Whats the deal on consumer recovery specialists?

Ropey_3

javorb wrote:

i know i can split but after spending days on these forums i am not sure if i can claim against them in english courts ,if not max scottish claim is £1500,unless i go for the full claim in an ordinary court

If they have an office in England and you have an address you can use in England, you can take them to an English court.

I'm not sure why people are thinking about using third party claimants. How hard is sending a letter every couple of weeks? If you hold on, your bank will refund all your money and, if they leave it too long, all the interest and fees. Plus, it's fun.

asandwhen

I am thinking of going to the above company to claim back my charges - mainly due to the fact that I dont really understand the process and want a quick resolution - If i had have done it myself I wouldnt have calculated the interest and beleive that this will cover there costs anyway.

Has anyone dealt with this company? are they any good?

Rex_Mundi

They charge 40% of what they get back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a rip off!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. Haven't you got any friends that could help you along the process? With a friends help, and the advice from here, and over at CAG. You can make this claim for nothing, then maybe treat your friend to a big night out once you're successful.

asandwhen

They say that they can add up to 29.9% interest is this true?

Rex_Mundi

asandwhen wrote:

They say that they can add up to 29.9% interest is this true?

They can only charge this on the unauthorised overdraft interest. This interest will typically be only a very very small part of the total amount of charges claimed. Having had a look around, I see that the banks differ a lot for unauthorised overdraft rates. If a bank charges 9.9% (the lowest rate I've seen) for this, I can't see how this company can claim back 29.9% for the same charge.

i_am_really_rich!!

I just got £1500 plus costs and interest back. 2 letters, one MCOL claim, in just over a month. Easy peasy!!

cybersavvy

Just been pointed to this site by Greasy Palm http://unfairbankcharge.co.uk

Thought I should point out to anyone tempted by getting someone else to do all the work that the home page says:

Our fee is 25% this includes our professional management of your case plus underwriting all associated legal and court costs.

However, the About us page says

http://unfairbankcharge.co.uk/about_us.php

About Us

We believe that banks should not abuse their customers with excessive, unlawful fees.

Unfair Bank Charge has been set-up to raise consumer awareness of penalty charges.

We also help introduce consumers to a carefully selected panel of specialist service providers who can save you the time and hassle of reclaiming your unfair charges.

I would be a little concerned not knowing who was handling my case and my personal and financial details. If this site is genuine, which it may be, adding far more info about the people involved would be a very good idea.

In the meantime, I'll keep going on my own!

Edinburghlass_2

Website only set up recently, has affiliate links so of course GreasyPalm are going to head people in that direct as they will get a kickback from anyone using it.

An affiliate link to this website has already been removed from here today.

I hasten to add that this link doesn't have an affiliate link but to warn that any that do get posted on this website will be removed.

edited to remove the website from the thread title

***Board Guide note, a second affiliate linked post has been removed today from this forum***

Rex_Mundi

cybersavvy wrote:

Unfair Bank Charge has been set-up to raise consumer awareness of penalty charges.

I don't agree with the statement above. This site has been set up (last month, Dec 2006) to try and cash in on people reclaiming bank charges, and make the site owner a lot of money. 25% of your total claim is a ridiculous amount to pay someone for a service that you can easily do for free yourself (along with all the free advice you need at each stage from this site).

It seems their marketing tactic is to use affiliates (like Greasypalm), and their own affiliate program (I've already removed one affiliate link for this site today).

Sites like moneysavingexpert, consumeractiongroup, bankchargeshell, and penaltycharges are the sites that are trying to raise awareness of these charges by offering a completely free source of information and support regarding these charges. Sites like unfairbankchargesripoff, are just trying to make money for the owner. If they truly wanted to raise awareness, they would publish all the information for free (like Martin has done in his article and this board).

LFD

I want ro reclaim my bank charges but cannot face the prospect of doing so myself. I therefore want to employ a specialist but I am very wary of who is above board and who is not, after all I would be providing them with personal details, bank account numbers etc.
Does anybody know of a reliable specialist, who does not charge the earth, I can use?

Lisa D