Reclaim Unfair Bank Charges article discussion Part II

dwayne1

Hi all I was wondering could anyone give me a bit of advice or is in the same situation as myself. I started out with a student account with the HSBC in Liverpool that progressed in to a current account with a 2000 pound overdraft. I moved back to Ireland 3 and a half years ago and for the first year I foolishly ignored HSBC's request for immediate payment and the debt was passed to Met Collection in Birmingham. The debt had moved up from around 2100 to 3300 in a year which to me seems excessive. I have since paid the debt in full and I have a letter now in my possesion to send over to HSBC along with 10 pound to request my account history. Does anyone think I am wasting my time or more importantly because I was stupid and let the charges build up am I in the wrong.

Lex555

My bank recently tried to charge me £30 for going over my overdraft limit EVEN THOUGH I went over by FOUR PENCE purely as a result of them charging me a £1.50 "debit card service charge" whatever that is supposed to be?!

I rang them up and they agreed to waive it, but had the nerve to say they'd do it as "an act of courtesy" or words to that effect, and then said if it happened again within 6 months the charge would have to stand next time. However, before I really had chance to even make a payment into my account (from my another account) to put myself well back in my overdraft limit, they charged me again, this time for about £2 which was an interest charge. And now have given me another £30 charge because that put me further into my overdraft limit! (still by less than £3 though!).

I have been considering what to do about this carefully but i would like some advice. I've never been sure if it is a good idea to start dictating things to the bank whilst i'm still overdrawn because, as i understand it, they reserve the right to demand my entire overdraft back at any time, (as i believe all banks do). I was tempted to ring them up and absolutely b*****k them this time about it, but figured i should consider things very carefully before i do. The arguments i intend to use/things i was going to say, other than the unfairness of what i mentioned in the 1st paragraph are these...

1.) Use the analergy that if a masked robber stole from you in the street and then when you challenged him he gave the money back and said "ok as a courtesy this time", would they be happy?! Therefore why should i accept their argument if they try and say "well we let you off last time".

2.) Threaten to take them to court for all the other illegal charges they've made on my account over the years, (which total about £200+), if they don't refund this £30 on this occasion. Plus all the charges they've made on my credit card over the years!

Now at this point i want to make it clear that i don't want this bank to close my account! They have probably the highest interest rate on current accounts in the country and I want to be able to take advantage of that in the future when i'm more solvent and don't want to risk being blocked from being a customer of theirs again in the future. That is why i haven't gone the whole hog and asked for all my charges back already, incase they do that, and that is exactly why i feel i need to be very careful and think very carefully about what i say to them. Does being overdrawn by £200 as opposed to being in the black by say £2,000 make me more at risk of them turning round and saying "you can have the money back, now get lost" (to quote martin lol), or less at risk? I mean they're making interest out of me every month so surely that makes me more of an asset to them?

Any advice would be appreciated, but i am determined not to stand for this £30 charge as it will just completly wipe out the last payment i made and make an absolute mockery of my attempts to clear the overdraft. Oh and this £30 charge is due to come out of my account on friday, so hasty responses would be appreciated even more greatly!

Thanks in advance!

GSD_mad

How can i now fight this as i am :mad: that i have followed all the rules and the court has still approved the banks request despite the people of the court assuring me this would not happen. I have 7 days to respond - HELP

Ok i try to make this quick and simple.

Started court proceedings 30/03/07
Order applied and granted 27/06/07
The order stated i was to provide information by 17/08/07 and then the bank (Barclays) was to provide details of cost by 14/09/07.
The order stated, if either party fail to comply with the order, it will be struck out with further order.
Court date was set for 23/10/07

Barclays sent out a circular letter on 7/08/07

Needless to say i complied with the order but the bank failed to.

26/09/07 (09/10/07 depending which date you look at) Court letter stating the defendant (Barclays) failed to file and is struck out and hearing date cancelled.

15/10/07 faxed in request for judgement ask for a small amount of costs to be taken into account.

Since then i have been calling the court twice a week.

05/11/07 - Barclays made an application for Stay

21/11/07 Letter from court staying action.

Really need HELP!!!

agnes_2

everything you have done is right and everything should have proceeded according to legal process, but it seems that the court is ignoring everything now. and no actionwill be taken. The court have stayed the action, theres nothing else to do as far as I can see. it makes me so angry, is our legal system falling apart?

xmissxteasex

Has Anybody actually had their bank closed afterwards?

jonnynd

Cant say i have come across that one yet, There is bound to be someone accountable even after closure. Have your bank given you any information of who your account is being passed to?

dwayne1

Sorry folks anyone think I am wasting my time please!:j

dwayne1 wrote: »

Hi all I was wondering could anyone give me a bit of advice or is in the same situation as myself. I started out with a student account with the HSBC in Liverpool that progressed in to a current account with a 2000 pound overdraft. I moved back to Ireland 3 and a half years ago and for the first year I foolishly ignored HSBC's request for immediate payment and the debt was passed to Met Collection in Birmingham. The debt had moved up from around 2100 to 3300 in a year which to me seems excessive. I have since paid the debt in full and I have a letter now in my possesion to send over to HSBC along with 10 pound to request my account history. Does anyone think I am wasting my time or more importantly because I was stupid and let the charges build up am I in the wrong.

GSD_mad

Agnes wrote: »

everything you have done is right and everything should have proceeded according to legal process, but it seems that the court is ignoring everything now. and no actionwill be taken. The court have stayed the action, theres nothing else to do as far as I can see. it makes me so angry, is our legal system falling apart?

Hi, thanks for the kind words, do you think i can challenge the stay on the grounds that the bank requests came out of the timescales and the judge had already struck out the defence, as i too think they are losing track of what where.

Thanks

juniespoonie_2

Someone please help! I have asked for Natwest to consider my case as a financial hardship case and provided them with a full financial statement as they requested. I got a letter back today saying they agreed that mine was a genuine hardship case and that a hold had been placed on my account. when I phoned to query what this meant, I was told that my account which is still attracting charges, had been placed on hold and that no other charges would be applied but that the refund of charges would not be taking place until after the court case in January. I spoke to about 4 different departments in Natwest, no two people told me the same thing so I called the financial ombudsman as this website stated "The waiver that allows banks to suspend claims does not apply to people who are having financial difficulties, also known as a hardship case. Banks will have to conduct a filtering process to ensure that cases of genuine hardship are still dealt with during the waiver period." The financial ombudsman have just told me that this is incorrect and that banks only have to look at things like stopping charges being applied to already overdrawn accounts etc. Have I managed to speak to someone else who isn't correctly informed or is the website wrong. I was hoping that as Natwest have sent me a letter stating that I have been accepted as a financial hardship case, I would be treated as if the 'hold' had not been placed. Help me please!!!

Romum

dwayne1 wrote: »

Sorry folks anyone think I am wasting my time please!:j

Hi Dwayne1
I am no expert but I believe you can only claim for charges made for "referred items" e.g. whilst you had the account if you received charges for a bounced cheque, or returned direct debits etc, you can claim for these. You cannot claim for overdraft interest nor for so-called service charges for having an overdraft (i.e. debt), so whilst you were in the hands of the debt management company (Met?), you probably will find difficulty in claiming these charges back.

In any event, most cases are either being stayed or adjourned until the outcome of the OFT case (Case 2007 folio 1186), so I would suggest save your money (for court fee) until you see what happens with the test case in January 2008 (your claim is less than 6 years old(?), so it won't be excluded by the Limitation Act 1980). HOWEVER, if your charges are 5+ years old, then get your claim in so that at least it's registered with the courts,

Do note though that the case is almost certain to be appealled, so it will likely not be resolved for 1-2 years!!! Hope this helps?!!!