Reclaim Unfair Bank Charges article discussion Part II

fedupwiththeworry

and you can not reclaim it through the legal system.

Hear what you are saying VM but if she were to just ask, who's to say it would even get to the legal system? I'm in the same boat with Shabby but I think I'm going to just ask anyway, you never know.

Talking of them I phoned to complain to them about something the other day and the very helpful girl on the phone actually asked me if I wanted to claim back my charges (although she did say claims were on hold) but also said I could claim back the last 5 years

vanman7

Dont get me wrong.....if you dont ask then you dont get.
my case with Barclays over a year ago went just 4 days before the court case. some cases have actually gone to court and one guy did actually lose in court because the judge decided to hear what he had as a defence but the guy had not done his home work and prepared his case as he thought, just like thousands of others he would win automatically. Therefore i would hate for some one to trip over at the very last hurdle on a case like this.

fedupwiththeworry

Hi VM,


So is claiming for the wrong period of time something that could lose you the case completely i.e the court could throw the whole thing out as opposed to saying "no you can't have that amount but you can have the last 6 years so we award you this amount"?

vanman7

i wouldnt say they would throw the case out, but it would be a great shame to turn up expecting to be awarded say....£2500 and only walk away with a few hundred.
the chances of actually going to court are very small, but its worth dotting all your I's and crossing all your T's just incase to save a lot of dissapointment.

A friend of mine also asked Halifax for charges after six years and they wrote back saying that they would only pay him the last six years taking a big chunk from his claim too. so chances are they will just say the same and you may never get as far as court anyway.
But....you only got to ask.

Good luck

biglittleguy

hi all, long time reader first time poster. been following this for a while and like most dont really check statements, too depressing! but after doing so the other day think maybe i could be due a fair bit of money as i seem to get charged fairly ofter. i was just wondering is it still possible to claim now and what is the best way? as in using one of those companies who claim for you or filling out template letters ect. any help would be appreciated!

fedupwiththeworry

hi all, long time reader first time poster. been following this for a while and like most dont really check statements, too depressing! but after doing so the other day think maybe i could be due a fair bit of money as i seem to get charged fairly ofter. i was just wondering is it still possible to claim now and what is the best way? as in using one of those companies who claim for you or filling out template letters ect. any help would be appreciated!

I would say do it yourself, all the info's at the top of the page in the step by step guides and saves you paying out some of your money to a third party.

tish

I tried to claim back over £1600 in charges from HBOS last year. In July, I received a letter stating that they had put £888 into my account, but that this would be in full and final settlement. If I wanted to accept, to do nothing, but if I wanted to reject the offer, I should return the money and await the outcome of the court case. As there was a lot going on in my life at that time, I did nothing, and since then, have spent the £888. Does this now mean that I cannot pursue HBOS for the remaining half of my claim (plus further charges since then)?
Any advice gratefully received.

vanman7

tish wrote: »

I tried to claim back over £1600 in charges from HBOS last year. In July, I received a letter stating that they had put £888 into my account, but that this would be in full and final settlement. If I wanted to accept, to do nothing, but if I wanted to reject the offer, I should return the money and await the outcome of the court case. As there was a lot going on in my life at that time, I did nothing, and since then, have spent the £888. Does this now mean that I cannot pursue HBOS for the remaining half of my claim (plus further charges since then)?
Any advice gratefully received.

when i won both my cases with Barclays and Halifax i had to sign a statment to say that i AGREED to accept the payment as full and final settlement.
As you have not signed anything i suppose you could always challenge them to provide strict proof that you agreed to accept the part payment.
We all know what the post is like now-a-days...im sure you got the letter from them teling you it went into your account.....or did you if you know what i mean

Lex555

One thing that hasn't yet been clarified to my knowledge is whether the hardship exemption to the waiver applies to just the banks, or the Ombudsman and Courts aswell?. I've detailed what i mean by that below, plus a few other points...

1.) In other words if the bank accepts that you meet the hardship requirements, and offers you a certain amount and you are not happy with that amount, can you still take the matter straight to the financial ombudsman or the court asking for the full amount? Or would you still have to wait for the waiver to be lifted?

2.) Also, if you claim through hardship, aren't you likely to be offered a smaller proportion of what your asking for from the bank than you would have if you'd been through the normal process? (i.e before the waiver or would be likely to get after the waiver is lifted)? (cos they think you're more desperate).

3.) When deciding how much of your charges you should initially ask back for, and whether you're gonna add interest etc, has a general consensus yet been reached about whether it is better to start of asking for the whole wad + interest in the hope that their offer will be higher than if you'd asked for less, or if it's better to try to comprimise right from the start and say you'll accept X amount? I know before this was said to be "an art, not a science" but i was wondering if it had yet emerged which was a better tactic?

4.) Should you not say how much you intend to reclaim until the bank agrees that you're eligable under hardship? I know it's probably not supposed to, but i can't help thinking they might try and be sneaky if they know your gonna ask for a large amount of charges, and tell you you don't qualify under hardship.

Edinburghlass_2

Martin has covered most of your points in the "hardship" section of the article here...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/oft-bank-charges#hardship