for a £10,000 mortgage). All the claims I'm dealing with personally are for other people (currently against five different banks).

This action of people asserting their rights (as set out by law) has not come too soon IMO. The banks are allowed by law to cover any costs they are caused by people running their account badly, but they are not doing this. They are using this opportunity to charge a dispropportionate amount of what amounts to pure profit. It is this extra charge that is not allowed under contract and common law.

If my bank started charging me for just having my accounts, and I don't like the charges applied. I will be using this site, and the information in Martins articles to find the best, and cheapest option for me. Then I'll move banks. This is exactly what this site is about, being informed about the many choices out there, and doing something about it rather than just put up with a bad situation. I'm glad that consumer power is alive and well on this site!

Where does 'consumer power' turn into 'Compensation Nation' though? I think this power your talking about is spiraling into the compensation nation very quickly.

Millions of NHS money is now wasted on Health & Safety. Operations seen a dangeroud but could be health saving are now not undertaken due to fear of being sue'd. My own local authority (of which I work for) could have run a hospital for half a year JUST on the claims they were forced to pay out from stupid, insane 'I'm out for what I can get...look my wound is infected, let's sue' culture.

Sueing because they were not seen in a certain time frame, because the doc got a round diagnosis, because they were not referred to the right place in the right time.

Hospitals start closing down to pick up the defecit. Those who claimed are up in arms as well as the other people.

NHS has to pay millions in health and safety measures, more coming along each year.

Did you know were no longer allowed cuddly toys, toys of any type will soon dissapear. One child choked after his mum left him to eat a teddy. Kid was fine, doctors saw to him, he got the attention he needed. She then sue'd for £10,000 compensation due to stress because of the event. Thats £10,000 of yours, mine, our money. Was she not responsible for looking after her kid and watching them? Seems not.

Are we not responsible for looking after our money and living within our means? Seems not.

I know I'm talking NHS here but this relates to this claiming back charges. Its the same thing, compensation, which leads to us ALL paying. Whether that be in loss of services, higher charges elsewhere etc.

It's all relative. I believe your not only claiming charges, but also interest on the charges?

I know I'm not going to stop it, but I can put across my point of view.

It's not consumer power in the slightest, it's compensation nation.

I can't obviously speak for everyone but in my case and my girlfriend's we've seen the error of our ways and have changed our spending habbits. However claiming back the illegal charges helped get us back on our feet and to stop this whole thing happening again.

The banks have been planning to implement current account fees for some time, this is just their way of increasing their profits. Let's face it the overdraft charges make up a small amount of their profits anyway. As Rex_mundi says, if they are illegal then why are they charging such high rates, they could have easily avoided this themselves.

The NHS is in deficit because of the millions of pounds they've stupidly spent on recruitment companies not just because of people asking claiming compensation.

Can I just point out that bank charges are not illegal, it is the amounts being charged that have been deemed as being unlawful.

Edinburghlass wrote:

Can I just point out that bank charges are not illegal, it is the amounts being charged that have been deemed as being unlawful.

Yep sorry, your right. They could still avoid this though.

The reclaiming of charges has introduced the end of free banking

When did that happen - did I miss it?

All I've seen is First Direct introduce a fee for customers who don't have its other products in order to get people who have dead accounts to close them. Where else has free banking ended.

Not in truth that we've ever had free banking anyway - we've always had no charges (just pitiful interest) if you're in credit.

Why do I support this? Well the unlawful automatic deduction of money from many people struggling to cope anyway seems a pretty good thing to fight to me.

There's a lot more on my views in both the bank charge secondary article (as linked to above) and the First Direct article

Martin

Never expected an actual response from Martin!

But, this is what I am talking about:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=411250&in_page_id=2

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/campaigns/bankcharges/article.html?in_article_id=412361&in_page_id=507

interestingly a friend of mne is a bank manager and he tells me that when he first started working as manager ( around 10 yrs ago ) every time you phoned the manager ( or he phoned you )it was logged and timed and then charged at the end of a quarter ( or year ) in accordance to how long he spoke with you . This practice has now finished ( to my knowledge ) but after being with this certain bank i was never made aware of this charge ?

has anyone else ever heard this ???

well done you can claim charges back from any credit agreement whether it be catalogues/bank account/loan agreement/credit cards. Good luck

carrielouise80 wrote:

well done you can claim charges back from any credit agreement whether it be catalogues/bank account/loan agreement/credit cards. Good luck

Thanks for your help. I wrote to my credit card companies a while ago now requesting statements. Because these cards are defaulted and handed over to debt collectors - would I have to write to these other companies instead?

I've moved these posts and will just find the thread that has the answers to this.

thank you!! you are the only one i have seen that is actually talking sense i agree.

I'm sure Martin will be pleased to hear that

i agree with adam its just pure laziness stop blaiming the banks for your failures to manage your account

I suggest you actually read Martin's article...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1141050760,24632,

and in particular this bit before judging everyone.

• Then the charges snowball. Imagine you go over your overdraft once and are then charged fines for bounced cheques and direct debits. This leaves you £100 down, a sum you can’t afford to repay, leading to more fines the next month, and so it continues, snowballing. This tragic scenario can put people thousands in debt for one simple mistake (read one woman’s story in my blog).

This board is not disimilar to the Debt Free Wanna board in that it is here to help people, personally I have spent the entire day on here doing just that, and while this thread is here to discuss the impact on banking, it is not here for name calling.

Please also read this post of Martin's

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/announcement.html?f=76

Banks terms do state there will be a charge if you go overdrawn without permission, but they also state that the terms will abide by any relevent laws in the country. As it stands, the amount of the charges do not comply with the law. This is the only issue about bank charges, not whether there should be charges or not.

rex, even if the charges decreased to £10 or £12 people would still complain about the amount. as said before if people maintained their accounts then their wouldnt be a problem, if it is your first charge then go to your bank and they will understand it is your first and reverse your charge why leave it to snowball out of control. it is there to deter so the amount shouldnt be a issue if you maintained the account well.

***Board Guide note***

I've noticed while un-merging this thread that a few posts have actually been merged into this one post as I can see at least two of my own posts in carrielouise80 post, sorry about this to the other posters.

little_bear_3

xnetco wrote:

I can't obviously speak for everyone but in my case and my girlfriend's we've seen the error of our ways and have changed our spending habbits. However claiming back the illegal charges helped get us back on our feet and to stop this whole thing happening again.

Well done to you both for getting yourselves sorted. With working in a bank now for 6 years I am really happy that you have done it. I just hope many others will learn from what you have done.

What you have done is something I asked in a previous post about will people change if they get charges back IMO not many will but you have proved that there are some out there who will and learn and move on - so a huge well done to you.

MiserlyMartin

I agree with Graham. From this is money:"The UK is one of the only countries in the world to still offer free current accounts. Most European counties, America and Australia charge a monthly fee for holding a current account, as well as cheque-handling fees." And this is very true.

Its not very often that I disagree with Martin Lewis, but this is one issue where I can't agree with him. I'm also shocked he is supporting this. The axing of free banking is on par with the axing of free cash machines. Which, by the way could also be another way the banks could get their profits back. Its all very well screwing the banks back, problem is they have power and they can screw you back by other ways. Martin talks about the poor interest offered by banks, this is not so with Halifax and Nationwide current accounts to name just a few great interest paying current accounts. Now those could disappear.

In the USA and Australia - an interest paying current account!!?! A very rare thing. They pay you to have a current account? No, you pay them for the priviledge of having one.

I agree that the fees charged don't represent the costs incurred by the banks in you going overdrawn etc and yes they are excessive. Perhaps what will come out of this is a large reduction in charges and a increase in overdraft and credit card interest rates. The money charged will be the same overall but just a bit more honest in it not being 'a fee for nothing'

But if we do lose free banking, all you people who have supported this - don't moan about your monthly bank account fees.

Tim_L

Banks have wanted to introduce charges in the UK for years - it's an obvious income stream. They have so far failed because there is vicious competition in the banking sector, and for every big bank wanting to charge users there is a Halifax after market share.

You can ignore FD - this is just a mixture of a kite flying exercise by HSBC and a marketing campaign managing to avoid incentive payments for buying new products with them by charging people if they don't - neat trick. It is amazingly easy to avoid this charge.

Banks have even tried to impose charges by snob value - the so-called 'personal accounts' or by providing a fee based account with packaged benefits (of which some might be attractive, but most aren't). But these remain niche products.

The current campaign by the banks (ably aided by people like Graham who seem to have a fixation with the idea that getting your own money back when it shouldn't ever have been taken is the thin end of the wedge being driven into the British way of life) is to claim that free banking must end because they are not being allowed to charge fees for the "service" of fleecing those in marginal difficulties for hundreds of pounds. This is pure nonsense - if the banks were just charging costs for transgression then there could be no question of them subsidising other peoples' current accounts. "These people" (as they are often referred to) are already paying interest on their loans and their overdrafts - the traditional way of paying the price of debt - and the bank is in no more danger of default if someone is sixpence below their overdraft limit or sixpence above it. But as others have noted, being debited a couple of hundred pounds in charges for a small transgression pretty much guarantees that cashflow will be difficult from then on and creates a vicious spiral. There's a heartrending description on these boards of a single mother on benefits who was charged more than her benefit payments for a single transgression - supporting any organisation that does this smacks of the worst excesses of Ebenezer Scrooge.

I have 6 current accounts - just opened 2 more at Christmas. There is NO SIGN WHATSOEVER of charges being applied to these accounts at any point. If there were I would either close the offender and open another, or (if it were useful to me to keep it open) I would pay the tenner a month without whinging about it. If there is a cost attached to operating a current account it is only fair that I, as the user of it, should pay it rather than someone in financial difficulties.

Quite how health and safety regulations can be dragged into this argument is beyond me. But clearly this issue is the line in the sand behind which a lot of lurking resentments and perceived slights have been half buried. It's pathetic really.

Tootsie_Roll

Possibly the most telling sentence in the article is this - 'We must all learn to behave defensively with our banks, understanding how and when charges operate and modify our behaviour to deal with them'.

As I and many others predicted we are now seeing posts from people who are on at least their second round of recaliming charges as clearly they haven't learned from past mistakes. What many of us who have worked in the banking profession know is that they have most likely been 'offending' in this way for years and will never learn. Together with the re-claimers who have previously included their overdrafts in bankruptcies and are now trying to make a quick buck they are just making a mockery of the whole process.

As I have stated over and over again - it is very easy for everyone, regardless of their financial circumstances to avoid paying charges - all it requires is a little thought and to take some responsibility for your own actions. Sadly as a nation we are dumbing down and trying to remove as much responsibility from our own lives as possible. The re-claim campaign is a classic example of this.

nicky1142

re bank charges

In your terms and conditions when you open a bank account it clearly writes that if you go overdrawn on your account then you will get a charge, if you fail to pay a direct debit then you will get a charge yet that wasnt a problem and you opened the account. Now after you signed on the doted line you dont like it and want your money back. I can understand if it is your first charge becasue mistakes can happen but 100plus that is your own fault you should have learnt from your mistake. if you dont like paying charges that maintain your account properly then you wont be moaning that you have to pay loads of charges it is as simple as that. banks would be stupid to pay all that money back becuase all it is saying is that you dont have to take responsibilty to take care, charges are there to deter you. you break the terms and conditions then there is a penalty. I know i wont go over my overdraft becuase i could get a charge so i dont go spending £100 when i know i only have 20p in the account how simple is that. you cannot say that you didnt know how much you had because that is why there is atm machines, the internet and the phone. There is no excuse for the lack of care people have with their accounts. Even if the banks decreased the amount of the charges to £12 people will still moan becuase people are stupid and cannot manage their finances, that is not the banks fault that is your own so stop blaiming the banks step up pay the charges and move on. its common sense.