Reclaim Unfair Bank Charges article discussion Part II

mc1958

Hello all.This is the 1st time Ive posted on here and would greatly welcome some advice for my son's predicament.
He has a current account and a mortgage with the Alliance and Leicester.
He was overdrawn on his account by 40 pence.He didnt realise this until his statement came through the post and told him he had been charged for being overdrawn by the amount above.
The charge was £5 per day and he was overdrawn for 9 days and the charge was £45.
His statement came through for february and he was overdrawn by 44 pence this time but it was for 15 days.Total £75 for being 44 pence overdrawn.
Ispoke to the A+L "customer service team" who said there was nothing they could do.
What I am after is some advice to try and get this back for him.
I know its his fault for being overdrawn but the amount A+L are charging is extortionate for the pittance he owed.
Thanks for any advice please

Hopeful1

mc1958 wrote: »

Hello all.This is the 1st time Ive posted on here and would greatly welcome some advice for my son's predicament.
He has a current account and a mortgage with the Alliance and Leicester.
He was overdrawn on his account by 40 pence.He didnt realise this until his statement came through the post and told him he had been charged for being overdrawn by the amount above.
The charge was £5 per day and he was overdrawn for 9 days and the charge was £45.
His statement came through for february and he was overdrawn by 44 pence this time but it was for 15 days.Total £75 for being 44 pence overdrawn.
Ispoke to the A+L "customer service team" who said there was nothing they could do.
What I am after is some advice to try and get this back for him.
I know its his fault for being overdrawn but the amount A+L are charging is extortionate for the pittance he owed.
Thanks for any advice please

I would write to them and ask them to refund the charges as it is such a low amount to be overdrawn. I'm sure if they followed their own banking code of practice, they would do this. I think when you ring them it is luck of the draw as to whether you get anyone reasonable.

mc1958

The person I spoke to was, as you say, rather unreasonable.
I asked to speak to his supervisor.He replied that his supervisor would say the same.I said I would still like to hear it from him and his reply was " Would you feel better if I came on and said I was a supervisor and said the same thing"!
Thanks for the advice

ThanxandGoodbye

So now bank employees are prepared to pretend to be their own supervisors if questioned? Spectacularly unprofessional!.The Time Of Reckoning is approaching fast. I just hope I get someone "unreasonable" when my time comes, as I have years of frustration to unload. Personally, I would not want to be on the receiving end of my grievances. Thanks to Martin and the team for empowering us. I think Martin deserves a Knighthood for his services to honest banking, maybe he could have Sir Fred Goodwin's as it's evidently undeserved.

ThanxandGoodbye

Written to Lloyds TSB asking for six years statements using form letter template 19/02/2009. Also after HSBC, CapitalOne, credit cards and others to follow. Will keep you all updated how things pan out. Confident that I will win and prepared to go the full distance. Absolutely fed up with the arrogance and patronising attitude displayed by these proven thieves. For example, got a letter from HSBC after missing a payment, enclosing a leaflet entitled "Putting your finances in order and managing financial difficulties" Hahahahhah. I returned the leaflet explaining that I thought it would benefit them more than me as I have not lost £billions by mismanagment of my finances. In fact, my financial problems are entirely due to being robbed blind by them. So look out banks, we are on your case now.

russell_withers

first time here as well...we put in the reclaim forms etc and have tried for the hardship payment, but we were told that as we'd stopped using the account we couldn't have it. they've took our account to over £400 overdrawn since then and have now set the solicitors on to us before it goes to court. The first set of solicitors heard our side and dropped it, but this second set are going for the money this week. Through "proceedings" and threats of bailliffs, any ideas?

Hopeful1

russell_withers wrote: »

first time here as well...we put in the reclaim forms etc and have tried for the hardship payment, but we were told that as we'd stopped using the account we couldn't have it. they've took our account to over £400 overdrawn since then and have now set the solicitors on to us before it goes to court. The first set of solicitors heard our side and dropped it, but this second set are going for the money this week. Through "proceedings" and threats of bailliffs, any ideas?

Have they actually issued you with court documents? Or are they just threatening.? If they have i would seek legal advice - you may be entitled to free advice depending on your finances or through CAB or your house insurance?


This is my story - i was threatened by Barclays debt collectors with legal action because of an owed balance that consisted of charges:

I submitted a claim last summer but it was put on hold.

They refused to cease adding interest and charges.

I made a payment offer of £25 per month.

They refused it.

I made the payments every month anyway.

I submitted a complaint to FOS and stated they were making it impossible for me to repay the debt. I provided evidence to show i'd made an offer and was meeting that.

FOS could not get Barclays to repay charges because of test case but they did get them to agree to cease charges / interest.

Fingers crossed the test case will conclude in our favour so i get it all back.

It is best to be pro-active to avid legal action. You have to consider that if the test case were to go in the banks favour, we would have to pay this money back. However, if it goes in our favour they will have to repay us anyway - hope that makes sense!

firstluv

wrote to halifax claiming bank charges on 12/2/09 received a 'waiting for court case' letter from them today cant claim under the hardship route ...what next

Hopeful1

firstluv wrote: »

wrote to halifax claiming bank charges on 12/2/09 received a 'waiting for court case' letter from them today cant claim under the hardship route ...what next

If you're not entitled to claim under the hardship rules then you will just have to wait for the test case to be resolved. At least your claim is in the queue now.

purplebutterfly

My bank account (Natwest) has been frozen and passed to a debt collection agency.

Basically, I am disabled and had to give up work so I have ended up surviving off minimal benefits. I'm not complaining but I was completely unable to keep up with bank charges of £38 for a returned S/O then £26 on top of that "maintenance fee" which took me overdrawn so add an extra £28 plus interest............etc etc etc

Over the past 3 years I managed to bounce back and forth between being overdrawn on my overdraft and living just inside the limit. Then it all went haywire somehow and I ended up with £500 of charges on a £1000 overdraft and because I couldn't pay them the £100 per month they wanted (I offered £20 which would have left me pretty destitute but they refused), it all got passed over to collections.

So, can I put in a claim for bank charges even if the account is no longer technically mine or active?

I'm planning on filing for bankruptcy on the advice of debt counsellors but that has to wait until I can save up for the legal fees.