Co-operative Bank-reclaiming bank charges

KerryH

I'm about to request a refund of all my bank charges! I have gone back through my statements and back in March the Co-Operative bank charged me £105 when a DD bounced!

Sometimes they've charged me £15, sometimes £25, sometimes £35 and sometimes £105! And they've called it different things!

Sometimes it's "Commission", sometimes it's "unpaid fees", sometimes it's just called "service charges". Surely to God this isn't right! How can they justify such variations??

sal890042

Hi,
I am in the process of claiming from the Coop Bank and I have sent a asking for my charges back. I have received a letter from the bank stating that they are waiting to here the outcome from the Ombudsman before repaying anymore charges. What should I do next?
Thanks

Beate

You should read this: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/oft-bank-charges

kazzmera

I have a Pathfinder Account with Coop Bank that includes Visa Delta Direct Debit card.The account states that there is No Overdraght so i can only withdraw or use Debit card to the amount that is actually in my account,which means that i cannot go overdrawn,but the bank has charged me on a least 3 different times for being overdrawn,they also took a charge that made me overdrawn and then re-charged me for being overdrawn,does anyone know if they are allowed to do this and if i reclaim any of the charges?Also the only money that was paid in the account was from social security for income support,i would be very grateful for any info,Thanks.

tckmacrevan

Hi There

Does any one have any advice on the protocol of closing bank accounts. My husband recently closed his Co-op bank account, following a successful reclaim of bank charges.

The closure of the account was completed during a tele con, my husband was told that the account was at 0, no monies owed. He was assured that the account was closed.

HOWEVER this account has been kept active by the Co-op. Although not sending out monthly statements. The Co-op have been paying a direct debit out of this account, which brought my husband into an unauthorised overdraft, the interest has been acuring, and he has been sent a letter requesting full payment.

I wrote a recorded letter to the head of debt management requesting a break down of monies owed, a request for their compliants procedure and an explaination of how monies can be pay out of a closed account. I received none of the information I requested and my husband has been told to make payment within 14 days or his details will be forwarded to debt recovery.

If he really does owe money that fine, but we suspect that the dd is for a small amount and the rest is bank charges. Due to the lack of paper information following our way from Co-op Bank we cannot get to the route of this - clearly we do not want to have to pay charges for a bank account which is closed.

Thanks

SilverArrow2007

I got my banks charges back no problems off them and after a bit of finding out and 3 months they paid up no problem and all was well and good, till you go overdrawn again.
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This is just my experience but be warned you to might get the same treatment that I have just got. At Christmas as you are aware we all over spend a little and I like the rest went over mine and the items didn’t get paid but the nice co op bank charged me not £35.00 for each item but £30.00. today the 11/01/08 I had a letter off them from the 10^th informing me from the debt management department that they needed to contact me, but my incapacity benefit had gone it which left me in my agreed overdraft limit .
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Now this is where the fun starts, I was informed by one of the CSA’s that if this happens again that I would have all by DD’s cancelled by the bank and they will ask for my card back. I say why? The bank is making money off me? I also pointed out that I would want the over charge back as they had already paid me over £3,000 for over charges before. I asked the CSA so when did this new rule come into place, he then said its always been there and it’s the banks right to do this if they saw fit.
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I then said to him what happens if I close my account down what you will do then and he said nothing. I said OK then when did these changes take place? He said they have always been there. I then told him that if the bank makes any changes to their contract with me or any other customer they have to inform me in writing he said no we don’t. I then said OK so when you put my monthly fee up shall I just ignore the letter you sent me?. I informed him that no one in a contract accepts word of mouth I don’t think the bank would accept that either. I asked him how long he had worked for the bank he said 2 years. I then asked him well in 2 years and you don’t know the banks policy get me a manager who can tell me what it is.
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He placed me on hold then came back and said I cannot get the manager to the phone she is busy so I asked for her name and his name, he said why do you want it, I informed him that I would be making a complaint and also putting this on the internet. He said why are you doing this. I told him because I don’t like to be threatened by you or the bank and he said well I would do the same to you as I would anyone else.
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So it seems from what he was saying that although they gave the money back to us, their now telling us to get their own back on us that if we go overdrawn 3 times in a 3 month period they are refusing to pay out DD’s and they will take our cards back. So what happens then when we cant pay the people we owe and we start to get letters informing us that we will get taken to court, do we send them to the bank to pay them? I wonder if anyone else has had the same problem with the co op bank it would be interesting to find out and I wonder also if it’s just the people that got their money back are being treated in this manner?
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It’s a rather childish attitude for a bank to act in this manner, like someone’s taken my toy so I am throwing a scamming fit to get it back. I told the CSA I was going to put this on the internet and I said I would not be surprised if you did get a lot of phone calls over it. He said you’re threatening me now I said I don’t make threats I’ll just post it. They did say though they would pass the buck and get someone to ring me back in 48 hours another rather spineless attitude of this bank. I also find it strange as well as I haven’t gone overdrawn in 6 months either and the 1^st time I do I am talked to by them like something that they picked up off their shoe.
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It now seems that the co op bank have a new form of strategy were if you go over drawn to stop charges on your accounts they canx all your dd’s and ask for your cards back

FieryBlondeScot

Oh thats interesting to know i didnt know that either and i have a basic cashmonder account and have already had things bounce twice within the past 3 months so i am skating on thin ice without even knowing it!

Rafter

Silver Arrow,

Sorry to sound unsympathetic, but why should the Co-op pay people you owe money to with their own funds if you have exceeded your borrowing facility?

If you cannot operate your account within the limits set then they have every right to withdraw services.

It also sounds like they are being responsible in not allowing you into more debt if you are relying on benefits.

Remember that unlike many banks, the Co-op is owned by its customers. It has no incentive to make big profits out of you. It is probably trying to make sure you don't run up debts that cannot be repaid.

R.

nickmack

SilverArrow2007 wrote: »

It now seems that the co op bank have a new form of strategy were if you go over drawn to stop charges on your accounts they canx all your dd’s and ask for your cards back

Banks used to argue that a customer who was in excess of any agreed limit was in breach of their Terms and Conditions and as such the agreement between the parties could be terminated.

However, many banks have now changed their T&C's to state that when you go overdrawn, you are making an informal request for an overdraft (or extension) and this is a service they are entitled to charge you for. If this is the case, you may not be in breach of the T&C's.

This is one topic which should come up in the court case.

The OFT previously told banks not to disguise charges, they ignored this and rewrote their T&C's to call them a service.

The FSA also told the banks not to restructure their charges as a condition of the waiver. At least one bank has also ignored this and changed the charging structure.

Unfortunately in both scenarios above, nothing has been done and the banks have been brought to account over either issue.

doomlord_uk

Hi, I'm just about to put in a claim with the Small Claims Court, probably this coming weekend when I will have the time. It will be interesting to see what happens. I'm very tempted to claim ALL the illegal charges going back to 1999 - when the new rules came into effect. OK so I'm not 'supposed' to claim back more than 6 years but the fact is simple - the bank stole my money, helping itself to money in my account. This is two things - breach of trust (no idea if that is illegal) and THEFT. I intend to make those points clearly should the case go to court. Altogether I think they owe me £2500 with interest. It should be interesting!

tckmacrevan - when you close a bank account you need to ask for a letter or statement confirming closure. By ask, I mean 'instruct' of course. Assuming your husband's charges are being applied to the account in question you could just ignore them and leave it to the bank to sort it out when they can be bothered. But it's better to tell them of the mistake. As for the DD, it's possible for these to be set up electronically, online etc... without written authorisation first so possibly your husband agreed to a DD with a company and accidentally gave the old rather than the new details, or the company already had his details and used them without confirming.

In the first case, you should obtain the details of the DD - who is being paid and when and for how much. If you have no dealings with the company then clearly you should not be paying it! Then, if it is legit, cancel the DD - instruct the bank over the phone, and follow up with a letter to confirm this. Ask them to send you a letter confirming the DD has been closed. Then contact the company charging the DD and set up a new DD with them using new account details. Lastly, you need to make it clear that the account should have been closed in the time agreed and that any financial activity since then is the liability of the bank.

In general, for fundamental things like this, it is very good practise to ALWAYS get confirmation in writing as these provide a clear, legally acceptable record of the instructions given and the action taken.

Best of luck sorting it, anyway