Packaged account mis-selling victims can claim compensation

meepee

I've been paying my bank £ 20 per month and when i queried it they told me it was for having an overdraft with them. Can I claim? Please help?

bipper

meepee wrote: »

I've been paying my bank £ 20 per month and when i queried it they told me it was for having an overdraft with them. Can I claim? Please help?

How does it appear on you statement and do you have an overdraft you regularly use?

money_maker_2

arcoiris81 wrote: »

There are many reasons why people can be befuddled by the selling of these products. It could be that somebody is going through a vulnerable time - often financial difficulties (like the need for a loan or overdraft) are the point at which these products are pushed, and often financial difficulties are associated with other stresses such as loss of a loved one, change in employment, moving home, etc. When a nice lady in the branch says "this is the best option for you" then it's very easy to follow the line of least resistance and sign up. Being in a vulnerable position doesn't relieve people from being responsible for their own actions I'm afraid. Its easy to listen to pushy sales reps if you're desperately in debt, but its just as easy saying "I can think for myself, I'm already in debt so I will not put another monthly outgoing on my statement".

There is an inherent power dynamic when you go to an institution to obtain/maintain credit! I consider myself an assertive, educated and financially aware individual, however I too was led to sign up for a product I did not want or need because I thought it was my only option to retain my overdraft when I left University. And although I was aware there was a fee, this became part of the furniture on my statement, and yes it took several years after paying off my overdraft to realise that actually I could probably downgrade the account! Funnily enough, when I did stop having to pay the fees they didn't take away my overdraft facility, hmmm. Clearly you are not as assertive, educated and financially aware as you think you might be. What stopped you shopping around? Why did you not look into the benefits of other accounts and compare overdraft rates? The sales people cannot lie to you about rates, when its black and white on paper or online. You needed to use your own initiative.

What concerns me the most here is the people buying a second insurance policy because they don't realise what cover they already have. Double cover could lead to both insurers claiming they don't have to pay in the case of a claim, with potentially disasterous consequences...This concerns me also. If you are not reading what you are signing up for and do not understand what you are covered for then you need help. Say a packaged account offered you travel insurance, mobile insurance and break down cover. If you can honestly say you brought the account and didn't realise you already had cover for these 3 items elsewhere then you either have short term memory loss or are just very ignorant. [/QUOTE]

IMO its more mis-buying than mis-selling.

lippy1923

That may have come across as a tad harsh but I agree. People need to take responsibility for themselves. Thats why these types of bank accounts require you to be 18yrs of age or older. You have to be classed as an adult who can look after themselves. Maybe people should take some sort of test before being offered a bank account? lol

clear_as_mud

How can you be mis-sold a bank account? Surely people who have them should be responsible enough to know what they are paying for?
How hard is it to understand this? As above post, I think maybe an IQ test should be taken!

Agricolae

clear_as_mud wrote: »

How can you be mis-sold a bank account? Surely people who have them should be responsible enough to know what they are paying for?
How hard is it to understand this? As above post, I think maybe an IQ test should be taken!

Where selling of a product which does not meet a customer's needs occurs, there are occasions where it is not the customer's fault. I do agree with you, however, that some people may have just made a poor decision in deciding to take something out which they might not have needed. They then dawdle and delay before cancelling the product, incurring more costs. They feel bad about it and decide to complain, though really doing so is quite mercenary.

That said, incentives for staff at banks were tipped towards packaged accounts rather heavily for a very long time. And when I say incentives I don't mean "to make more money", I mean "to keep your job". Pressure on staff to meet targets was (and still is) high enough that poor sales practices are encouraged, leading to some customers being misled about these kind of products.

Wilky27_2

Heres my little story in a nutshell.

I had a normal account with rbs and never ever had a cheque book dds, or anything going out of this account apart from what i withdrew from cash points (so no way of going overdrawn).

I stopped using this account after about 7 years of using it, but left a few punds in it. About a year later i get a bailiff letter telling me my rbs account is £500+ overdrawn!!!!!! so i write to them and ask what sort of joke they are playing to which they reply with the letter about bank charges and the test case blah blah. Then i send letter after letter explaining i couldent have bank charges as had never had a way of going overdraw to which they sent the same letter after letter about the test case (im not joking this went on for a few years! In this time the company i worked for went bust (MG Rover), i couldnt get credit due to this account, was made homless due to not being able to pay car finance and rent so lived in my car for a year. I still was sending letters when i could but was dropping into depression.
I finally got a home sorted and got more back on the case of rbs and after another year finally getting a response from someone high up telling me it had all started due to the £6.50 ish charge for a royalties account????? I replied and told them i had never herd of this? They replied with there final response sayiny the charges where fair (over £8000 for an upgrade i didnt no about or want)

I went to the ombudsman and its been a year since with them keeping me in the loop.

this little fiasco almost ruined my life and even today am recovering from it with ill health and bad credit.

Any opinyons on this would be most welcome good or bad.

Grimaldus03

Hey, my computer can't open the complaints template letter file as I no longer have Microsoft works (just use google drive). Any chance of a pdf version or somethin?

Thanks!

kjw0

Hi - which package was it that the Coop bank sold you?