Bank Charges Reclaiming. Payouts may be cut. Act now! - IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION

ukmonkey

MSE_Martin wrote:

My apologies for the latin typo - my spelling is awful - its why I became a broadcaster first!

All I meant by that was "legaly you're correct, but in practice it's different".

UK Monkey I dont actually think we're disagreeing.

As for the "saying don't persue over £5k".

Actually that's not what I said. First of all the chap I was talking to had three claims with one bank (producer edited that down for time) and I was saying how to go for them seperately so they were all small claims.

Next what I was saying (as I say in my article) is if you're a hundred or two hundred higher than £5,000 I would stick with the small claims and forgo £100 or so - for practical reasons. Yet I wasn't saying don't claim more - just tweak at the edges if you're near the border.

Again this is a deliberate "mass market" stance - most people have the pants scared off them by doing this - and any potential risk means they avoid it. My aim is to ensure they're minimising their risk (as long as it doesn't defeat the claim substantively) so they'll still go for it.

Martin

Martin

Martin, we certainly don't disagree, this is clearly something that we both feel very passionate about.

I can totally see your side of the story.

With regards to the £5k thing, it certainly is how I interpreted your advice (and remember, I'm a sort of "veteran" of the bank charges reclaiming thing) and certainly how many others interpreted what you were saying. This, it now seems was down to some [not so] clever editing. Perhaps something to for you take up with the production team?

Cheers,

ukmonkey

Beate

About this "hurry up and claim now" discussion - isn't it a bit late already for most if the ruling is going to come out next month? Getting your charges can take up to 40 days, even if you have them already, you have to send two letters, that's 3 weeks, then file the claim then wait what the bank says, if they defend, it takes even longer... I am not sure that a claim going to court will be done for April.

Dingwalldemon

Surely that even if the OFT ruled £12 was to be the new amount banks could charge, any charges prior to this would have been illegal so therefore must be refunded in full, not the difference between £35 & £12?

hard_up_and_fed_up

Dingwalldemon wrote:

Surely that even if the OFT ruled £12 was to be the new amount banks could charge, any charges prior to this would have been illegal so therefore must be refunded in full, not the difference between £35 & £12?

Yes i would lkike to know about this as well.
I have waited for a month to find out that my bank 'did not receive' my request for statements and therefore i have to start from 40 days (which will be about 45 by the time they receive the letter!) again! I am annoyed as i have now lost out on charges applied during Jan and Feb and prob March 2001 due to the 6 year thing and i have managed to keep my nose clean for the past month or so, so it is not 'rolling on'.
I know i will not have the 2nd letter sent by the annoncement as i am sure they will not rush to get anyone's requests done in light of the planned announcement.

If you have already begun your claim, will it be honoured? I can access 4 years of statements on line so can speed up the process by printing them off and using them but i don't want to miss any 2 years prior to that, on the other hand, i don;t want to string it out for what might only be a coulple of charges and then get the £12 difference applied to every charge i have claimed on.

I know that sounds very confusing but ibasically, am i better to cut my losses and claim 4 years now in hope i might get in intime before the announcement or will i still be able to claim the full amount even if th announcement has been made..?

car1268

Just read Martins email stating that pay outs could be cut from April. I have written to 4 Credit Cards and my bank for 6 years worth of statemets and the 40 days will end in early April (havn't received anything yet). Does anyone know if any new ruling will apply to claims already pending, or will a new ruling apply to all settlements after April?

car1268

Yes that's what I was thinking, I'm sure they all know that delaying as long as poss will take peoples claim past the April deadline so they will have less to pay out!:mad:

moofo

Does this mean you cannot claim charges back anymore?

moofo

Yes but surely any charge is still unlawful ?
Even if they cut it to £12 like the Credit card companies did.
£12 is till disproportionate.
The true cost is between £1 and a £4 Maximum isn't it ?

bookworm1363

Al_Mac wrote:

The ruling will probably only be to do with the amount of charge made. No doubt the banks will then say any claims, new or old, will only get the difference between old and new amounts.I'd also expect them to start delaying as many as they can, as no body expects the ruling to go their way.Sorry, I would expect the worst if I were you

They can say what they like, so what?

If a bank tries to say: "we'll only pay back x amount", you say: "ok, I'll see you in court for the rest and let the judge decide".

Then the bank will say: "Oh, ok, here's 100% of your charges", rather than have to try and justify how a £12/£15/£20 represents a genuine pre-estimate of their loss. Because - they - can't.

I wish people would start understanding how contract law works instead of spouting alarmist nonsense. :mad:

OFT report or no OFT report, nothing changes. If anything, the OFT report made it easier to claim all charges when they said that the current level as was (on credit cards) wa too high. No reason why it should be any different with bank charges.

ategid

On Wednesday FD charged me £37.50 for a bounced cheque and on Thursday 1st March £12 for bouncing a cheque.(bounced because not enough funds due to charges) have FD reduced their fee? Anybody else notice this? Started claim for £1045 this week, hope I'm not to late.