What charges? (merged threads)

wood1e

many thanks for that...I am really annoyed now as I was charged £100 for excess last month...!!! So I am now going to count up five years worth...:)

nickmack

thecornflake wrote:

If I may correct you slightly there, the OFT did not say it was a fair amount for anything. The £12 is the threshold beyond which the OFT will get involved themselves. They stated it is not an indication of what is fair and it is for the courts to decide (if there ever ends up being a proper test case).

Apparently a judge recently deemed £5 to be fair (in the absence of any information on costs being provided by the company) in a case of someone against Egg, but this has not been confirmed.

It is a myth that the OFT said £12 is a fair limit and a lot of banks/credit card companies are using this to offer settlements based on refunding back to £12 per charge.

The law is no different for either types of company, in that they can only claim liquidated losses for breach of contract which in the case of penalty charges would be pennies as it's all automated.

Unless any company actually shows evidence of their costs (which they won't) they have no basis for anything other than a full refund of all charges.

You are correct in most of what you say, but the fair/unfair interpretation is actually mentioned by the OFT in their press release:

"Where credit card default charges are set at more than £12, the OFT will presume that they are unfair, and is likely to challenge the charge unless there are limited, exceptional business factors in play. A default charge is not fair simply because it is below £12."

http://www.oft.gov.uk/News/Press+releases/2006/68-06.htm

rachelstephens

hi, i know this is a stupid question but i just want to check before i send letters out etc.

am i right in thinking i can't claim for the interest my bank charges me when i am overdrawn? how about the additional interest they charge me when i go over my overdraft limit?

i am assuming i can only claim the fixed charges they whack on when i go over my limit, but i need to check.

i would really appreciate some guidance, i am getting confused and can't find the answer anywhere else (probably because it is so obvious!)

thanks, rachel

long_tom

Must I look for the overdraft bank charges in the statements ?

nickmack

You need to compile a list of the charges and itemise these with date, charge name and amount for your claim.

long_tom

nickmack wrote:

You need to compile a list of the charges and itemise these with date, charge name and amount for your claim.

Thank you nick

jas135

i am going through my bank account statements and picking out all the unpaid dd charges . OD interest has been taken off my account at the end of each quarter , however it dosent state whether or not it is unauthorised interest or not ?? During the quarter , i may have breached my overdraft limit on several occasions . Has anyone come across this and how did it resolve ?

Is a bank allowed to charge well above base rate for authorised intertest on an overdraft facility ?

emmalou_2

you cant claim back the OD interest ones sorry!

Edinburghlass_2

Check this thread for what can be claimed ...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=304064

rachelstephens

hi, when i go over my overdraft limit in my Smile account they charge me £5 a day and also a £15 "service fee". i saw the prog last night and they seemed to be saying a "service fee " wouldn't be justified (and especially i would hope seeing as Smile never write to tell me i am over my limit, they just wait for me to notice!)

has anyone had experience of reclaiming these fees from Smile, any help much appreciated!

cheers, rachel