Reclaim Unfair Bank Charges article discussion Part II

Tina_Philip

Hi

Would anyone know if a returned item fee is classed as an illegal bank charge? Can I reclaim it? My direct debt at LLoyds TSB bounced back due to insufficent funds
(I'm a student!) and they've charged me £20 as returned item fee.. Can I claim it bank?
Thanks
Tina

BillyTheFish_4

tynes1der wrote: »

An unauthorised overdraft is not 'borrowing' and is as good as taking money that does not belong to you, but belongs to other depositors. This could be regarded as theft.

Theft is an offence punishable at least by a fine. The banks make the fines/charges for unauthorised removal of money from accounts quite clear for anyone who cares to check.

However, charges for authorised borrowing/overdrafts may have been unfair and it is good that THESE charges have been challenged.

In nearly 50 years I have had only 2 or 3 occasions where I was charged by banks and on every occasion had them removed by simply contacting my bank immediately. :A
Why wait 6 or more years to complain after not bothering until the media stir it up??

Unfortunately, I Attempted in 2002 to request from my Bank (HSBC) that requests at ATM's be declined IF I had insufficient funds. I was told that such a facility or setting does not exist and that the computer automatically generates the buffer zone which can be accessed.

I look at it as: If a Gambler goes to a bookmakers they can formally request to be banned from gambling because they feel it is an uncontrollable habit. I think that there should be a system in place to HELP people continually going over their agreed overdraft to ONLY allow charges to be added to a limit-approaching account RATHER than allow you to go PAST what you have AGREED and this particular incident proved that no such provision was made by the Bank in question themselves.

With regards to labelling using funds over an overdraft theft it must be considered that if you go over your overdraft by £10 and you are Charged £25 and also have to pay the bank back the £10, IF the charges are deemed to be unfair, you have essentially invested in their growth through unfair demand with these cases going back 6 years working it out you can see that the original charge has made them money back ontop of that which was borrowed. It also shows that the Banking system needed to be designed with this possibility in mind so that it was DIFFICULT to break the law as it encourages "criminal behaviour" in your scenario and does nothing to prevent other peoples funds from being removed which is essentially poor protection of customer investment.

My only other point at the moment was the Threat by a banking committee that losing the Test Case outright and that "the charges were deemed unfair and unjustifiable stating that charges should be fully or partially reimbursed" that this "could mean the end of free banking in the UK" after all the effort environmentalists have put in to curtail paper usage and the encouragement of using BACS to employers, paying either a monthly fee or a transaction-based charge would not be fair to the consumer either as originally a Bank needed your money to invest to make more money a share of which would be granted to you in the form of interest. I would petition against such theoretical charges as they would represent a profiteering racket (Metaphorically speaking: Bank:"Your boss wants your money to go through one of us so we can make money from it. Now because we charged people unfairly and had to pay it back we are now going to charge everybody to make us money")

techspec

Tina_Philip wrote: »

Hi

Would anyone know if a returned item fee is classed as an illegal bank charge? Can I reclaim it? My direct debt at LLoyds TSB bounced back due to insufficent funds
(I'm a student!) and they've charged me £20 as returned item fee.. Can I claim it bank?
Thanks
Tina

Yes. If its your first offence, they should just give it you back without a fight.

If not, then write anyway, as you will get it back if the test case is won.

techspec

showergirl wrote: »

I have spoken to someone who works for lloyds/tsb. Anyone claiming bank charges from them will have their account closed. Surely this is wrong and they are not allowed to do this.

I have taken Lloyds to court over my current account and sent in the bailiffs, who impounded four cars.

I then put my credit card claim to the FOS, and i am taking them to court again over my credit report.

The result - LLoyds tripled my credit limit on my card and offered me a £10000 loan.

The only people i know who have been thrown out, are those who claim, and then carry on going overdrawn ,and a few other banks like alliance and leisester did it as a matter of course. Then they have been reported to the Obmudsman, and been forced to pay £200 to the customer.

They can throw you out, but i have not heard of Lloyds doing it. You would get compo, but they cannot be forced to re-open the account. That is why Martin advises opening a second, or 'parachute account', just in case. I did, but did not need it.

bobdagob

i went to my bank this week and asked them if they would return three charges totalling £105 over the past two months because i have been away and my sister been looking after my bank account, the manager in the branch turned around and said 'have you not heard, the FOS has announced that all claims are have been stopped forever! yes, forever!', i asked her 'what about the result from the test case?', she said that doesnt matter because the reason the test case was started was because of the 'credit crunch', what a load of bollovks i thought! i cant believe even senior level managers are feeding their customers anything just to get them of their backs! what the hell has the credit crunch got to do with reclaiming bank charges! i was shocked beyond belief and actually felt sorry for her because she knew she was waffling n so did i! lols!:rotfl:

crazy2

hello to any one out there ive just written to find out yhe last 6 years of my charges,but still not sure if i can claim as some of my penalties was for d/d and most of the time i didnt have enough money to cover this d/d.so am i still intitled to these charges .also i have to lean on benififs due 2 ill child many thanks hope someone can help me x

shamrock7

crazy2 wrote: »

hello to any one out there ive just written to find out yhe last 6 years of my charges,but still not sure if i can claim as some of my penalties was for d/d and most of the time i didnt have enough money to cover this d/d.so am i still intitled to these charges .also i have to lean on benififs due 2 ill child many thanks hope someone can help me x

Yes you can still claim. Direct Debits charges are included in this in my experience so go ahead. Also if you are on benefits and struggling you can go the financial hardship route as shown on this site. This could speed things up for you. Good luck!x

debrag

So I've just moved banks, everything was meant to be moved over and my old account closed.

My mobile bill as well as debt payment was moved but my rent wasn't to I added it myself.

I got a letter a few days ago from my old bank saying that 2 direct debits (debt & rent) had been returned and I was being charge £60.

what can I do? my account was meant to be closed, why were only somethings moved?

Connie209

Simon7685 wrote: »

Hi

Can anyone give me any advice?
I started my claim in March 2007. Last Friday I received a copy of the banks defence (from the bank themselves). MCOL states defence received effective 13/04/07 and I can go no further with my claim online. To date I have received nothing in writing from the court. Does anyone know how long this usually takes?

Also can anyone advise me as to what I should take along to the hearing once it is happening?

My bank is Abbey and the amount I am trying to reclaim is £2704. If anyone else is battling Abbey or sucessfully done so please get in touch so we can compare and maybe help each other along the way. It is quite un nerving to think that the average Joe Bloggs is taking a massive company to court!!!

Thanks very much

Hi Mate.

I've just started proceedings against my bank NAT WEST but I'm having someone do it all for me. Oh MAN! Are NAT WEST upset about it!
They've been ripping me and my hubby off for too long and with my hubby no longer working due to having a terminal illness, and finances are tight as a result of having a reduced income. Power to the people is what I say. Its time the Big Banks got their come-uppence! Alot of the big banks don't help themselves by keep lending to these third world countries, knowing full well that they will probably end up having to write off these huge debts as these poor countries can NEVER pay it all back. So who pays for these debts? US , the customers here in the UK, through rising rates!
Think on all out there, and good luck to all of you.:T

Connie209

Edinburghlass_2

demo00_7 wrote: »

I sent the standard letter to my bank with a £10 cheque requested the list of fee's i have had to pay for the last six years. However they have only sent me charges since July 06. Can anyone tell me why they have not provided details of my charges between 2002 - July 2006?

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Sometimes they are sent out in batches, phone and ask them if there are more to come.