Reclaim Unfair Bank Charges article discussion Part II

natweststaffmember

jumpster wrote: »

I wonder if someone can advise me, I reclaimed against HSBC two years ago and won, however, I still never got myself on track and is starting another claim today against them for nearly £3500.00. I have use the hardship letter. I really don't know what will happen now after I sent the letter today. Is it wise claiming from the bank again.

Yes. Ok I have to say this and it is not meant to sound harsh. You really need to sit down and go through your finances and see whether there is any room to get rid of any Direct Debits, for example, mobile phone contracts to pay and go, if you have sky, downgrade to lowest package you are allowed, etc,etc,.
Hope that doesn't sound too harsh but by my reckoning 3500 over a period of less that 2 years is a lot of charges per month on a regular basis.

SUGARSPICE

Thank you Natweststaffmember.

IHopeSo

Hi All,
Basically started a claim for bank charges with the Lloyd's for my partner back in 07, we both have recently been made redundant and at present receiving benefits, so have sent letter asking for amended charges + 8% interest under financial hardship, charges total £3.500, received a letter today stating they will get someone to ring regarding financial position ( to discuss a variety of payment solutions!) but will not deal with charges until the conclusion of the test case. Also said no to future charges being frozen.
My question is how do i respond now, do i send a letter before action? I think i will now also add the interest charged on the overdraft due to the bank charges, do i send amended charges give them 7 days to reply then take court action.

Any Advice soooo welcome

We are in arrears with mortgage now 2 mths £2000, but as the bills now bounce regularly from bank account we are paying approx £300 in charges per month, it is so diabolical when it is most of what we get in benefits of which the tax payer pays for and we are very grateful and hope to gain employment soon but WHY SHOULD THE LLOYDS GET THIS MONEY!!!!

lukedaz

Hi just thought id let you know that I rang LLoyds yesterday regarding the £165 of charges that were coming out of my bank tomorrow, I asked to have these charges removed because if they were taken out I would not be able to pay my mortgage this month I spoke to a really nice lady who said she would remove this months charges I didnt even have to argue my case so it might be worth trying to give them a ring and asking them but you need to do it before they go out as they will not give them back once thay have taken them. Just ring the 0800 number and they will put you through to the right number. I hope this helps

natweststaffmember

IHopeSo wrote: »

Hi All,
Basically started a claim for bank charges with the Lloyd's for my partner back in 07, we both have recently been made redundant and at present receiving benefits, so have sent letter asking for amended charges + 8% interest under financial hardship, charges total £3.500, received a letter today stating they will get someone to ring regarding financial position ( to discuss a variety of payment solutions!) but will not deal with charges until the conclusion of the test case. Also said no to future charges being frozen.
My question is how do i respond now, do i send a letter before action? I think i will now also add the interest charged on the overdraft due to the bank charges, do i send amended charges give them 7 days to reply then take court action.

Any Advice soooo welcome

We are in arrears with mortgage now 2 mths £2000, but as the bills now bounce regularly from bank account we are paying approx £300 in charges per month, it is so diabolical when it is most of what we get in benefits of which the tax payer pays for and we are very grateful and hope to gain employment soon but WHY SHOULD THE LLOYDS GET THIS MONEY!!!!

Argue the case with regards to the priority debt arrears. What that means is explaining how you were unable to meet priority debts ie loss of job, and how the charges took money out of your budget(including any charges made by the company receiving the payment) which meant you were difficient in your budgetting.
I would include the total amount but ask for a specific amount in charges back to cover priority debt arrears plus an amount to take you back into your overdraft(if you are over it, say by £100) plus a suspension of charges on the account for say a period of 3 months to allow you to budget for your priority debts.

matkin02

Natwest have recently levied me with a bank charge. I have not had any other charges in over three years. I will be making the usual reclaiming requests. However, a few weeks ago I went into the branch to pay some money into my account, although instead of crediting my account with the money they removed the same amount from my account. Thus leaving me double the amount out of pocket. The banks fault! A few hours later I checked my account online and noticed the error so I had to go back to the bank and have them right their wrong. This taking considerable time and effort.

My query is this... Given that the banks are so gung ho with issuing people with bank charges and fight tooth and nail to keep hold of your hard earned money, can I bill the bank for my time and effort with righting their wrong? If so, how do I go about it?

Yasmin_layla

Hi Everyone,

Im with Natwest and Barclays Bank. I have recently write to each bank pro- claiming of the charges i want refunded. Natwest owe me £1000 and Barclays Bank £300. Using the template on this site was useful. I sent it off last thursday and todays wednesday and no reply. i wasnt sure how it works. Basically how long will it take. Can they refuse to pay up. After reading the success stories it seems everyone is geting thier money back and how long till i hear somthing. Do they send the money by cheque or online bankiing. feedbank would so be appreciated as i have no clue what to expect. If the banks ae still in court appealing why are they paying up to poeople thats what i dont understand.

Yasmine

[EMAIL="Yasmin.layla@yahoo.co.uk"]Yasmin.layla@yahoo.co.uk[/EMAIL] Feedback would be appreciated.:cool::rotfl:

Orford

Yasmin_layla wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

Using the template on this site was useful. I sent it off last thursday and todays wednesday and no reply. i wasnt sure how it works. Basically how long will it take.
If they haven't replied after 14 days send the LBA here:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges#step3

Can they refuse to pay up. Yes, if you are not in Financial Hardship, you will have to wait the outcome of the OFT test case

. Do they send the money by cheque or online bankiing. Usually credit your a/c

If the banks ae still in court appealing why are they paying up to poeople thats what i dont understand.

They are making some goodwill payments to people in Financial Hardship

sologamer

I wrote to the halifax to reclaim my bank charges (£1800) before the hold was put on everyones claims. I received the letters saying that they would investigate then the letter to so that they would not be paying back my charges. I never pursued it any further until three weeks ago when I wrote to them stating my financial hardship claiming (£3000). Again I have received the same letters from the halifax saying that they will not refund my charges.

What I have noticed going through my online account is that, when I accrued my previous charges they sent me letters saying when the charges where coming out of my account - this allowed me time to make sure that there was sufficient money in my account. For the past 7 months I have received no letters about when the charges are due to be taken which means that I keep getting more charges. Most of my newly accrued charges are due to the halifax taking money out of my account when I don't expect it. I just feel that I am getting deeper and deeper in the hole even though I am trying my hardest to sort this out, I just feel that the halifax could do more to help.

Orford

Write to them asking them to review your claim. Head the letter:
FSA Waiver Directions: Financial Hardship Claim

See page 11 here:
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/Regulated/Notify/Waiver/pdf/disp_monthly.pdf

Mention any of the following that apply to you:

Financial hardship
Reduced income/loss of job
Level of priority debt arrears against free income available
Utility arrears such as gas/electricity threat of being cut off
Mortgage arrears
Council Tax arrears
Credit card debts
Repossession
Serious health issues both physically and mentally
Threat of possible suicide
No money for food or rent

You should include an Income & Expenditure sheet See here:
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

plus any proof of priority debt arrears.