Reclaim Bank Charges Help Thread

maniac886

***Board Guide Comment***

There are fourteen posts in this thread.

POST 1
Gives you the address to send your first letter requesting your bank statements under the Data Protection Act.

POST 2
Tells you where you can send the next two letters of the process.

POST 3
Gives you the registered addresses of the banks, and is the address you use for the banks when you issue your court claim (this is the address you fill out on the court claim form for the bank).

POST 4
The fourth post has been added to help you understand which charges you can/cannot claim for once you get your statements back.

POST 5
Gives you the link to a thread on opening a basic bank account.

POST 6
Tells you which court to use, and gives a link to find your local courts.

POST 7
Covers courts costs. It contains a link so you can see how much a court claim will cost depending on the amount of your claim. There is also a link to court fee exemptions (some people may be able to claim in court for free).

POST 8
Is a guide to filling out the Allocation Questionnaire.

POST 9
List of the Main Bank threads and other main threads

POST 10
Gives a bit more detail about interest, and what you can/cannot claim for.

POST 11
A short start up guide

POST 12
FAQ

POST 13
Timings for MCOL

........................................................................................


Please make the cheque for £10 payable to the bank/building society or credit card that you are claiming from. If you don't have a cheque book, you can send a postal order instead.


Hi guys, in most cases the initial letter you will have to send to your bank will be a Data Protection Act Request. This will allow you to obtain 6 years of previous statements for a fee depending on each bank. They have 40 days to send you this data.The relevant addresses are all here, if they are incorrect please inform me and I will change them!

Abbey
Data Protection Manager
Data Protection Team
Regulatory Compliance
Abbey House
201 Graftons Gate East
Milton Keynes
MK9 1AN

Alliance & Leicester
Customer Contact Centre
Bootle
Merseyside
GIR 0AA

American Express Services Ltd
PO Box 68
Brighton
BN2 1YL

Bank of Scotland aka HBOS
Date Protection Manager
Trinity Road
Halifax
West Yorkshire
HX1 2RG

Barclays Bank
Barclays Data Protection
Radbroke Hall
Knutsford
Cheshire
WA16 9EU

Barclaycard
Data Protection Team
Dept LRC
Barclaycard
Northampton
NN4 7SG

Bradford & Bingley
Data Protection Team H18
PO Box 88
Croft Road
Crossflatts
Bingley
West Yorkshire
BD16 2UA

Cahoot
Friars House
Manor House Drive
Coventry
CV1 2TE

Capital One
Legal Compliance Specialist
Capital One Bank (Europe) plc
Trent House
Station street
Nottingham
NG2 3HX

CitiCards
Richard Cooke
Data Protection Officer
Citi Cards
CitiFinancial Europe plc
1 Exchange Quay
Salford
Manchester
M5 3EA

Clydesdale Bank
Clydesdale Bank Customer Relations
20 Waterloo Street
Glasgow
G2 6DB

Cooperative Bank Plc
Customer Feedback
4th Floor
Miller Street
Manchester
M60 0AL

Coventry Building Society
PO Box 9
High Street
Coventry
CV1 5QN

Egg
Riverside Road
Pride Park
Derby
DE99 3GG

GE Money/Finance
Sarah Wainwright
Data Protection Administration
GE Money
PO Box 700
Leeds
LS99 2BD

Or

Customer Services
The GM Card
PO Box 3615
Birmingham
B3 2RJ

Halifax Bank
Data Protection Manager
Trinity Road
Halifax
West Yorkshire
HX1 2RG

Halifax Credit Cards
FAO Data Protection Officer
Halifax Card Services
Pitreavie Business Park
Dunfermline
Fife
KY99 4BS

HSBC Bank
FAO Data Protection Controller
8 Canada Square
London
E14 5HQ

Lloyds Bank
Swallow House
10 Swallow Street
Birmingham
B1 2AL

Marbles
FAO Data Protection Officer
120 Edmund Street
Birmingham
B3 2QZ

MBNA Europe Bank Ltd
Stansfield House
Chester Business Park
Chester
Cheshire
CH4 9QQ

Monument Credit Card Services
Barclaycard
The Portland Building
25 High Street
Crawley
RH10 1BG

Natwest
Retail Regulatory Risk
2nd Floor
Cornerstone
60 South Gyle Crescent
Edinburgh
EH12 9WF

Nationwide
Data Protection Team
Nationwide Building Society
Kings Park road
Moulton Park
Northampton
NN3 6NW

Royal Bank of Scotland
Data Protection Team Customer Relations Services Unit
1st Floor Drummond House
Redheughs Avenue
South Gyle
Edinburgh
EH11 9JN

Smile
Smile Co-operative Bank
1 Balloon Street
Manchester
M60 4EP

Tesco Credit Card
PO Box 6050
Southend-on-Sea
SS99 1WL

Woolwich Openplan Customer Contact Centre
Jackson House
Jackson Road
Clacton On Sea
Essex
CO15 1WH

Yorkshire Bank
Advice Quality Unit
Charges Unit
3rd Floor
Brunswick Point
Leeds
LS2 9BH




Hope this helps!

maniac886

Once you've got your statements back. You need to write to your bank and ask them for the charges you are reclaiming (sending a list of the charges with the letter). These letters (including templates) are covered in step 3 of Martins article.

For this section of your claim, you can send the letters to your local branch. Don't forget to send all your letters recorded/registered post. This way you have proof they received them.

Rex_Mundi

UPDATE

The advice we have given before is to use the banks registered address for the court papers. If you have already done this, it's fine. The advice from the courts service when issuing a claim is to always use the registered address of the company you are making a claim against........................

However..............

Because we are talking about major international companies here. You can also use your local branch address for the court claim. The biggest impact the address has, is if your claim gets as far as sending the bailiffs in. They could recover any property from your local branch to cover the amount of any claim. The recent story in the press about bailiffs being sent to the bank involved a local branch.

The registered addresses are listed below for anyone that wants to use them.

ABBEY NATIONAL PLC
ABBEY NATIONAL HOUSE
2 TRITON SQUARE
REGENT'S PLACE
LONDON
NW1 3AN

ALLIANCE & LEICESTER PLC
CARLTON PARK
NARBOROUGH
LEICESTER
LE19 0AL

HBOS aka BANK OF SCOTLAND
THE MOUND
EDINBURGH
EH1 1YZ

or

HALIFAX PLC
TRINITY ROAD
HALIFAX
WEST YORKSHIRE
HX1 2RG

BARCLAYCARD
Customer Relations Department,
1234 Pavilion Drive,
Northampton,
NN4 7SG

BARCLAYS BANK PLC
1 CHURCHILL PLACE
LONDON
E14 5HP

CAHOOT
FRIARS HOUSE
PO Box 1981
COVENTRY
CV1 2ZD

CAPITAL ONE SERVICES INC
TRENT HOUSE
STATION STREET
NOTTINGHAM
NG2 3HX

CLYDESDALE BANK PLC
30 ST VINCENT PLACE
GLASGOW
G1 2HL

CO-OPERATIVE BANK PLC
PO BOX 101
1 BALLOON STREET
MANCHESTER
M60 4EP

EGG
Citigroup Centre
Canada Square
London
E14 5LB

HALIFAX PLC
TRINITY ROAD
HALIFAX
WEST YORKSHIRE
HX1 2RG

HFC BANK LIMITED
120 EDMUND STREET
BIRMINGHAM
B3 2Q2

HSBC BANK PLC
8 CANADA SQUARE
LONDON
E14 5HQ

INTELLIGENT FINANCE
1 Baird Road
Kirkton Campus
Livingston
EH54 7AZ

or

Trinity Road
Halifax
West Yorkshire
HX1 2RG

LLOYDS TSB BANK PLC
25 GRESHAM STREET
LONDON
EC2V 7HN

NATIONWIDE BUILDING SOCIETY
NATIONWIDE HOUSE
PIPERS WAY
SWINDON
SN38 1NW

NATIONAL WESTMINSTER BANK PLC
135 BISHOPSGATE
LONDON
EC2M 3TP

NATWEST CREDIT CARDS
Cards Customer Services
PO Box 5747
Southend-on Sea
SS1 9AJ

NORTHERN BANK LIMITED
DONEGALL SQUARE WEST
BELFAST
BT1 6JS

ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND PLC
36 ST ANDREW SQUARE
EDINBURGH
EH2 2YB

or

ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND PLC
RBS Litigation
1 Princess Street
London EC2R 8PB

SAINSBURYS BANK
33 Holborn
London

WOOLWICH
1 CHURCHILL PLACE
LONDON
E14 5HP

YORKSHIRE BANK PLC
20 MERRION WAY
LEEDS
LS2 8NZ


However if you are using MCOL you have to use an address in England or Wales for your bank and if the registered address is in Scotland such as the Royal Bank of Scotland then use your local branch address if this is in England or one of the main London addresses.

As regards store cards and catalogue companies if you don't have a statement giving an address usually if you Google you will find an address for the company.

Rex_Mundi

The following is a list of Bank charges that we can and cannot claim for. Different banks may have different names for the same type of charge, if you are unsure about a charge phone your bank and ASK.

CAN BE CLAIMED

Account misuse fee
Cheque return fee
Card misuse fee
Unarranged borrowing fee
Unauthorised overdraft fee
Unpaid DD fee
Unpaid cheque fee
Unpaid standing order fee
Late payment fee (credit cards, store cards, catalogues etc)
Exceeding Authorised Overdraft Limit
Exceeding Unauthorised Overdraft Limit
Direct Debit/Standing Order/Cheque returned fee
Irregular fee
Paid refferal fee
Total charges (HSBC personal accounts only, not business accounts)

CANNOT BE CLAIMED

Cash Machine Withdrawl Fees
Account Service Charges
Service Fee / Annual Fee
Charges related to foreign currency transactions and conversions
Monthly account fees on certain type of accounts
Normal overdraft interest charges

Edinburghlass_2

Another question often asked is opening a parachute account.

Check out this thread regarding Basic Bank Account.

Edinburghlass_2

Another question often asked is "what court" shall I put in the letter. You can either leave it out altogether and your local court will be allocated or have a look at this site posted by Rex. This applies to England and Wales, different rules apply in NI and Scotland, please follow the links in Martin's article to the websites suitable for NI and Scotland.

***A NOTE TO EVERYONE***

This question keeps coming up. It will be your local COUNTY court. If you don't know the nearest one to you, go to THIS SITE and find your local one. The site will give you all the details you will need for your local court (address, phone number, etc). Scroll down to your local court, click it to highlight it, and click the 'get court details' button.

Edinburghlass_2

Cost of going to court.

Use the Moneyclaim website in England and Wales (there's also the Northern Ireland Courts online) which can be used for starting most county court money claims, just go there and fill in the form. There’s a starting fee of between £25 and £100, depending on the size of your claim, which can be paid by a credit or debit card; though it’s refunded if, and hopefully when, you win. If you don’t have plastic to pay on, get the paperwork to start the claim from your local county court and pay there; it’s the same price. This may be waived if you’re on benefits.

Please read from Preparing for Trial for any further costs.

Link for court costs is here.

Link for exemptions is here.

Link for Scottish Court costs and guide

Rex_Mundi

When you issue a court claim, your bank has an opportunity to enter a defence. If they do, the court will write to tell you which court your case will be dealt in (if you claimed online), and they send you an Allocation Questionnaire to fill in. You dont need to put your whole case with this form. It is only to help the judge manage your case (witnesses needed, dates available, disclosure etc).

Seeing as quite a few people have now issued a court claim, and are getting to this stage. Here's a guide to filling out the Allocation Questionnaire......



A)....Settlement
Do you wish any further action in this claim to be postponed for one month so that you and the other party can attempt to settle the claim either by informal discussion or by alternative dispute resolution?

By giving the bank time to settle your claim in your two previous letters, you have already given them ample time to try to resolve your claim. There is no need to give them any more time to settle. Tick NO for this section.

....Location of hearing
The claim will be heard in the court to which this form must be returned. Is there any reason why it should be transferred to another court to be heard?

If the return address for this form is your local court, tick NO. If for any reason the address is somewhere else (a distant court), tick YES. Then use the box to state that you are a private individual claiming against a company that conducts their business in your area, and the claim should be heard locally to you.

C)....Track
Do you agree that the small claims track is the most suitable track for this claim?

It is far better/easier for claims to go through the small claims track. Tick YES for this section.

D)....Witnesses
So far as you know at this stage, how many witnesses (other than yourself) do you intend to call to give evidence at the hearing?

Do not count yourself or any expert witnesses you may call on for your case. Typically, you would enter 0 here.

E)....Experts
Do you want permission to use an expert's report at the hearing?

Typically you would tick NO for this section.

F)....Hearing
Are there any days within the next four months when you, an expert or a witness will not be able to attend court for the hearing?

If you are going to be free in the next four months, tick NO. If you have any holidays booked (or will be unnavailable for any other reason), tick YES and put the dates you wont be free on. Also in this section, let the court know if you will be using any interpreter at the hearing.

G)....Other Information
In the space below, set out any other information you consider will help the judge to manage or clarify the claim, including any other information you consider should be supplied by the other party.

In this section, you can put details that will help the judge manage your claim. You don't need to state your whole case here (that will come at a later stage). If your claim is for more than £5000, you can provide any reasons you think this case is more suitable for the small claims track. It is important in this section to ask the judge to order standard disclosure. The judge has the power to ask your bank to provide evidence of their actual costs at the hearing regarding your bank charges. If the judge orders standard disclosure, chances are that any bank would be willing to settle before the hearing because no bank has been willing to reveal their true costs in court as yet.

For section G. The following is the wording that has been recommended over at https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk

.......................................................

I believe this case will last no longer than one hour.

I am respectfully requesting that my claim be allocated to the small claims track. This issue is not a complicated one; it is an issue of fact and not of law. The issue is only whether the money levied by the Defendant in respect of its customer’s contractual breaches exceed their actual costs incurred. I am happy to pay their actual costs and I am surprised the Defendant did not counterclaim for these, because I would have paid them without argument.

However, the continuing problem is, (in common with the 100s of other cases currently being brought by other bank customers), that the banks refuse to reveal the details of their penalty-charging regime. As the banks have a fiduciary duty towards their customers, they have a duty to deal straightforwardly and in utmost good faith.

Accordingly, I would respectfully ask that the court in this case, not withstanding allocation to the small claims track, order standard disclosure. I understand that it is in the courts discretion to do so. This would bring a rapid end, not only to this litigation, but would also likely bring an end to much of the litigation in progress against other high-street banks.

........................................................

They have also been recommending a different way of filling in section G over on THIS THREAD (you need to be logged into the site to read read the thread, it's free to join). If you use this second method, it could make the claim shorter (it is a very good tactic). However, it would need more work on your behalf, and I advise you to use this method only if you fully understand what it requires of you.

Edinburghlass_2

Abbey National

American Express

Alliance & Leicester

Bank of Scotland aka HBOS

Barclays Bank

Barclaycard

Bradford and Bingley

Capital One

Citicards

Co-operative Bank

Clydesdale Bank

Egg

First Direct

Halifax

HSBC

Intelligent Finance

LloydsTSB

MBNA

Mint

Monument

Nationwide

NatWest

Northern Rock

Norwich and Peterborough

Royal Bank of Scotland

Smile

Tesco

Woolwich

Yorkshire

Finance Companies

Rex_Mundi

Questions about interest come up a lot, and there seems to be some confusion about what can and cannot be claimed.

There are two types of interest to keep in mind, contractual interest, and statutory interest.

Contractual interest

This is what you see on your bank statements charged by the bank when you go overdrawn. It appears on your statement as 'INTEREST', or 'INT'.

There are normally two different interest rates charged. A lower rate is charged when you are overdrawn, but still within your agreed overdraft limit. Under no circumstances can this interest be reclaimed. There is a higher rate of interest (up to 29.9%) charged when you go over your overdraft limit (unnauthorised overdraft). This is a bit trickier to deal with. You cannot claim any of this interest if your spending has caused you to go over your overdraft limit, but you can claim this interest on any bank charges that have caused this. The problem with this is working out the interest only on the charges. It can be difficult to get right, and you have to be very accurate with your figures in case the bank at any stage challenges them. Generally, most people don't claim this interest.

Statutory interest

This is the 8% interest people are claiming on top of their bank charges. It is not anything to do with reclaiming your charges, or the banks. It is allowed for claims in the county court. This is allowed under s69 County Courts Act.

In his article, Martin recommends adding this interest from the beginning of the claim, but he also mentions that you are not entitled to this interest until you issue a court claim. Untill the court claim, you are using this as a bargaining chip......

Quote from the article..........

If you won via the courts, you would be entitled to add 8% interest (not compounded) on top from the date you were ‘first deprived’ of the money (i.e. the date of each charge). Therefore you may want to ask for the interest as part of the initial claim. It's important to understand that you are not legally entitled to interest unless you win in court, yet all prior letters are a tool of negotiation; think of it a bit like haggling.

You may get lucky and get the interest on top, but even if not, the legal feedback I've had is that it’s one route to pushing the bank to settle quickly so it can offer to pay you without the interest. Of course there is a risk that asking for too much makes them less likely to settle too - sadly this is an art not a science. This isn't an easy concept so I've recorded a quick audio file which may help explain it.
For those who do want to ask for interest, I’ve had the calculator below specially built to work it out for you and included it as an option in the template letters later. However, if you'd prefer to play safe simply ask for the charges without interest in the early stages.

This means that if you add on the interest at the beginning (steps 3 and 4 of Martins article), and the bank offers you the full amount of your charges, but no interest. You MUST accept the offer. This is the maximum you would be entitled to up until you issue a court claim. Before you issue a court claim, if you turn down an offer for the full amount of your charges because the bank hasn't offered the interest as well. You will weaken any claim you make in court. At the very least, you will most likely lose any claim for interest and the court fee if the bank defends this in a hearing.

Edited to add, have a listen to Martin's audio file regarding using the interest as a bargaining tool, sometimes you can read too much and listening to Martin simplifies it.

Read this thread by Martin...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=476403

Edinburghlass_2

You need to start by reading Martin's article and then reading it all over again!

Bank Charges Reclaiming

Follow the steps by first of all getting all your information/statements by using the "Ask for charge details" letter. Its important you use this letter and don't just go asking for statements from your bank as they can and do charge per statement.

Once you have this information you then need to input each and every claimable charge, see post 4 in this thread into the Interest Calculator, link above, along with the date and description of each charge. Again it is important this is accurate as this will form your defence should you end up taking your bank to court. This needs to be sent to the bank with your first letter asking for the return of your charges. If you don't get the response you want you need to send off the next letter and follow the steps through.