Yeh Nice One Martin .......... Not

Edinburghlass_2

Well this thread has certainly taken the joy out of seeing all the hard work of the past week come to fruition

angierey

trademark wrote:

yeh big up for dave....

Thanks i really appreciate the fact that very soon ill be paying for my banking.

dont have a bank account then, I have been told in this thread not to have a bank account and pay my bills cash incurring the additional fees that go along with it. I was even told to request cash payment of wages/ benefits in order to avoid any possibility of being overdrawn ( advised by those against reclaiming charges in this thread).

If the reclaiming results in fees for bank accounts, dont have one!

Or do you feel that there is no option than to accept the fees, as we all felt there was no option than to accept the unfair T & Cs regarding these charges when we opened our accounts in the first place?

reclaiming

Thank you Nickmack - I did think that would be the case. (Could kick myself!)
I'm going to have a go anyway.

Has anyone else done this?

LilDevil

I haven't read all the posts to this thread, but I am wondering if the person who started this thread has any idea what it's like to be unemployed and on benefits.

I had to leave my job due to ill health (more to the point, it was constructive dismissal), and during my unemployment, the benefits that were awarded me was not enough to live on - even though they claim they are! Naturally, I missed some payments as the money would not stretch far enough - I just about managed to cover the important ones (rent, mortgage, council tax), most of the time, I was lucky if it left me with £5 for a fortnights worth of food, let alone enough to pay the non essential bills, so of course I went overdrawn.

How dare you say we don't pay attention, it's the banks that do not give a stuff about their customers circumstances, I had to beg the majority of my debtors to accept reduced payments, and even some of those wouldn't.

I now have another job but the salary is considerably less than I was on, so I'm still in this awful spiral, and I am trying to sort it out without resorting to drastic measures, this is diffcult trying to stay in credit is almost impossible, as I only go overdrawn because of the charges.

I don't go out, I don't remember the last time I actually bought anything for myself, so it's not as you claim, I am not just spending for the sake of it and to hell with everyone else, it's bloody hard work trying to stay on top of it. So if you don't like the fact that some of us are reclaiming the vast amounts of money stolen from us by the banks, then tough t!tties on you.

krisskross

My final word on this extremely emotive subject.

We have seen loads of people claiming to have taken the banks on and won. No, actually the banks have surrendered. It appears that anyone claiming is almost certain to get their charges refunded because the banks have decided that it is not worth their effort or money to fight it.

You cannot have 'won' a battle when the opposition has surrendered.

However have you looked closely at your credit card statements recently? Interest rates have risen alarmingly whilst interest free periods have been cut. The banks WILL recoup their money one way or another.

You may think they have lost this battle but I know who my money is on to win the war. For the sake of short term gains a lot of people will be paying very dearly.

IvanOpinion

trademark wrote:

Thanks I really appreciate the fact that very soon I'll be paying for my banking.

Everybody will be an overall loser in this however the informaiton I have is that there will still be free accounts if you manage your money in a competent manner and deposit a minimum amount in each month. Those that have previously and continue have a cavalier attitude to their finances will actually be punished the most ... they may well find overdraft facilities, free banking, high savings rates, low credit rates will be unavailable to them. Sadly it is likely to be the poorest in society that will ultimately suffer the most.

People have become so wrapped up in their little cause that they have totally lost site of the bigger picture ... while everybody will ultimately pay the biggest losers will ultimately be the poor .. but peoples personal greed is currently taking over.

KrissKross, you talk about the banks surrendering, I disagree. For some reason people seem to think that they have 'won' something .. at best they have won a small battle today however it is very likely that small battle will cost them the war tomorrow. Give it 18 months (at most) and listen to what people are moaning and whinging about, some of it will be to do with the changes related to this being implemented.

Ivan

OsricForager

For the record, I have worked for a major credit card company for 3 years dealing directly with requests for refunds of charges - also dealing with customers whose promotional 0% had been switched off for a late payment (should give some hint as to which company it is - Martin has already mentionned them on this site).

Some people on this forum say they believe that it is unfair to claim back charges that were incurred by our own errors. Speaking as an industry insider, I can assure you that the word "fair" is not in banks' vocabularies. Fairness does not come into it at all - we live in an advaserial environment, with banks doing what's in their interests and we should be doing what's in ours.

Imagine a tug-of war, with banks on one side and consumers on the other. If consumers and banks pull in opposite directions with equal force, the industry will eventually, inevitably, reach a compromise - whereas at the moment banks are having it all their own way, and we're being dragged where they want us. By recaiming charges, we're just pulling back again and making the playing field level again.

An illustrative example here - the credit card company I work for asks for bank details on it's application forms. Many others ask for these details so customers can choose to set up a direct debit. My company however do not set up direct debits at the point of application, we just take the details. Many new customers assume a direct debit has been set up - perhaps they should carry some of the burden of responsibility too for not checking - however, I can assure you that the intention of the company I work for is to deliberately trick people into thinking they have a direct debit - senior managers have confirmed this to me. Likewise, we do not write to tell customers when a direct debit they have with us has been cancelled by their current account bank - because we want to charge them for it - if they complain, we'll say it was their current account banks' error and they should complain to them - see, there's no honour among thieves, banks will happily turn on each other if there's profit it in.

Those of you who think fair play should factor in our decisions to claim back charges are basically being hobbled by conscience - this is a battle, and our enemy is both powerful and mercilless - like the Terminator, they cannot be reasoned with - leave all thoughts of fair play at the door, because the banks did decades ago.

OsricForager

DonnyMick wrote:

I successfully reclaimed my charges from Halifax some months ago, signed a letter to agree to the settlement. A few months ago, through no fault of my own my account went over the overdraft limit and again I was charged by the bank, once for the overdraft and again for a DD which wasn't paid.

If the whole argument is that the charges are too high and unfair how can the banks continue to charge at the same rate? They've already admitted (albeit not formally) that their charges are too high which is why they refunded part of the charges in the first place....

Has anyone tried to claim charges a 2nd time from their bank? Would be interested to hear from anyone else in this situation...

The problem is that they have not admitted that their charges are too high - they have agreed to pay you the aforesaid sum as a courtesy; a goodwill gesture. As Martin rightly says, until there is a judgement one way or the other from a higher court, the matter will not be settled - the legallity of their charges is still a matter of opinion.

chrissyfp1

krisskross wrote:

However have you looked closely at your credit card statements recently? Interest rates have risen alarmingly whilst interest free periods have been cut. The banks WILL recoup their money one way or another.

You may think they have lost this battle but I know who my money is on to win the war. For the sake of short term gains a lot of people will be paying very dearly.

:rolleyes: Yes i have looked at my credit card statement and i did get notification of new charging and allocation of payments. ie. they are going to allocate your payments to purchases first which are cheaper than cash withdrawals. They are also going to revert your cards back to the standard rate if you default on a payment. Do you know what....that doesn't bother me. I accept the fact that if we want credit we have to pay for the privilige, if you don't want to pay the rates offered then don't use credit. I don't mind the banks making money out of people as they are a business. But it's when the way that they make their money lets those better off not pay anything, while the people that are not as lucky to be financially stable through no fault of their own. ie. not in trademarks case which was just pure greed because he wanted the new luxuries, have to pay through the nose, which in turn leaves people like you who can afford to pay for the priviliges you want and use, not having to pay for anything. All most people want is a system that is fair and one that doesn't penalise the less fortunate so that you can have free banking.

Al_Mac

I was unemployed, I was on benefits, I had to struggle, it was only for about four months, true. I also had a year of bad fortune, a car crash, I was unable to meet my commitments then.

But it wasn't the banks fault that I couldn't pay, I can't blame them. It was my inability to get a job and also my inability to drive a car in a straight line, that got me into the situation.

Yes, it was the amount of charges that probably caused me to take twice as long to get out of the mess I was in. I would have loved to be able to claim them back, but it was 18 & 20 years ago:mad:

What I and others have tried to say is, yes the banks are wrong, yes the charges are far to high, but we as indiviuals have to accept at least some of the responsibility for the mess our lives are in. Or do we just follow the example of leader after leader and say it is someone else's fault?

Good luck in claiming, I'd suggest doing it prior to the revue report in April, to maximise the rebate, as I reckon post that, you'll only get the difference between paid and what they reckon is acceptable.