This might be contoversial but...

manofthemoment

Why do people think they have a divine right to get all this money back. Banks have to manage their money to make money for the shareholders. If their customers abuse their accounts by borrowing from them without permission and spending irresponsibly, then this stops them from managing their business effectively. The terms of bank accounts, loans and credit cards are set out and you agree to them when you take out the product, so how can you complain when the charges are applied.

OK I got myself in debt, but I only missed one credit card payment and I got charged 30 quid, its a fair cop I missed the payment so I paid the fee without grumbling and made sure I payed it promptly the next time. Once when I was about to go past my overdraft limit I got off my !!!! and went to the bank to ask them for a temporary extension so that I was not borrowing without permission. They granted it and I had no extra charges applied. If you have these charges it is probably because you didn't do anything about it, so effectively you were using someone else's money without their permission. The charges have acted as a detterant for me stay within my limits, I don't think they should be considered unlawful because this will add to the culture of 'consequence free spending' that we are seeing at the moment.

Richard_Hodgey

Cheers for that. Changed my life it has.

The_Bride

Probably not the wisest thread to post on this board.

Numpty_2

Indeed Richard.

However there is a part of me that agrees, however the issue I have with the charges is the charges on charges - £30 for a DD faliure (which was only for £20) which pushes the account over the overdraft limit, so get an overlimit fee, then the DD is represnted, and so another DD faliure fee - so we're up to £90 all for forgetting to transfer £20 over. Every month without fail we have £30-£150 of charges on our joint account, largely because one month we didnt have enough in there, and so we have to pay catch up every subsequent month

Rex_Mundi

No one is saying there shouldn't be any charge, but the charge applied should be reasonable, and only enough to cover the banks costs. Under the law, they are not allowed to fine you if you go overdrawn. They are only allowed to cover their costs. We have seen many cases where people have gone £1 over their limit, and been charged £30 for going over their limit, and another £30 because the DD/cheque/payment was stopped. This is in no way a fair and reasonable charge, and can't in anyway reflect the true cost to the bank.

The banks have been getting away with this unlawful practice for many years now. If they were acting within the law, they would have taken every single case to court and won instead of settling out of court to stop their practises, and their true costs being disclosed. The sheer fact that they are settling before a court hearing in the vast majority of cases must surely indicate that the banks must feel that they don't have a strong case to explain their actions, and stand a good chance of losing the claim in court.

robnye

hear hear rex mundi - just what i was going to say

manofthemoment

Numpty, thats unfair I agree, you should not have to suffer because of one mistake. You should be able to claim back charges when they are obviously unfair and good luck to anyone that has a valid case. I suppose I just have an issue because I feel that some people do not want to take responsibility. I am about 10k in debt and I believe that the first stage in getting out of it is for me to take personal responsibility for my situation. I spent the money that wasn't mine, I'll pay it back. I'll pay the interest I agreed to pay when I signed the forms and I'd pay the charges as well if I didn't stay within the limits. If you got charged because you were irresponsible then live with it and take responsiblity, if it was unfair I hope you get your money back. But, I don't think I would ever get out of debt without taking complete responsibilty for the situation I'm in.

aderbyshirelad

Gee, someone must be bored...

The banks are perfectly entitled to charge for such "abuses" of the terms and conditions to cover their costs. What they are not allowed to do is penalise those customers who have exceeded those terms and conditions. There is no way they can justify a £30 fee being the cost to themselves of processing etc. Such a charge is in fact a nice little money earner for them and is indeed an illegal penalty. If you are happy to be taught a lesson by someone else breaking the law, well lord have mercy on your soul.

Numpty_2

You and me both manofthemoment - as you can see from my signature I have a large amount of debt, but I am working to pay it back, and believe that its fair I do. However for most there is give and take. My husband is struggling to sort his debts at the moment, and wrote to his bank asking for a meeting to see the best way to restructure, what did they do slap £170 of bank charges on this month - so he's being proactive, but they arent interested, and I'm fed up of trying and trying every month to be in a better position that the last, to have people who could, and have been requested to help me to !!!! on me from a great height - well for once I can do it back.

nickmack

No one thinks they are entitled to all the money back.

However, because banks refuse to disclose their actual costs, they are settling for the full amount.

clint1974

£30 for sending a letter? I take issue with that.