First reports of someone losing in Court on bank charges Blog Discussion

Markyt

LondonDiva wrote: »

then claim back the money because the bank was not sympathetic or understanding.

No, it's claim the money back because it was illegally charged. The charges are against the law of the land. They are illegal. The banks have broken the law. Regardless of the morals or ethics of people claiming, the law states the banks cannot charge these amounts as punishment. Should the banks lobby successfully for a change to the law, then they can charge with impunity. As it stands, they can't.

Markyt

LondonDiva wrote: »

If Martin had run a concurrent campaign encouraging banks not to honour dds or standing orders with no funds, there would have been some sense.

No way will a bank do that - they make too much money from the illegal penalty charges to go down that route.

The_Taxman

I may be missing something but this all strikes me as being very short-termist.

There is no question that they are providing account holders with a service and that that service is the administration of the bank account. I assume that there is no argument that the banks are not entitled to make a charge for the service that they are supplying to their account holders. As things stand, we only get charged when we exceed our pre-arranged overdraft.

On the face of it, it seems perfectly plausible to argue that £30 for refusing to pay a direct debit is excessive and disproportionate.

However, if the banks are forced to 'make their charges more proportionate' they will simply go back to the bad old days when we were charged for every single transaction and that happens we'll be paying a lot more in charges than we are now.

We should be careful what we wish for.

daren304

Ive already had a reply from Lloyds TSB last week telling me that the charges levied against my account were in proportion and that they would not be refunding any monies. Although I heard about the case yesterday in which the bank was successful it has made me even more determined to take out a county court claim against them!

Sanwri753

"There is no question that they are providing account holders with a service and that that service is the administration of the bank account. I assume that there is no argument that the banks are not entitled to make a charge for the service that they are supplying to their account holders. As things stand, we only get charged when we exceed our pre-arranged overdraft."

What about the interest they charge on the agreed overdraft? Isn't that their 'Service Charge'? They collect that very regularly so why add another 'hefty' charge should you inadvertantly go over the limit? A token amount yes but not 30.00 to stop a cheque or DD surely!

Knight99

I am not a lawyer. But I was surprised to learn from his judgment, that the District Judge, could not understand the difference between an unfair charge and a genuine loss, which results in an penalty. Clearly, only a penalty clause in a contract, which states that a amount of money will be only payable, in the event of a breach[es] of a contractural term, or condition, can only be enforceable, to reflect a genuine loss as a penalty. The actual loss needs to be demonstrated mathematically, supported by testable evidence, by the Bank(s) in Court. Perhaps, the District Judge should read the following cases: Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v. New Garage & Motor Co.Ltd [1915] AC 79; Finance plc v Bank q f Zambia [1996] QB 752 at 762G, and Cine Bes Filmcilik ve Yapim Click v United International Pictures [2003] EWCA Civ 1699: Kevin Berwick, should appeal, the District Judge’s decision, to expose his lack of attention, as the claim should not only turn on its facts, but also on its legal construction, even at the County Court level.

agnes_2

Yes these are exactly the facts that I have been thinking about, Knight ,only I am not as knowledgeable as you to have put it down in those words. Also Sanwri, as you say with reference to the interest paid on overdrafts, is someone out there not paying this?
Today is the last day for Barclays to present their defence in my case and so far nothing has happened, do I go straight ahead on the MCOL with the default judgment

almal1

I am in court in mid June with my daughter over her charges.
We have followed Martin every step of the way and so far it has been OK. Claimed online and now we have a court date in June.
After trying to read the 20 odd page pdf of the Judgement on Mr. Berwick's case and realising what a comprehensive case he put forward, I think we need some help off Martin. We were expecting to go to court and not have to do anything, we need help presenting our case. Come on Martin or anyone help us out.

Former_MSE_Lawrence

Just a quick reminder to say that this thread was intended for discussion of Martin's blog about the recent bank charges court case.

If you've questions about your own bank charge reclaiming campaign, please post them on the Reclaim Your Bank Charges board instead; you're likely to get a better response, and this helps to keep information in the forums organised.

Thanks

Mr_Proctalgia

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=453294&page=7

post 260

That thread has developed into a bunfight but comments would be welcome